Tynagh Tíne
—  Town  —
Tynagh Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°10′12″N 8°22′12″W / 53.1700°N 8.3700°W / 53.1700; -8.3700Coordinates: 53°10′12″N 8°22′12″W / 53.1700°N 8.3700°W / 53.1700; -8.3700
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Galway
Elevation	85 m (279 ft)
Population (2002)
• Rural	842
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference	M621163
Website	www.galway.ie

Tynagh (Irish: Tíne) is a village and parish in south-east County Galway in Ireland.

Origin of the name[link]

Recorded as Tyneaach (1565), Teacneaghe (1543), Theaneac (1541), its current name is a contraction of Teach nEachach, 'Eochu's house'. In medieval Irish sources it is referred to as Teach nEachach, or 'the house of Eochu'. It was originally associated with the townland of Lecarrow, one mile east of the village, now named a Billew Burial Ground, the word BNillew derived from Bileadha, plural of bile, denoting a sacred tree.

The element Eachach refers to Dagda, the supreme deity of the pagan Irish. He is cited as the father of the founder of the church, Brandubh of Tynagh. This suggests that Tynagh was originally a cult centre for the festival of Lughnasa, later Christianised by Brandubh, who was cited as Lugh's son, thus betraying its true origins.

Geographic area and notable industry[link]

From about the 8th or 9th century up to the 17th century, the name of the area it was situated within was Síol Anmchadha. Its kings and lords were the Maddan family.

Situated between the towns of Loughrea (15 km) and Portumna (13 km), the place is probably best known for the Tynagh mines which opened in the 1960s and were an important source of lead and zinc concentrates at that time. For almost twenty years Irish Base Metals Tynagh Ltd was a major source of employment for east Galway. This all changed in 1981, however, when the mines closed with the loss of 350 jobs.

In 2004, after lying dormant for over twenty years, part of the site was redeveloped for industrial use with Sperrin Galvanisers (Ireland) Ltd opening a steel galvanising plant, and Tynagh Energy Ltd a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, the first in Galway.

Sports[link]

Tynagh has very strong hurling links. Between 1920 and 1929 no club in Galway went as long unbeaten in senior hurling. Also during period, Tynagh had no fewer than six members on the Galway team that won the All-Ireland in 1923, another unrivalled county record.

International links[link]

Paul Keating, the former prime minister of Australia, visited Tynagh in 1992 while tracing his ancestry, and found that he was related to a Paul Molloy and Thomas Donnellan from Tynagh.

The grandfather (Michael Lyons) of another past Prime minister of Australia, Joseph Lyons, emigrated to Australia from Tynagh.^[1]

See also[link]

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

External links[link]

• Tynagh Energy
• Sperrin Galvanisers
• Irish Farmers Journal report on environmental pollution in Tynagh

References[link]

• Lough Neagh and Tynagh revisited, Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig, in Anim i, 1986, pp. 14–40.
• Early Ecclesiastical Settlement Names of County Galway, Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig, in Galway:History and Society, 1996, pp. 787.