placenamesCregg
An Chreig
Cregg appears by name in a Victorian shell collector’s account of the limestone country beside Galway Bay.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Chreig · Irish · main form
- Cregg · English · main form
Place & story
Edward Collier’s meadow wall
Edward Collier’s account in the April 1895 Journal of Conchology records a distinctive find near Gleninagh Castle at Cregg. While examining the wall around a small meadow, he collected a mature, plain yellow snail with its shell coiled in the reverse direction to the usual form. His report names the locality explicitly and places it about three miles from Ballyvaughan. The observation belongs to his collecting journey, rather than establishing the species’ present distribution. [2]
The nearby O’Loughlen tower house
Gleninagh Castle is the neighbouring sixteenth-century tower house associated with the O’Loughlens of Burren. Its unusual L-shaped plan combined a residence with defensive functions. The Office of Public Works’ account also preserves an 1842 description by traveller Thomas L. Cooke, who found the former stronghold roofed with straw and serving as a barn belonging to Mr Blood. That dated account records a later agricultural use of the building. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Clare
- Barony
- Burren
- Civil parish
- Gleninagh
- Within
- Gleninagh North
- Coordinates
- 53.13441, -9.19979
- Logainm ID
- 104091 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Cregg. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Notes on a Conchological Excursion to the West of Ireland, Journal of Conchology8, April1895, pp42–45, especiallyp44 · Edward Collier
- Gleninagh Castle: monument history and Cooke’s1842 description · Office of Public Works, Heritage Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-06-09. How this page was prepared.