Kiltimagh
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| Kiltimagh Coillte Mách |
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| Town population: | 1000 (2002) |
| Rural population: | 1386 (2002) |
| Elevation: | 41 m |
| County: | Mayo |
| Province: | Connacht |
Kiltimagh (in Irish, Coillte Mách) is a town in County Mayo, Ireland.
Kiltimagh, a picturesque town in the heart of County Mayo, is centrally located for touring the West. Kiltimagh is rich in history and was the birthplace of Antoine Ó Raifteiri (Anthony Raftery) - the blind poet. It boasts many historical sites and places of interest to visit, including the Town Museum, Station Master's Exhibition Centre and Sculpture Park, all located in the tastefully restored area of the Old Railway Station.
For the visitor it boasts attractions and amenities in the town including traditional pubs, "ceol agus craic" (Irish catchphrase meaning "music and good fun/conversation"), excellent food and accommodation in hotels, bed & breakfast and self catering.
Kiltimagh is also the birthplace of pop music entrepreneur Louis Walsh , founder of the Boyzone and Westlife boybands, as well as the famous landscaping artist, Anthony Carney. Kiltimagh is the birthplace of US-based businessman Tom Flatley, founder of the Tara hotel chain.
[edit] See also
List of towns in the Republic of Ireland
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Education
Kiltimagh is home to St. Aiden's National School, a Catholic primary school providor, St, Louis Community School, a former convent school and Catholic secondary school providor now incorporating the local Youthreach technical college or vocational school.
Employment and Economy
In the past Kiltimagh was something of a boom town with an industrial estate, host to a major clothing manufacturer and with a rail link with the rest of the country. The rail link is closed - but is pending re-opening as part of the Western Rail Corridor. Kiltimagh has been part of the worst unemployment regions in the country, neighbouring the nearby Black Triangle with more than a third of the adult population thought to out of work (when including spouses) during Ireland's notorious unemployment troughs in the 1980s and early 1990s. In recent years there has been some improvement although much of this has been offset by the increased population. Despite the economic boom enjoyed by Ireland since the mid 1990's, Kiltimagh, like other towns in Ireland's western and northern periphery, has benefitted spasmodically and inconsistently, with political and socio-economic marginalisation offset only by the relative small size of Ireland, which ensures that economic boom areas in the east and around Galway are geographically close.
Recent History
Kiltimagh is a town which experienced a profound economic boom in the 1990's. An organisation known as Kiltimagh IRD came into being, and actively pursued the idea of recreating Kiltimagh in the syle of a nineteenth-century market town. Buildings were restored and brightly painted. Local historical buildings were renovated. These include the Town Hall Theatre, the train station (now an art gallery, museum and music school). Kiltimagh began to blossom into a beautiful place to live.
In Irish Culture
Kiltimagh (pronounced 'Kill-chi-mah') lends its name to the epithet 'Culchie', a quasi-derogatory term (depending on context and utilisation) traditionally employed by Dubliners to describe people from rural Ireland, or all parts of Ireland outside Dublin, excepting Northern Ireland. Implicit in the slur is that 'culchies' are unsophisticated country bumpkins unused to the alleged rigours and complexity of city life. It is usually, though not exclusively, employed by working-class Dubliners with tenuous connections to and knowledge of the rest of Ireland outside the immediate Dublin environment. Underlying the slur is a degree of self-consciousness and resentment on the part of the user, given that although socio-economic disenfranchisement is a feature of both working-class Dublin and parts of rural Ireland, people from rural Ireland have had marked success in Irish party politics and public life.
