Location: Galway County Map
Area: 2,957 ha
Visitor center:
Mar- mid- Oct: daily
Tel. 095 41054
Official site
Connemara National Park is a nature reserve situated in Galway County in Ireland. Connemara National Park covers an area of 2,957 ha and was opened in 1980. Visitor centre is situated in a village of Letterfrack. Much of the park is covered by sharp cliffs, grasslands, bogs and several patches of forest. Additionally Connemara National Park contains several megalithic tombs that date back 4000 years ago as well as 19th century cemetery.
The park has preserved megalithic burials created
four thousand years ago.
The land on which the national park was created previously belonged
to several owners, of which the two largest were Kilemor Abbey and
Letterfrack Industrial School. In particular, on a farm owned by the
school, built around 1890, an information center is now located. All
these lands were used as agricultural, mainly for pastures for sheep
and cattle. Marshes were partially used for peat extraction. The
park preserved unused farm buildings, as well as the remains of the
old road that led to Galway.
Currently, the park is wholly owned by the Republic of Ireland and
is not used for agriculture.
Most of the park is occupied by peat bogs and moorlands. Marshes are
located both in lowlands and higher in the mountains, where they are
somewhat drier. Heather covers the slopes of the mountains. The most
common plant in the national park is Molinia caerulea, which gives
the area a reddish hue. High in the mountains, cold-resistant plant
species are found, such as pink rhodiola, saxifrage, a heart-shaped
cache, and a two-columned sorrel.
Of the birds, the most commonly encountered are the field lark,
meadow horse, and birds of prey are periodically observed in the
park. Of the small mammals, rabbits, foxes, ermines, shrews, and
bats are found.
The calling card and at the same time the largest animal of the park
are Connemara ponies.
The mountains in the territory of the national park, in particular,
Twelv-Benz, of metamorphic origin, the peaks consist mainly of
quartzite, the foot - of marble. The gentle low mountains took their
final form during the last glaciation.