Ballinderreen

Overview

Ballinderreen village is approximately 22 km south of Galway City and is a part of the townland of Ballinderreen. Ballinderreen is both the name of the catholic diocesan parish of Galway and the townland where the village is situated. It takes its name from oak trees in the village. The Irish name of the village, Baile an Doirín, means town of the little derry or little oakwood, suggesting the area may once have been more heavily forested with oak trees. It contains the early Christian settlement of Surney of Drumacoo. It had a population of 997 under the 2006 census (under Drumacoo). This represents an increase of 15% on the 2002 figure [1]. The Ballinderreen GAA colours are two vertical stripes of green and white. The parish of Ballinderreen covers a larger area taking in part of the village of Kilcolgan on the N18 and borders Clarinbridge, Kinvara and Ardrahan.

Source: The Irish Placenames Commission (An Coimisiún Logainmneacha)

The village itself is quite small, with a pub, a primary school [2], a church (Roman Catholic, St. Colmans), creche, several sports pitches (mainly used for hurling, a nursing home [3] and a community centre. A small shopping centre including a fuel station, convenience store, hairdressers and take away restaurant opened in 2009.

Between 2000 and 2010 Ballinderreen saw the construction of many new houses and several small residential developments. This has resulted in a large increase in the village's population. Ballinderreen has become a popular place to live, mainly due to its close proximity to Galway City. However other factors include vibrant festivals in the neighbouring villages of Clarinbridge and Kinvara, its location on the shores of Galway Bay (the village itself is approximately 1.5 km from the shore) and scenery of the bay and The Burren in County Clare.

Geography

The parish is bordered by the shores of Galway Bay. This includes Brandy Harbour and Dunbulcaun Bay to the north and Kinvara Bay to the west. Aran Pier, Mulroog Pier and Tarrea Pier shelter some private pleasure crafts on these shores and offer views of Galway Bay.

Public transport to the village is poor with only two to three services per day passing through the village. However Bus Éireann and CityLink operate services frequently through Kilcolgan, five minutes away, to Galway, Limerick, Cork and Shannon Airport.

The Ballinderreen area itself has sometimes referred to by locals as the mini burren due to its turlough (lake) and limestone pavement. A lake with extensive reed beds is present about 1 km west of the village.

Education

Residents of Ballinderreen typically send their children to the national school [4] in the village which is one of the oldest national schools in the country, having been built in 1857. Other popular primary schools in the area are the Irish Language Gaelscoil de hÍde in nearby Oranmore and Educate Together in Kilcolgan [5]. Secondary schools in Kinvara (Seamount College [6]) and in Gort (Community School [7]) cater for the older children.

Music

A community of local musicians and singers known as Ceoltóirí an Doirín have come together to form a nonprofit organisation aimed at providing facilities for learning and playing traditional Irish music in Ballindereen. This group organise lessons and instrument rental to encourage traditional music in the area and have recorded examples of local musicians and produced several musical events in the area.

The tradition of Mummers is also alive in the Ballinderreen area with regular visits by brightly dressed Wrenboys (Irish: Lucht an dreoilín) frequent on St. Stephen's Day (26 December) and Mummers calling door to door at Halloween.

Sport

Ballinderreen hurling club was founded in 1884, and while there has been relatively little success in terms of silverware at older age level but did win the minor B in 1987, the club has always been very competitive in Senior competition. The club currently plays at intermediate level with the future looking promising senior hurling is not too far away. The club has produced many local legends, some whom of are regarded amongst the greats of the game: (Noel Lane, Joe McDonagh and Mick Gill).

Other sporting activities in the area include an active golf society [8] which hosts regular golf outings, a camogie club [9] which caters for teams from U'8 right up to Junior, and a variety of watersports, including boating, canoeing and swimming at the local pier at Killeenaran.

In 2011 the club's junior b hurlers became the first Galway team to win a Leinster title. Shortly after the team succured an all Ireland victory after a 2-6 to 0-5 defeat of donneraile, co. Cork.