Camus, County Galway
village in Connacht, Ireland
Camus or Camas is a small village in the Connemara Gaeltacht of County Galway, Ireland. It is between Casla and An Teach Dóite, and is divided into Camas Uachtair and Camas Íochtair, as well as several other townlands, such as Scríob, Gleann Trasna, Leitir Móir, and Doire Bhainbh.
The village has the highest percentage of Irish language speakers in the Gaeltacht.
Name
The names Camus and Camas are both used. However Camus, which has been in use for generations in both Irish and English, has been retained by the great majority of the population. The name in Irish refers to the shape of the nearby bay in which the tides come and go through the narrow strait at Dun Manus and enter Camus bay at an angle. The explanation of the name sometimes given - 'cam uisce' or crooked water - is etymologically unsustainable. Camus is also known in song as Camus na bhFoirnéis, meaning "Camus of the furnaces". It is believed that a small foundry was operated near the small bridge at the centre of the area in the 18th century.
Notable buildings
The former Camus national school, in Derry townland, was built in 1876.
“Camus, County Galway” enters the record as village in Connacht, Ireland. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Camus, County and Galway can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Camus, County Galway” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Camus, County and Galway provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3776872. Authority coordinates are 53.373, -9.559. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Camus, County Galway” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.