Craughwell

Craughwell Creachmhaoil
—  Town  —
Craughwell Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°13′34″N 8°43′59″W / 53.2261°N 8.7331°W / 53.2261; -8.7331Coordinates: 53°13′34″N 8°43′59″W / 53.2261°N 8.7331°W / 53.2261; -8.7331
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Galway
Elevation	62 m (203 ft)
Population (2002)
- Urban	358
- Rural	1,169
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
- Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference	M510197

Craughwell (historically Creaghmoyle, from Irish: Creachmhaoil)^[1] is a village and townland in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. The name is also used as a surname, properly Ó Creachmhaoil, though often anglicised as Craughwell and Crockwell. The surname was largely unknown outside of the southeast of County Galway until the end of the 19th century when emigrés established families which still thrive in Newfoundland, Bermuda, Cornwall, Ohio and Berkshire County, Massachusetts, among other places.

The name is composed of two Irish words: creach, meaning in this case "plunder" (as in a herd of cattle), and maol, which is a word for a round hill or mountain, bare of trees. The pioneer of Irish placename studies, Patrick W. Joyce, speculated that the name in Irish was Creamhchoill, meaning "garlic wood". He was obviously unaware of the local spelling and pronunciation but confirmed in a later work that the village was called Creachmhaoil in Irish.

The town currently has three pubs, a Garda station, a pharmacy, a bookies, furniture stores, post office, hairdressers, two service stations, a lawnmower shop, and a pizzeria and fish and chip shop. The village of Creachmhaoil celebrates its connection with the Gaelic poet Anthony Raferty and Anjelica Huston.

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

1. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland (see archival records)

External links

• Craughwell Family Website
• Craughwell village map, c. 1840
• Craughwell Athletic Club