Athenry

A medieval walled town east of Galway city, known far and wide through the song The Fields of Athenry. About 70% of its town wall still stands, along with the castle, the Dominican priory and a 13th-century street plan. Its late 15th-century market cross is the only medieval cross in Ireland still standing where it was put up.

The ford over the Clarin was in the home area of the kings of Soghan, the Ó Mainnín, who were pushed out after Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair took the area into Clann Taidg by 1152. In the 1230s Meyler de Bermingham displaced the Ó Taidg an Teaghlaigh and built the castle some time before 1240. The Dominican priory, founded in 1241, became a centre of learning; it was burned in the Mac an Iarla wars of the 1560s to 1580s and vandalised by Cromwellians in the 1650s. Markets were held in the square from the 17th century, and a Church of Ireland church was built into the chancel of St Mary's in 1828.

A French visitor in 1791 found 50 acres with no more than 60 houses, a ruined abbey, an empty castle and a cake outside a tavern offered as a prize for the best dancer. A late Bronze Age shield found nearby in 1863 is in the British Museum, and the railway station opened on 1 August 1851.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on Athenry ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Turoe Stone · tomb · 13 km
• Athenry Castle · castle · under 1 km
• Caherkinmonwee Castle · castle · 8 km
• Dunsandle Castle · castle · 9 km
• Oranmore Castle · castle · 13 km
• Garbally Castle · castle · 14 km

Straight-line distances from the town centre, from each site's documented coordinates.

• Turoe Stone · A granite boulder carved with swirling La Tène patterns around 100 BC — the finest Celtic art in stone in Ireland, probably an omphalos, a 'navel' stone.
• Knockdoe · 1504: the Great Earl of Kildare, with half of Ireland, against the Burkes with the other half — the largest battle Ireland had seen, over a private quarrel.

All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.