The translation of the Irish name of the river is
Galway river i.e. from
Gaillimh. In Irish it is sometimes called
An Ghaillimh ("the Galway") and also incorrectly called
Abhainn na Coiribe. The legend concerning its naming states that it was called after
Gaillimh inion Breasail, the daughter of a
Fir Bolg chieftain who drowned in the river. The word
Gaillimh is believed to mean "stony" as in "stony river". The commonly held myth that the city takes its name from the Irish word
Gallaibh, "foreigners" i.e. "the town of the foreigners" (from
Gall, a foreigner) is incorrect as the name Gaillimh was applied to the river first and then later onto the town. Indeed, the earliest settlement at Galway was called
Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe, or "the fort at the end of the Galway (river)". the large standing wave at O'Briens Bridge The river gave its name to the town, which grew to a city, and from c. 1570 onwards, the city gave its name to the county. It also aided massively in the industrial development of the town, allowing it to develop hydro-electricity before London, which provided the general public electricity via coal-fired generators since 1878. At the height of water power, there were over twenty
water wheels in operation from races built on the river and its accompanying cut, the Eglinton
Canal, which was built as part of the "Drainage and Navigation scheme of
Lough Carra,
Lough Corrib and
Lough Mask" in the mid-19th century. The canal, which is about three-quarters of a mile long, had a sea-lock, a large basin, a second lock at Parkavore and five swivelling bridges. It is still in water but the swivelling bridges have been replaced by fixed bridges; the last vessel to use the navigation was the Amo II, a 90' motor-yacht that had been sold by the Guinness trustees to Frank Bailey, a Galway hotelier. Lough Corrib is the anglicised form of
Loch Coirib which itself is a corruption of
Loch nOrbsean which, according to placename lore, is named after the Irish god of the sea. There is good fishing to be had on both the lake and river.
Ptolemy's
Geography (2nd century AD) described a river called Αυσοβα (
Ausoba) which probably referred to the River Corrib.
Upper and Lower Corrib The part of the river that flows from the southern end of the lake to the
Salmon Weir is known as the
Upper Corrib. The
weir, a set of weir gates also built during the above navigation scheme, was originally built from stone and timber but now only two of these gates remain and are only opened in times of flood. The rest have been replaced by fourteen steel gates, as shown in the photograph above. The main channel leaving Lough Corrib is called ''Friars' Cut
or Friars' River'' () as it is the result of a very early piece of canal engineering. In 1178 the friars of
Claregalway Abbey, being tired of the long detour they had to make to the west to enter the river, asked permission from the Blakes of Menloe to make an artificial cut, which in time became the main course of the river and was then widened. The section of the river that runs from the Salmon Weir through Galway city and out into Galway Bay is known as the
Lower Corrib. Three bridges cross the
Lower – the
Salmon Weir Bridge,
William O'Brien Bridge and
Wolfe Tone Bridge. The only
tributary of the Lower Corrib is Sruthán na gCaisleáin (Castle Stream) known by whitewater kayakers as the
Shit Chute and the access point to the river, a small stream that flows through
Newcastle, the grounds of
NUI Galway, and empties into the Lower just downstream of King's weir, commonly known as the fish gates. The official publication for NUI Galway Alumni, Staff & Friends,
Cois Coiribe, is named in reference to the Corrib. ==Bridges==