Gort

Infobox Irish Place
name = Gort
gaeilge = Gort Inse Guaire
crest

motto =
map

pin coords = left: 113px; top: 81px
north coord = 53.0660 | west coord = 8.8118 | irish grid = M451019
area = | elevation = 43 m
province = Connacht
county = County Galway
population = | town pop = 2,734 | rural pop =
census yr = 2006
web = |

Gort (Irish: "Gort Inse Guaire" or "An Gort") is a town in south County Galway in the west of Ireland. "An Gort" is the official Irish name for the town, as defined by the Placenames Commission. However the town is known by its traditional name Gort Inse Guaire in spoken Irish. The town lies just north of the border with County Clare on the main N18 Galway–Limerick road. Gort is situated in the territory of Ui Fiachrach Aidhne also known as Maigh Aidhne ("the plain of Aidhne"), which is coextensive with the diocese of Kilmacduagh / "Cill Mhic Dhuach".

History

Gort takes its name, "Gort Inse Guaire", from Guaire Aidhneach, the sixth century King of Connacht and patron of St. Colman Mac Duach. During the Middle Ages the chiefs of Cinél Aedha na hEchtghe, the O'Shaughnessys (Ó Seachnasaigh) (a clan descended from Guaire Aidhneach) had their principal stronghold in Gort, on a site which later became a cavalry barracks. At the end of the seventeenth century the O Shaughnessy lands were confiscated and granted to Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Bt., whose grandson was John Prendergast-Smyth, 1st Viscount Gort. In 1831, the town had a population of 3,627 and 563 houses. The Great Hunger of the mid 1840s devastated the population.

A number of historic sites around Gort are included in the Sites and Monuments Record.
Kilmacduagh monastery and round tower are situated approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) west of Gort.

Transport

Gort railway station opened on 15 September 1869, closed for goods traffic on 3 November 1975 and for passenger traffic on 5 April 1976. [cite web | title=Gort station | work=Railscot - Irish Railways | url=http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf | accessdate=2007-10-15|format=PDF] A new railway station will open in early 2009 as part of the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor.

People

The poet William Butler Yeats renovated an old tower house near the village ("Thoor Ballylee") and took up residence there. He was also a frequent visitor to the home of Lady Gregory at nearby Coole Park.

Demographics

Some 40% of the residents of Gort are non-Irish, according to the 2006 Census, which showed that 83% of these were Brazilians. They originally came to work in the meat processing plants in Gort where the pay is generally much higher than in similar plants in Brazil. According to Claire Healy "a large community of Brazilians now live, work and attend school in Gort, gradually altering the appearance and the character of the town". [http://www.irlandeses.org/healy_gort.htm Carnaval do Galway: The Brazilian Community in Gort, 1999-2006] — Claire Healy, in "Irish Migration Studies in Latin America" 4:3 July 2006 (www.irlandeses.org), accessed 14 August 2007] The Roman Catholic church caters to the Brazilian community with a mass in Portuguese every Sunday held in Gort Catholic Church.

ee also

*List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

External links

* [http://www.gortonline.com Official website]