galway church and castle

The tower was added around 1500. The north aisle was enlarged to its present size between 1538 and 1583, while the Blessed Sacrament Chapel dates to about 1538. The 15th century west doorway and the 16th century south doorway are both insertions. There is a fine 16th century Joyce wall-tomb in the south transept and a fine 15th century reader's desk re-erected near the entrance to the Blessed Sacrament chapel, as well as a number of interesting grave-slabs on the floor. In a wall to the north of the church is a plague alleging to mark the spot where Mayor Lynch hanged his son Walter in 1493.

Lynche's Castle:

At the junction of shop Street and Upper abbeygate street is Lynche's Castle, a 16th century castle which was heavily altered in 1966 when it was converted into a bank. The exterior preserves some of the few remaining Irish gargoyles as well as the arms of Henry V11, the Lynch family and the Fitzgeralds of Kildare. The stonework of the windows is of good quality. In the ground floor, historical material dealing with the castle is displayed. A doorway and first-floor window of one of the many fine 16th and 17th century houses which adorned the city has been re-erected in isolation on the north side of Eyre Square.

It belonged to a house of the Browne family which formerly stood in Lower Abbeygate Street. The so-called Spanish Arch, is the south-western portion of the old town, was one of the gates in the old city wall and houses a museum.