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Eyre Square
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Galway City
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The plot of land that became Eyre Square was
officially presented to the city in 1710 by Mayor Edward
Eyre, from whom it took its name.
Originally surrounded with a wooden fence, it was enclosed
with iron railings in the late 1700s.
These were removed in the 1960s, and subsequently re-erected
around St Nicholas' Collegiate Church. |
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In 1965, the square was officially renamed
"Kennedy Memorial Park" in honour of US President John F.
Kennedy, who visited Galway city shortly before his
assassination in 1963.
There are two large, cast-iron cannons which were presented
in recognition of the service of the Connaught Rangers, an
Irish Regiment in the British Army, in the Crimean War. A
statue of Irish language writer Pádraic Ó Conaire was
erected in the memory in 1935. There is a bust of a portrait
of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the park.
A walk around Eyre
Square takes in the following :
The Bank of Ireland
Built in 1836, houses the Galway Civic Sword and Mace which
where authority symbols of the Mayor and Corporation, dating
back to the 16th and 17th Centuries respectively.
Eyre Square Shopping Centre
Contains a restored section of the Medieval City Wall with
Penrice Tower at the northern end and Shoemakes Tower
standing above an entry leading to an underground section of
the 1647 bastion.
"The Greene"
was the original name for the open area in front of the city
gates. It was officially presented to the city in 1670 by
the Mayor, Edward Eyre (hence the name Eyre Square)
The Browne Doorway
Dated 1627, was originally the entrance to the Browne family
mansion in Abbeygate Street. Moved to its current position
in 1904 by the Galway Archological Society.
Cannons
These two 19th century iron cannon were brought back from
the Crimean war 1854-56 by the local regiment - The
Connaught Rangers.
Quincentennial Fountain
Erected in 1984, Eamon O'Doherty's work commemorates the
500th Anniversary of the incorporation of Galway City as a
borough with Mayoral Status. It symbolises the importance of
the sea for trade in Galway.
The O'Conaire Statue
Depicts Padraic O'Conaire (1882 - 1928) a pioneer writer of
modern Gaelic. |
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