Gort Gort Inse Guaire
—  Town  —
Bridge Street, Gort
Gort Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°03′58″N 8°48′42″W / 53.0660°N 8.8118°W / 53.0660; -8.8118Coordinates: 53°03′58″N 8°48′42″W / 53.0660°N 8.8118°W / 53.0660; -8.8118
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Galway
Elevation	43 m (141 ft)
Population (2006)[1]
• Total	2,734
Irish Grid Reference	M451019
Dialing code	091

Gort (Irish: Gort Inse Guaire or An Gort) is a town in south County Galway in the west of Ireland. An Gort is the official Irish name for the town, as defined by the Placenames Commission. In spoken Irish, however, the town is known by its traditional name Gort Inse Guaire. It lies just north of the border with County Clare on the main N18 Galway–Limerick road. Gort is situated in the territory of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne also known as Maigh Aidhne ("the plain of Aidhne"), which is coextensive with the diocese of Kilmacduagh / Cill Mhic Dhuach.

Newtown Castle, west of Gort.

History[link]

Gort takes its name, Gort Inse Guaire, from gort (a meadow), "inse" (island) and Guaire Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin, the sixth century King of Connacht and patron of St. Colman MacDuagh. During the Middle Ages the chiefs of Cenél Áeda na hEchtge, the O'Shaughnessys (Ó Seachnasaigh, a clan descended from Guaire Aidhneach) had their principal stronghold in Gort, on a site which later became a cavalry barracks. At the end of the seventeenth century the O'Shaughnessy lands were confiscated and granted to Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet, whose grandson was John Prendergast Smyth, 1st Viscount Gort. In 1831, the town had a population of 3,627 and 563 houses. The Great Hunger of the mid-1840s devastated the population.

A number of historic sites around Gort are included in the Sites and Monuments Record. Kilmacduagh monastery and round tower are situated approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) west of Gort. Rahaly Castle lies approximately 4.8 km (3 mi) east of Gort.

Transport[link]

Gort railway station opened on 15 September 1869 and was closed for goods traffic on 3 November 1975 and for passenger traffic on 5 April 1976.^[7] it was reopened in 2010 as part of the Western Railway Corridor project.

The M18 Motorway bypass of the town has been completed since the 12th of November 2010.

People[link]

The poet William Butler Yeats renovated an old tower house near the village (Thoor Ballylee) and took up residence there. He was also a frequent visitor to the home of Lady Gregory at nearby Coole Park. Coole Park is located just off the Galway Road, just 1 km from the town of Gort.

Demographics[link]

Some 40% of the residents of Gort are non-Irish, according to the 2006 Census, a massive majority of these being Brazilians. These people originally came to work in the meat processing plants in Gort where the pay is generally much higher than in similar plants in Brazil. According to Claire Healy "a large community of Brazilians now live, work and attend school in Gort, gradually altering the appearance and the character of the town".^[8] The Roman Catholic Church caters to the Brazilian community with a mass in Portuguese every Sunday held in Gort Catholic Church.

Gort Community School[link]

The school was founded in 1995 and serves a large area of south Co. Galway. The current student population is over 750. The current Principal is Mr. Dennis Corry and the Vice-Principal Ms. Amy Talbot.^[9] The school campus contains the main school building, a GAA pitch, rugby union pitch, football pitch and canteen. The school has many sports teams including Hurling, Rugby Union, Soccer, Basketball, Athletics, Golf and an Equestrian team. Gort's only national title ever won by the school, was during the 2007/2008 season of first year boy's basketball national championships.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Tourist Information for Gort: Provides information on Gort's attractions, activities and businesses.
• Official website of the Gort GAA Club
• Guaire.ie: a community based magazine from Gort
• community-based heritage site

v t e Places in County Galway County town: Galway Towns Athenry Ballinasloe Ballygar Carraroe Claregalway Clifden Dunmore Glenamaddy Gort Headford Loughrea Mountbellew Moycullen Oranmore Oughterard Portumna Tuam Villages Ahascragh Annaghdown Ardrahan Aughrim Ballinderreen Ballyconneely Ballymacward Ballymoe Ballynahinch Barna Barnaderg Bealadangan Bullaun Camus Carnmore Castleblakeney Castlegar Clarinbridge Cleggan Clonbur Coalpits Cornamona Corofin Costelloe Craughwell Cregmore Eyrecourt Furbo Garrafrauns Inverin Kilcolgan Kilconnell Kilkerrin Kilkieran Killimor Kilronan Kinvara Laurencetown Leenaun Letterfrack Lettermore Lettermullen Maam Cross Maum Menlough Milltown Monivea Moylough New Inn Newbridge Recess Rosmuc Rossaveal Roundstone Skehana Spiddal Turloughmore Williamstown Woodford Townlands Attymon Ballynahown Derrymullan Hollygrove Kilclooney Killagoola Kinvara Lissagurraun Meelick Muckanaghederdauhaulia Oldthort Tulrush Baronies Aran Athenry Ballymoe Ballynahinch Clare Clonmacnowen Dunkellin Dunmore Galway Kilconnell Killian Kiltartan Leitrim Longford Loughrea Moycullen Ross Tiaquin List of townlands in County Galway Category:Mountains and hills of County Galway Category:Rivers of County Galway Category:Geography of County Galway

Patrick Ward (born 4 January 1950 in Sydney) is an Australian actor noted for several performances on Australian television.

Career[link]

Ward played a guest television role in police procedural Matlock Police in 1973. He then played a support role in the film version of top-rated soap opera Number 96 in 1974 ^[1] and acted in cult film Stone (1974).^[2]

He played a guest role in teen soap opera Class of '74, and was a regular in serial The Unisexers (1975) produced by Cash Harmon Television, the makers of Number 96.^[3] The Unisexers was cancelled after just three weeks and 16 episodes due to low ratings.^[4] Ward played a role in the television version of Number 96 in 1976.^[5]

Ward had a regular support role in police procedural Cop Shop starting late 1977 but left the series within a year of its launch.^[6] In 1980 he was a regular cast member of new soap opera Arcade created by several members of the creative team from Number 96. Arcade was a critical and ratings failure and was cancelled after six weeks on air.^[7][8] He acted in film The Chain Reaction (1980)^[9] and played a guest role in US series The Love Boat in 1981.

Ward subsequently played a regular role in situation comedy My Two Wives (1992).^[10] Other TV roles include appearances in A Country Practice (in 1983), Chances (1991), Mission: Impossible (1988), All Saints (in 2001), Farscape (in 2001 and 2003), and Bad Cop, Bad Cop (in 2003).

Miniseries appearances include ANZACS, Fields of Fire, Fields of Fire II, Fields of Fire III.

Later roles include the feature film Restraint (2008).

References[link]

External links[link]

• Patrick Ward at the Internet Movie Database