placenamesCladdaghduff
An Cladach Dubh
Claddaghduff’s parish church, early twentieth-century households and close connection with Omey Island record different aspects of a coastal Connemara community.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Cladach Dubh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Claddaghduff · English · main form
Place & story
Our Lady,Star of the Sea
The present church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, dates from about 1845. The parish history records enlargement and renovation in 1901, followed by major works in the early 1970s. Its account places the mainland church within a longer connection with Omey Island's religious sites. These dates distinguish the surviving village church from the much older ecclesiastical remains across the strand. [2]
Agnes Mulkerin and village occupations
The 1911 census records Agnes Mulkerin as a postmistress living with her farming family in Claddaghduff. Another household included retired teacher Patrick Conroy and his daughter Norah, also a teacher. Roger Harrison's transcription records 96 inhabitants in the townland, with cow houses, potato stores and other farm buildings. The named occupations show postal and educational services operating within a predominantly agricultural coastal settlement. [3]
Uncovering Omey’s church in 1981
An RTÉ report broadcast on 2 June 1981 documented local excavation of a sand-buried church on nearby Omey Island. Curate Martin Greany described organising islanders to investigate exposed masonry, eventually revealing the building's outline. The report distinguished local belief that it occupied Saint Feichin's monastic site from the still-unresolved age of the surviving structure. It records a modern episode in the community's rediscovery of its archaeological heritage. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Galway
- Barony
- Ballynahinch
- Civil parish
- Omey
- Within
- Claddaghduff
- Coordinates
- 53.53473, -10.14198 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413566 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Claddaghduff. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Claddaghduff:Our Lady,Star of the Sea · Clifden Parish
- Claddaghduff:1911 census and local records · Roger Harrison,Forum Connemara,Galway County Heritage Office
- Omey Church Revealed1981,RTÉNews2June1981 · Jim Fahy,RTÉArchives
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-01-11. How this page was prepared.