Ballinderreen

Ballinderreen (Irish place name|Baile an Doirín|) is a small little village located on the N67 route between Kilcolgan and Kinvara in south County Galway, in The Republic of Ireland.

Overview

Ballinderreen village is approximately 22 km south of Galway City. On occasions when the village has been mentioned in the national media, peaceful and picturesque are the words that have been used to describe it. It is sometimes confused with the town of Ballaghaderreen in Co. Roscommon. Ballinderreen is the name of the parish and townland where the village is situated. It takes its name from oak trees in the village. The Irish name of the village, Baile an Doirín, means town of the little derry or little oakwood suggesting the area may once have been more heavily forested with oak trees. It had a population of 867 under the 2002 census (under Drumacoo). The parish colours are two vertical stripes of green and white. The parish of Ballinderreen covers a larger area taking in part of the village of Kilcolgan on the N18 and borders Clarinbridge, Kinvara and Ardrahan.

The village itself is quite small with only two pubs. Other facilities include a primary school, church (Roman Catholic), creche, several sports pitches (mainly used for hurling but not owned by the Gaelic Athletic Association), a nursing home [http://www.stcolumbasnursinghome.ie] and a community centre. A service station with a convenience store is currently under construction.

In recent years, Ballinderreen has seen several small residential developments including Woodmount and Oakwood. This has resulted in a large increase in the villages population. The parish as a whole has seen significant development of one-off housing. This one-off housing has seen large homes eating up rural areas of the parish. Some of these new large houses have helipads in areas closer to Kilcolgan. This has been satirized in a column in the Galway First newspaper in which the writer speaks of life in the G4 Chopper Belt of Kilcolgan, Clarinbridge and Kinvara. G4 is a play on the postcode of a wealthy Dublin suburb, Dublin 4.

Ballinderreen has become a very desirable place to live mainly due to its close proximity to Galway City. However other factors include vibrant festivals in the neighbouring villages of Clarinbridge and Kinvara, its location on the shores of Galway Bay (the village itself is approximately 1.5 km from the shore) and great scenery of the bay and The Burren in County Clare. The area itself has sometimes referred to by locals as the mini burren due to its turlough (lake) and limestone pavement.

The parish is bordered by the shores of Galway Bay. This includes Brandy Harbour and Dunbulcaun Bay to the north and Kinvara Bay to the west. Aran Pier, Mulroog Pier and Tarrea Pier shelter some private pleasure crafts on these shores and offer great views of Galway Bay.

Public transport to the village is poor with only two to three services per day passing through the village. However Bus Éireann and CityLink operate services frequently through Kilcolgan, five minutes away, to Galway, Limerick, Cork and Shannon Airport.

Sport is one of the main talking points amongst many in the community and there is always a great sense of pride amongst locals when they speak of their hurling team (hurling is Irelands national sport). Ballinderreen hurling club was founded in 1884 and while there has been relatively little success in terms of silverware the club has always been very competitive in Senior competition. The club has produced many local legends some whom of are regarded amongts the greats of the game (Noel Lane, Joe McDonagh, Mick Gill). 2007 saw the release of the Ballinderreen Hurling Club website [http://www.Hurling.Ballinderreen.com] , and a glance through that website gives one a sense of the rich sporting heritage of the area and the importance of Irelands national game to the people of the locality.