J Galway Archaeol Hist Soc 59

Adaptation and summarisation of several pieces written in Irish by Seán Ó Cinnéide, and published in their original form in various issues of Feasta in 2005--6, concerned in the main with the possible pagan origins of some of the placenames on and about Lough Corrib, with occasional references to diverse places along the western seaboard deemed to have similar associations.

The paper highlights the significance of the Limerick surgeon and antiquarian Silvester O'Halloran (1728--1807) to Irish history, through extracts from his correspondence and in particular through a previously unpublished letter concerning the printing proposals for his work, A General History of Ireland (1778). Includes

The paper presents a history of the O'Kelly family of Creeraun and Cooloo, including their place in the local community as landowners.

A variety of site-types were found during a comprehensive programme of archaeological works between 2003 and 2005, preceding construction of the Loughrea bypass. The paper describes a fire-scorched pit at Fairfield, radiocarbon dated to the mid-first millennium AD, and a Bronze Age burnt mound at Greeneenagh. It is suggested that both these sites represent food preparation sites outside the normal domestic context, the former possibly from a single event but the latter indicating use over a period of several centuries.

Report on a survey aimed at compiling a comprehensive written and illustrated record of buildings and structures associated with the Loughrea to Attymon Light Railway, opened in 1890 and closed in 1975, prior to the removal of the track bed and associated features along part of its route during construction of the N6 Galway to Ballinasloe National Road Scheme. The features concerned included two level-crossing keeper's cottages, two substantial arch bridges, five girder bridges, stiles, a signal post and a culvert.