Time zone WET (UTC+0) Elevation 83 m Local time Tuesday 12:21 PM | Irish Grid Reference S916607 | |
Weather 8°C, Wind S at 23 km/h, 87% Humidity |
Clonegal, officially Clonegall (/ˈkloʊnᵻɡɔːl/ KLOH-nə-gawl; from Irish: Cluain na nGall, meaning "meadow of the foreigners"), is a village in the southeast of County Carlow, Ireland. It is in a rural setting, 5 km from Bunclody, County Wexford, 22 km from Carlow and 17 km from the proposed interchange of the N9 and N80 roads at Rathcrogue. It is just over a mile north of where the River Slaney and the River Derry meet. Clonegal has a much smaller "twin" village across the River Derry in County Wexford, Watch House Village.
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Map of Clonegall, Co. Carlow, Ireland
The town is served by a primary school, and is central to a thriving agricultural hinterland, although it has little business development. Further housing development is imminent.
Name
The name Clonegal comes from the Irish Cluain na nGall or Meadow of the Foreigner. This could have originated from when Cromwell’s soldiers, during the Irish Confederate Wars, fought the Irish in the village in 1650 after which all Irish surviving males were massacred. Others contend that it came from foreign students who came to study in a monastery near the village. Clonegal has won the tidiest village in Ireland Award for 2014 and again 2015.
Demographics
According to the 2006 Census, Clonegal had a population of approximately 280, an increase of 20% since the 2002 Census.
History
It once had eleven malt houses in and around the village, along with a wool and corn store, a police station and other shops.
Places of interest
People
RTÉ Radio and television broadcaster Peter Murphy was born and reared on the Huntington Castle Estate. Clonegal was the birthplace of Patrick O'Donoghue, the 19th century Irish Nationalist revolutionary and journalist. Also home to Thomas Murphy