1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tuam

TUAM, a market town and episcopal city of Co. Galway, Ireland, 20 m. directly N.N.E. of Galway on the Limerick & Sligo branch of the Great Southern & Western railway. Pop. (1901), 3012. An abbey was founded here towards the end of the 5th century, and in the beginning of the 6th an episcopal see by St Jarlath. The Protestant archbishopric of Tuam was lowered to a bishopric on the death of Archbishop Power Le Poer Trench in 1839, and united with that of Killala and Achonry. It is, however, a Roman Catholic archbishopric. The Protestant cathedral is also the parish church, and was to a great extent rebuilt c. 1861 from plans by Sir Thomas Deane. Only the chancel of the old church remains, but its red sandstone arch is a remarkably fine example of Norman work; it dates from the middle of the 12th century. The modern Roman Catholic cathedral is Perpendicular in style and cruciform in plan. The interior is elaborately decorated. The cross of Tuam, re-erected in modern times, bears inscriptions in memory of Turlogh O'Conor, king of Ireland, and O'Hoisin, successively (1128) abbot of St Jarlath's Abbey and archbishop (1152) of Tuam, when the see was raised. St Jarlath's Roman Catholic college, usually called the New College, is a seminary founded in 1814 for the education of priests. To the west are the archbishop's palace and a convent of Presentation nuns. The town has a considerable retail trade, and is a centre for the disposal of agricultural produce. Tuam received its first charter from James I. Before the union in 1800 it returned two members to the Irish Parliament.