Tynagh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tynagh Tynagh |
||
| Location | ||
|
||
|
WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Irish grid reference M621163 |
||
| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Connacht | |
| County: | County Galway | |
| Elevation: | 85 m | |
| Population (2002) - Town: - Environs: |
842 |
|
| Website: www.galway.ie | ||
Tynagh (Tigneatha in Irish) is a village parish in south east County Galway in the Republic of Ireland, near the towns of Loughrea and Portumna. It's probably best known for the Tynagh mines which opened in the 1960's and were at that time, an important mining resource of Lead Pb, and Zinc Zn, Concentrates. 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 laying dormant for over twenty years, part of the site has been redeveloped for industrial use with Sperrin Galvanisers (Ireland) Ltd opening a steel galvanising plant, and Tynagh Energy Limited opening a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, the first in Galway.
Tynagh has very strong hurling links also. No club in Galway went as long unbeaten in senior hurling from 1920 until 1929. During this time they had no less than 6 members on a Galway team that won the All Ireland, no club has ever equalled this in Galway either.
The origin of the name Tynagh is unknown, but because it comes from the Irish word Tighneatha, some say this means "house of the witch", while others say it is because of the number of houses that were once in Tynagh. Paul Keating, former prime minister of Australia visited Tynagh in 1992 tracing his relations, and found that he was related to a "Paul Molloy" from Tynagh.
[edit] External Links
Tynagh Energy [1]
Sperrin Galvanisers [2]
Irish Farmers Journal report on environmental pollution in Tynagh [3]
