Discover Roundstone
A Connemara fishing village between a tombolo of white beaches and a bog of a hundred lakes
A Scottish engineer's village on a Connemara bay
Roundstone did not grow up around a castle or a monastery the way most Irish towns did. It was laid out in the 1820s by Alexander Nimmo, a Scottish civil engineer building harbours and roads across Connemara, and the first families to fish its bay were Scottish too. A Franciscan monastery followed in 1835, and the village has stayed roughly the same shape since: one curved street, a harbour, and Errisbeg standing behind it all.
The Irish name, Cloch na Rón, means the rock of the seals, and the working harbour still lands lobster, crab and mackerel. Painters have been coming here for a century, the bodhran maker Malachy Kearns has been at his workbench on the edge of the village since 1978, and the Owenmore of Ireland's bogland, the Connemara Bog Complex, spreads out east of the village in close to a hundred and forty lakes.
Roundstone's painted harbourfront houses on Roundstone Bay with Errisbeg behind
What's On
Upcoming events and things happening in Roundstone
Roundstone Country Market
RecurringSunday market at Roundstone Hall, summer season only, 11am-4pm.
Roundstone Connemara Pony, Dog & Sheep Show
RecurringAnnual Connemara pony, dog and sheep show at the Roundstone showground.
Roundstone Traditional Music Nights
RecurringWeekly summer trad music session at the community hall.
Feile Cloch na Ron (Roundstone Regatta)
RecurringTraditional currach and Galway Hooker racing off Roundstone harbour, late July.
Roundstone Right Now
Roundstone gets the full, unsheltered Atlantic version of Connemara weather: pack a proper waterproof and a windproof layer whatever the season, because a clear morning can turn to driving rain by the time you're on Errisbeg or out at Dog's Bay. Summer days are pleasant rather than hot; winter is wet and blustery more than bitterly cold.
🌊 Tides
Roundstone Harbour
Heights relative to chart datum
Where To Eat
From fine dining seafood to fish and chips by the harbour
O'Dowd's Seafood Bar & Restaurant
Roundstone's harbourside institution, a bar since 1840 and a seafood restaurant since 1906.
Vaughan's Restaurant & Bar
The Roundstone House Hotel's bay-view restaurant, seafood-led and family run.
The Shamrock Bar & Restaurant
Main Street pub, surf-and-turf food, live music and a big whiskey selection.