Tribes of Galway

The Tribes of Galway (Irish: Treibheanna na Gaillimhe) were 14 merchant families who dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the mid-13th and late 19th centuries. They were the families of Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Darcy/D’Arcy, Deane, Fant, French, Joyce, Kirwan, Lynch, Martyn, Morris and Skerritt. Of the 14 families, 12 were of Anglo Norman origin, while two—the Darcy (Ó Dorchaí) and Kirwan (Ó Ciardhubháin) families—were Normanised Irish Gaels.^[1]