placenamesCleggan
An Cloigeann
Cleggan's maritime past survives in its coastguard buildings, memories of the 1927 fishing disaster and a recently restored harbour landmark.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- An Cloigeann · Irish · main form · validated name
- Cleggan · English · main form
Place & story
The coastguard settlement
Cleggan's coastguard station at Moorneen was built around 1865. The complex includes separate terraces for coastguards and officers, together with service buildings and a later boathouse. Its outlook over Cleggan Bay reflects the importance of maritime policing along this indented coastline. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage links the station partly to efforts against smuggling in Connemara's sheltered bays. [2]
The 1927 disaster remembered
The storm of 28 October 1927 devastated fishing communities around Cleggan Bay. In an RTÉ report broadcast fifty years later, John O'Toole described the loss of his father and fifteen other men from nearby Rossadillisk. He recalled how the disaster changed the next generation's relationship with fishing and contributed to emigration. Many bodies were never recovered; recovered victims from Rossadillisk were buried together on Omey Island. [3]
Light returns to the pier
In July 2026, Cleggan Tidy Towns reported the restoration of a pier lamp after a gap of roughly sixty years. The earlier oil lamp had been badly damaged in a storm. A matching lamp, formerly in the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin, was repaired locally, fitted with solar lighting and installed in the original position with support from a county heritage grant. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Galway
- Barony
- Ballynahinch
- Civil parish
- Ballynakill
- Within
- Cleggan
- Coordinates
- 53.54425, -10.11228 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413567 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Cleggan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Cleggan Coastguard Station, Moorneen — NIAH 30402205 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- The Best of Seamen Lost — RTÉ News report, 25 October 1977 · Jim Fahy / RTÉ Archives
- Landmark returns to Galway area after 60 years gone, 21 July 2026 · Darragh Berry, Connacht Tribune
- Cleggan Harbour, County Galway illustration: based on a Cleggan Harbour by Keith Salvesen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2017-12-01. How this page was prepared.