Eyre Square (Irish: An Fhaiche Mhór) is an inner-city public park in Galway, Ireland. The park is within the city centre, adjoining the nearby shopping area of Williams Street and Shop Street.
The park is rectangular, surrounded on by streets that form the major traffic arteries into Galway city centre although the West side of the Square was pedestrianised in 2006
History
The plot of land that became Eyre Square was officially presented to the city in 1710 by Mayor Edward Eyre, from whom it took its name. In 1965, the square was officially renamed "Kennedy Memorial Park" in honour of US President John F. Kennedy, who visited Galway city shortly before his assassination in 1963.
A redevelopment work of the square began in 2004. There was some controversy when it was reported that the building contractors had left the site and were not returning. The square reopened on 13 April 2006 after costing €9.6 million. The finished square received Irish Landscape Institute Design Award in 2007.
Statues and Attractions
There were two large, cast-iron cannon which were presented in recognition of the service of the Connaught Rangers, an Irish Regiment in the British Army, in the Crimean War. A statue of Irish language writer Pádraic Ó Conaire was erected in the memory in 1935. However during the redevelopment works, this was removed and it now resides in the new Galway city Museum in the Spanish Arch area of the city. There is a bust of a portrait of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the park.
The Browne doorway is also another attraction in Eyre Square as it was originally the doorway of the Browne families home on Lower Abbeygate Street and it was moved in 1905 from Abbeygate street to Eyre Square.
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