European Archaeology Days

Loughrea Town Gate

Alison Mc Cormack

Scoil Eanna pupils at Latimers Gate, Loughrea

Kenneth Cooney

Children looking over a wall at water flowing along medieval moat of loughrea. High wall visisible on the left hand side, some greenery in the foreground | B. Doherty 2026

Pupils and teachers from St. Ita's N.S. inspecting medieval moat

B. Doherty 2026

Galway Community Archaeology Project and Galway County Heritage Office hosted a number of Schools Events in Loughrea in celebration of European Archaeology Days. European Archaeology Days are coordinated in Europe by the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) and in Ireland, by The Heritage Council. This event is co-funded by The Heritage in Schools Scheme.

Tour Medieval Loughrea

Bernie Doherty, Galway Community Archaeologist and Heritage in Schools Specialist brought groups of primary school students from Scoil Eanna, Bullaun and St. Ita’s Loughrea on a tour of Medieval Loughrea. Walking along the route of the medieval moat, the children looked through the eyes of an archaeologist at the layout of a medieval town. They heard stories of the De Burgho family and how they used Loughrea as their caput, or holiday destination. They looked across the lake to crannogs, some of which were possibly medieval outposts and used to protect the town from the lakeside. Looking beyond the lake to Earlspark they saw how vast the medieval deerpark was, used as a playground for the nobility. They discovered Castle Street, and possible location for the castle. They saw where the entrance to the town was through Latimer Gate, and likely location of a market. Beast carvings on St. Mary’s Abbey were spotted for the first time. Each child received an Activity Book, funded by Galway County Council and Glanua.

To find out more about this European initiative visit: journees-archeologie.eu