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
Baile Locha Riach· Irish · main form · validated name
Loughrea· English · main form
Place & story
William Byrne’s new cathedral
Saint Brendan’s Cathedral was begun in 1897 and completed in 1902 to William Byrne’s design. Its neo-Gothic exterior encloses a nave, aisles and shallow transepts beneath a western spire. Galway’s heritage trail identifies the building as a centre of Celtic Revival art, with local craftspeople contributing metalwork and timber carving alongside nationally known artists.[2]
People & connections
Edward Martyn’s patronage
Edward Martyn, born in Loughrea parish, helped finance the cathedral’s decoration and encouraged the use of Irish artists. Bishop John Healy and curate Jeremiah O’Donovan supported the project. John Hughes supplied sculpture, including the Virgin and Child, while Michael Shortall carved Saint Brendan and scenes from the saint’s life and voyage. Their work turned the interior into a coordinated artistic programme.[3]
People & connections
The Tower of Glass
Martyn’s concern for stained glass helped bring Sarah Purser and Alfred Child into the project. Their cooperative workshop An Túr Gloine opened in January 1903. Over the following decades Child, Purser and Michael Healy produced much of the cathedral’s glass. The commissions linked a small diocesan cathedral with the training and employment of a new generation of Irish stained-glass artists.[3]
Embroidery beside stone and glass
The Dun Emer circle supplied embroidered banners of Irish saints and silk-on-poplin vestments. Lily and Elizabeth Yeats worked with Evelyn Gleeson, while Jack B. Yeats and Mary Yeats designed banners. These textiles belonged within the same interior as the windows and sculpture, extending the commission across several crafts and workshops.[3]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Loughrea — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Loughrea Legal Town, Galway — Legal town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Loughrea Legal Town, Galway — Legal town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Loughrea, Galway — Legal town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Loughrea, Galway — 2011 legal town and environs; 2016 census settlement
Published census settlement populations
5,556people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
View population figures
Loughrea, Galway — 2011 legal town and environs; 2016 census settlement — census population
Saint Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea, County Galway illustration: based on a Loughrea Cathedral by Vanessa Kennedy. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY 2.0.
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