Cloonfush - Facilities

Facilities

Despite its religious background, Cloonfush does not have any church. Similarly, there are no shops, schools or other infrastructural amenities. The inhabitants are therefore dependent on the neighbouring town of Tuam and the city of Galway for these services.

Until the late 1960s, there was no mains water supply to the village, with each household dependent on obtaining water from the hand water pump located in the village. A local committee was formed by Michael Cullinane (RIP), Thomas Fleming and Patrick Quinn (RIP), and a borehole was sunk near the old hand pump location. A pump house was erected over the borehole. A network of pipes was laid in trenches along the roadside, dug by Ned Lyons Contractors (of Renmore & Galway), and each house in turn connected. Once commissioned, this system provided fresh clean water to the villages of Kilmore & Cloonfush for almost four decades. Regular independent analysis of the water confirmed its potability. In the early 2000s, the pump house and pipe work were finally abandoned when the network was connected to the mains water supply by Galway County Council.

Various travelling shops served the area over the years, including Burke's of High Street (Brendan Whelan RIP), Harry Campbell (RIP) of Vicarschoroland and Jack Grady (RIP) of High Street. Jack Grady was the last to offer this service, which ceased in the late 1970s. The late Jack Grady also provided a mobile threshing mill service to the local community from the late 1940s to the mid 1970s.