Qualla: Headford https://qualla.com/headford en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Headford https://qualla.com/headford Headford: Introduction https://qualla.com/headford/ Approach Headford from the south, on the N84 out of Galway city, and the country flattens into the broad pasture that drains toward Lough Corrib. The town itself is small - about 1,235 people at the 2022 census - and easy to miss if you blink. But the country around it has been worked, fortified, prayed in, and walked over for at least three thousand years. Prehistoric burial cairns lie within a short ride of the square. Iron Age enclosures sit in the fields. Norman castles guard old fording points. And two miles to the northwest, the great roofless church of Ross Errilly Friary still throws long shadows across the river meadows.

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/8/headford-wp/gc98-headford-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Headford: Where the Land Tips Toward the Lough https://qualla.com/headford/ Headford sits on the eastern shore of Lough Corrib, the second-largest lake on the island of Ireland. The Black River runs past the town on its way west into the lough, forming the county boundary with Mayo. For centuries the river has drawn anglers after its trout, and the small...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/8/headford-wp/gc98-headford-where-the-land-tips-toward-the-lough.mp3 0:06 2 full Headford: The Lace and the Loom https://qualla.com/headford/ Headford has a tradition you would not necessarily guess from the modern streetscape. The town was once a centre of lacemaking, producing in a style known as Torchon - delicate, geometric work made on a pillow with bobbins. The craft has been recognised on Ireland's National Inve...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/8/headford-wp/gc98-headford-the-lace-and-the-loom.mp3 0:06 3 full Headford: Two Miles to Ross Errilly https://qualla.com/headford/ Walk or drive northwest from the square and within minutes you reach Ross Errilly Friary, locally called Ross Abbey though strictly speaking it had no abbot. It is among the best-preserved medieval Franciscan friaries in Ireland: cloisters, kitchen, fish tank, refectory, bell tow...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/8/headford-wp/gc98-headford-two-miles-to-ross-errilly.mp3 0:06 4 full Headford: The Killursa Church and the Saint https://qualla.com/headford/ Two and a half kilometres west of Headford, in the townland of Ower, the ruined medieval church of Killursa marks the older Christian footprint of the area. It was dedicated to Saint Fursey, the seventh-century Irish monk whose name still attaches to a local Ladies GAA club and a...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/8/headford-wp/gc98-headford-the-killursa-church-and-the-saint.mp3 0:06 5 full Headford: Twinned With Brittany and California https://qualla.com/headford/ Headford is twinned with Le Faouet in Brittany and with Morgan Hill in Santa Clara County, California - one tie to the old Celtic west of France, another to the wider Irish diaspora that has scattered Galway names across the American continent. The town has one secondary school, ...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/8/headford-wp/gc98-headford-twinned-with-brittany-and-california.mp3 0:06 6 full