Motto: Semper fidelis (Always Faithful)
Arguably the most influential of the Tribes, the Lynch family arrived in Ireland in 1185 with Sir Hugh de Lacy. The Galway family descended from William le Petit, who received grants in Westmeath. John de Lynch, the first settler in Galway, married into the Mareschall family. Their influence endured until Cromwell’s era. Estates were located in Newcastle, Barna, and Moycullen. Their primary line was known as ‘Cranmore’ (the eldest line of Lynches from which the younger branches sprang. The house of Newcastle claimed this distinction). Over 169 years, 84 family members served as mayors of Galway. The Lynch family was involved in winning the mayoralty status of Galway, and the Collegiate independence of St Nicholas
Within the city the Lynch coat of arms decorates many of the buildings. The Lynch chapel in St. Nicholas Church bears their arms on the exterior, and on the Lynch Window and tomb.
Lynch’s castle is the most elaborate old family residence in the city, now being used as an office of Allied Irish Bank. Lynch’s Castle is well illustrated on the 1651 Pictorial Map, with its battlements clearly visible, a defining symbol of its high status. (Marked as S on the map)
Sir Robert Lynch, baronet, had his mansion house located at the junction of Lower Abbeygate Street west, and Shop Street. This was another very extensive site, with an entrance courtyard and subsidiary out-office buildings surrounding it. Like most of the great edifices, it fell into disuse and disrepair in the aftermath of the Cromwellian defeat. Not a trace remains of the original building. (Marked as V on the map).
The Mansion House of Antony Lynch, citizen is also noted on the 1651 Map, between today’s Abbeygate Street Lower and Eglinton Street. (Marked as C on the map).
1651 Map: https://galwaycivictrust.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Cantec_Scan-of-1651-map.pdf
Sources Consulted
Books
Dargan, Pat, Galway – City of Heritage, Eastwood Books, Dublin, 2024
Dowd, Peadar, “A Family Heritage in Stone”, Galway Roots- Journal of the Galway Family History Society West, Summer 1993, (pp6-8)
Hardiman, James, Hardiman’s History of Galway, 1820 (reprint, Connacht Tribune 1985)
Larkin, Patrick “SOME TOWN CASTLES OF GALWAY.”Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 72 (2020): 157–72.
Martyn Adrian, The Tribes Of Galway; 1124- 1642, Galway; Adrian Martyn, 2016
O’Neill T.P., The Tribes and other Galway families, (1984), reprint, Galway Civic Trust, 2013
Prunty, Jacinta; Walsh, Paul, Galway- Irish Historic Town Atlas No 28, Royal Irish Academy, 2016
Walsh, Paul, Renaissance Galway- Delineating the Seventeenth Century City, Royal Irish Academy, 2019
Internet
Welcome to County Galway Guide, ‘’Tribes of Galway”, (2007), https://www.galway-ireland.ie/galway-tribes.htm
