Kiltimagh
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| Kiltimagh Coillte Mách |
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| Location | ||
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| Irish Grid Reference M342893 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Connacht | |
| County: | County Mayo | |
| Elevation: | 41 m | |
| Population (2002) - Town: - Rural: |
1,000 1,386 |
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Kiltimagh (Irish: Coillte Mách, "Mách's forest") is a town in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland.
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[edit] Employment and economy
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Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
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 Railway 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 1990s, 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.
[edit] Culture
During the 1990s, 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). Other sites of interest include the Town Museum, Station Master's Exhibition Centre and Sculpture Park, all located in the restored area of the Old Railway Station.
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.
[edit] Name etymology
Kiltimagh (pronounced /ˌkɪltʃɪˈmɒk/) is said to be the origin of '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.
[edit] People from Kiltimagh
- Antoine Ó Raifteiri (Anthony Raftery) - the blind Irish-language poet.
- Louis Walsh, pop music manager and judge on The X Factor
