Menlough Castle, County Galway
Photo © Aiden Clarke, 5 September 2005
Menlough Castle, County Galway
Photo © Aiden Clarke, 5
September 2005
Menlough (Mionlach in Irish) is a village in northeast County Galway in Ireland. Located 38 km from Galway, 30 km from Tuam, 29 km from Ballinasloe, and 20 km from Athenry, it forms part of the civil parish of Killascobe.
Historical background
Historically, Menlough was in the Barony of Hymany which was a stronghold of the O'Mannion clan. The ruins of an O'Mannion castle are located in the fields behind the "grotto" in the centre of the village. Another O'Mannion castle in the parish is better known as there are more extensive ruins. This second ruin is known as "Garbally castle". It is visible to travellers from Galway to Menlough as they pass through Skehana (half parish of Menlough).
During the Irish War of Independence, a local landlord and large landholder Joyce was shot dead in the parish of Menlough as he walked to Mass. No-one was ever apprehended for this crime and the incident forms part of parish folklore. The irony was that the landlord Joyce considered himself more Irish than anyone. He was a supporter of the cause and the whole Joyce clan had a history of helping the locals stretching back to before the famine. The ruins of Joyce's house are still visible in the townland of Corgary as are the fine walls built to protect his lands.
Ó Mannin (anglacised Mannion) is the name of a Galway family who were formerly chiefs of Soghain, a district nearly co-extensive with the barony of Tiaquin. Ó Mannin, Kind of Soghain, is mentioned in the Chronicon Scotorum in the year 1135, and a latter chief died at the Second Battle of Athenry in 1316.
They continued to form a distinct clan down to the time of James I of England. The chief resided at Menlough Castle, in the parish of Killascobe, Galway. In 1617, Aedh Ó Mannin (Hugh O'Mannin) surrendered his estates, but a small portion of it was restored under the Act of Settlement in 1676 where the name is still common in Galway and Roscommon, and has spread into other parts of Ireland.