To celebrate the summer, Gaeltacht an Eachreidh is organising a bus tour with tour guide and historian Jim Ward in which we will explore the role Co. Galway played in the Easter Rising of 1916 and the struggle for Irish freedom.

Jim, an Irish-speaker based in Galway, will bring us on a half-day bus tour, starting and ending in Claregalway, to explore the sites where Galway people rose up against the British forces 110 years ago.

As Jim told us during a fascinating walking tour in the city two months ago, exploring Galway’s revolutionary history, most of the fighting in 1916 took place at sites to the east of Galway City. Some of the sites are right on our doorstep in Gaeltacht an Eachréidh.

Our tour will begin at the car park to the rear of The Arches Hotel at 11am on Saturday, July 18, where a coach from Paul Nash Travel will be waiting.

Our coach driver will bring us to seven locations east of the Corrib which are all connected to Ireland’s fight for freedom.

The tour will take approximately four hours and Jim will guide us ‘as Gaeilge’ as we take in the sites where Galway people rose up against the British Empire in Easter 1916.

The largest uprising outside of Dublin in Easter 1916 was in Co. Galway, where Liam Mellows led hundreds of Volunteers in a Rising in the east of the county, which lasted from Tuesday, April 25, to Saturday, April 29.

Jim has a keen interest in the subject of the tour. His own grandfather, James Ward, was a Galway Volunteer who participated in the Rising and was subsequently interned in Perth and later in the famous Frongoch Camp in North Wales.

Our bus tour will take in Killeeneen, Clarinbridge, Oranmore, Carnmore Cross, Athenry Model Farm, Moyode Castle and Limepark House in Peterswell.

The bus will leave the car park at the rear of The Arches Hotel at 11am sharp. While the tour is free of charge, you must book a ticket in advance to secure a place with us. We will return to The Arches at about 3 or 4pm and some knowledge of Irish is required, as this guided bus tour is in our native language.

Numbers are strictly limited, to ensure comfort for everyone on the bus and that everyone gets to hear Jim’s words of wisdom.

The tour will be conducted primarily in the Irish language, but we also welcome learners and those who are not fluent, as we are aiming for this day out to be interactive and inclusive. Because Jim welcomes feedback and opinions from participants, we cannot tell exactly when the tour will finish up but we will be back at The Arches Hotel in the mid afternoon (approximately 3 to 4pm).

This should be a wonderful day out for anyone with some Irish and some interest in Irish revolutionary history. While the tour is free of charge, places must be booked in advance due to the size of our bus.

To book one of the 25 places available on this tour, please go to our Eventbrite page:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1992905356569