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Gort

Gort
An Gort
Town
Bridge Street, Gort
Bridge Street, Gort
Gort is located in Ireland
Gort
Gort
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°03′58″N 8°48′42″W / 53.0660°N 8.8118°W / 53.0660; -8.8118Coordinates: 53°03′58″N 8°48′42″W / 53.0660°N 8.8118°W / 53.0660; -8.8118
Country Ireland
Province Connacht
County County Galway
Elevation 43 m (141 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 2,644
Irish Grid Reference M451019
Dialing code 091

Gort (/ˈɡɒrt/; Irish: Gort Inse Guaire or An Gort) is a town in south County Galway, in the west of Ireland. It lies just north of the border with County Clare on the main N18 Galway–Limerick road. Gort is situated in the territory of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne also known as Maigh Aidhne ("the plain of Aidhne"), which is coextensive with the diocese of Kilmacduagh / Cill Mhic Dhuach.

Gort takes its name, Gort Inse Guaire, from gort (a meadow), "inse" (island) and Guaire Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin, the sixth century King of Connacht and patron of St. Colman MacDuagh. During the Middle Ages the chiefs of Cenél Áeda na hEchtge, the O'Shaughnessys (Ó Seachnasaigh, a clan descended from Guaire Aidhneach) had their principal stronghold in Gort, on a site which later became a cavalry barracks. At the end of the seventeenth century the O'Shaughnessy lands were confiscated and granted to Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet, whose grandson was John Prendergast Smyth, 1st Viscount Gort. In 1831, the town had a population of 3,627 and 563 houses. The Great Hunger of the mid-1840s devastated the population.


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