GALWAY, a seaport and county town of Co. Galway, Ire land, on the north shore of Galway bay, and on the Great Southern railway. Pop. of urban district (1926), 13,255. After the building of its walls (c. 127o) it developed commercially. Richard II.'s charter of incorporation, confirmed by Henry IV., was extended in 1545 to give the port jurisdiction over the Aran islands, and to permit exportation of all goods other than linens and woollens. A charter from James I. formed the town and the land within a radius of 2 m. into a county. During the Civil Wars of 1641, the town surrendered to the Parliamentary forces. The inhabitants were dispersed and their property given to adventurers and soldiers. During the campaigns of William III., the town was again captured.
Lynch's Castle is Spanish in style, with a square central court. St. Nicholas church, a cruciform building founded in 132o, was collegiate from 1484 until 1840, and Edward VI. created the Royal College of Galway in connection with it. There are remains of a Franciscan friary founded in 1296, and the town is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese. University college, a quadrangular building in Tudor-Gothic style, was founded as Queen's college under an act of 1845, and its name was changed when it received a new charter in 1908.
Claddagh, a suburb, is engaged in sea and salmon fisheries. The harbour is connected with Lough Corrib. The chief exports are wool, agricultural produce and black marble, polished locally. Other establishments are corn-mills, iron-foundries, distilleries, and brush and bag factories.