The town developed as a crossing point on the
River Suck, a
tributary of the
Shannon, which forms the boundary between counties
Galway and
Roscommon. The part of Ballinasloe east of the river lies in the civil parish of
Creagh, County Roscommon, while the larger part west of the river is in
Kilclooney, County Galway. The Irish placename – meaning the 'mouth of the ford of the crowds' – reflects this purpose. The
patron saint of Ballinasloe is
Saint Grellan, who tradition believes built the first church in the area. A local housing estate, a GAA club, the branch of
Conradh na Gaeilge, and formerly a school are named after him. While there is evidence of more ancient settlement in the area (including
crannog and
ringfort sites in Garbally Demesne),
Richard Mór de Burgh (c.1194–c.1242) is credited with founding the town in the early 13th century. A castle was built in Ballinasloe on the east bank of the Suck in the 12th or early 13th centuries. Ballinasloe is historically known for its
limestone which was used in many
public buildings in the town. The local
Garda (police) station, built c.1840 as a terraced three-storey house, is built of cut limestone which indicates the relative prosperity of the town in the 19th century. A
courthouse in the town, built c.1840, features roofs and walls built of limestone. Much of Ballinasloe's town centre was laid out in the 18th and early 19th centuries. During the
Great Famine, a
workhouse was opened in the town in 1842 at a cost of £9,500. The building's chimney stacks, sills and walls were partially built of
limestone. It was designed to house a maximum capacity of 1,000 people, but the
1851 census showed that the building housed 2,487 inmates. During the mid-1840s, a 64-bed
fever hospital was built at the northeast of the workhouse with
wards transformed to use as convalescent accommodation. Today, only the main block of the workhouse fever hospital survives. During the
2009 floods in Ireland, the
River Suck burst its banks and caused major flooding in Ballinasloe. About 40 families were evacuated by boat after the flooding caused over €8 million worth of damage in the town, with a number of buildings left under water for several weeks. An
archaeological survey, undertaken in September 2021 as part of a street enhancement programme in the town, revealed a number of
human skeletons and 17-century artefacts, 12 centimetres below existing footpaths. ==Economy==