Galey Bay Camping

01/01/2025

Northern lights over Galey tonight
Galey Bay Camping

29/09/2024

Best of luck to St. Dominics today!!

16/01/2024

Fabulous sky over Galey Bay this morning 🌄

08/08/2023

19/06/2023

Great pieces of history are what shape Ireland. There is so much so explore when you visit the Emerald Island.

Finding places like the Galey Bay Castle still hanging on in there after all these years is just amazing.

It's history

Galey Castle is a tower house on the western shore of Galey Bay. Only the ivy covered east corner of a vaulted four-storey structure survives, with a grass-covered cairn at its base and a passage in the south-east wall. The castle was built in 1340 by William Bui O’Kelly, and housed the O’Kelly Clan who the time were Chieftains of South Roscommon/East Galway.


Discover Ireland VisitRoscommon

17/06/2023

Edit: the dog has been reunited with its owner!

This dog wandered into the campsite a little while ago, does anyone know who owns it?

25/05/2023

25/03/2023

SAD END FOR THE VENUE OF IRELAND'S FIRST MUSIC FESTIVAL!

You'll find Galey Castle teetering on one corner of what was once an impressive 4-storey tower house, on the western shores of Lough Ree near Knockcroghery in County Roscommon. The castle was built in 1340 by William Bui O’Kelly; at the time the O’Kelly Clan were Chieftains of South Roscommon/East Galway. In 1351 William invited all the poets, brehons, bards, harpers, gamesters and jesters he could muster to Galey Castle for Christmas. Often described as a poet, warrior and visionary, he organised the festival because he feared the Gaelic way of life and culture was under threat. The gathering lasted until February 1st, St. Bridget’s Day, and became known as Ireland's first Fleadh Ceol (music festival).

In 1650 Oliver Cromwell’s troops laid siege to Galey Castle. The O’Kelly clan resisted and, for their defiance, were taken to Creggan and hanged on the stepped hill just north of the village, now commonly known as Hangman’s Hill.

(M) 💚

Pic. Wiki, J.daly2

06/10/2022

Some unusual visitors to the campsite earlier on this evening 🐄

30/09/2022

You never know what's around the corner in Ireland's Hidden Heartlands... 😮

Roscommon is known for its unspoiled waterways, proud heritage and enchanting ruins. Like Lough Key, the National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park and Galey Castle.

Learn more about this great county 👉 https://bit.ly/3U1NXTb

📸 nath341 [IG]

12/08/2022

30/06/2022

Possibly the most photographed boat in Roscommon! Did you know its available to rent for a day of fishing or floating around the bay?!

We also have some availability for the summer months for tents, campers and caravans 🏕🚐

03/06/2022

After 35 years, it's time to say goodbye to our brown toilet block! Here's a sneak peek of our lovely new bathrooms 🚽

29/04/2022

Fabulous day for a stroll by the Shannon 🏕

17/01/2022

Gorgeous morning in Galey Bay 🌅

06/01/2022

There has been a lot of changes in the world but Galey Bay is still a lovely place for a picnic 😀

Nollaig na mban Shona daoibh!
This fabulous photo of a group of Knockcroghery girls was taken in the late 1920’s enjoying a picnic at Gailey Bay.

26/12/2021

This day 670 years ago – 25 December 1351 – William Buí O’Kelly (Uilliam Buidhe Ó Cellaigh) held a Christmas feast for the poets of Ireland in his home in Galey Castle in Co. Roscommon. He invited not only poets but bards, harpers, gamesters and jesters.

The event was immortalised by the bardic poet Gofraidh Fionn Ó Dálaigh, who died in 1387. Eleanor Hull, co-founder of the Irish Texts Society, of which Douglas Hyde was President, translated Ó Dálaigh’s poem Filidh Éireann go haointeach (The Poets of Ireland to One House):

“The poets of the Irish land are preparing to seek O’Kelly. A mighty company is approaching his house... The fair, generous-hearted host have another spacious avenue of white houses for the bardic companies and the jugglers.”

The feast was, according to Katherine Simms’ 1978 article Guesting and Feasting in Gaelic Ireland, “the earliest recorded instance of an Irish lay-patron providing a feast exclusively for the benefit of the learned classes”.

O’Kelly died in 1381; he was described in the Annals of the Four Masters as “a man of the greatest character, worth, and renown, of his own tribe; the man who had given a general invitation of hospitality to the schools of Ireland, and had given them all their own demands.”

To read more about the 1351 Christmas feast by William Buí O’Kelly, and about 365 other events – one for every date of the year – pick up a copy of This Day in Irish History by Padraic Coffey.

Perfect for those with an interest in Ireland's past!

https://easons.com/this-day-in-irish-history-padraic-coffey-9781788492577