When the church was first founded, Galway was a tiny, very new town, a sort of frontier settlement in the wild west of Ireland. The inhabitants, however, thought a lot of themselves and had

In a side chapel, we can see the tomb of a crusader who found their final resting place at St Nicholas Collegiate Church.

By 1320 St Nicholas’ Church well established, according to John Lynch in his writings of 1815, in The Account of the town of Galway. It is dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra, patron saint of children (Santa Claus) and of mariners.

Before setting sail to the new world in 1477, this very famous explorer prayed her as St Nicholas is the patron saint of mariners. The church is mentioned in his annals which are currently maintained in the Cathederal of Seville.

A local legend - that just might be true - states that Christopher engaged Patrickus of Galway on his crew. As legend has it, it may have been Patricks Irish Wolfhound (which the crew tried to eat in despair) that finally saw the lands we now call America as he jumped out of the boat with Patrickus to flee the hungry crew.

Owing to the history of music education at St Nicholas, the Pope granted special Collegiate status to the church. The college and wardenship were confirmed by a papal bull.

The tribes of Galway expand the church and provide a new baptismal font Dominic Lynch extended the south side aisle, and the south porch.

This is still in use today.

John French extended the north aisle, including the chapel.

In 1652, it is said that Cromwellian troops used the church to stable horses after the siege of Galway. They defaced all of the angels in the church for being icons while they were there.

Only one remains and we call him the ‘smug angel’.

Cromwells soldiers occupied the church when they came to Galway in 1653, which saw the wide scale destruction of tombs and ‘idolatrous’ imagery - they defaced the angels throughout the church bar one, who is now affectionately called Smug Angel.

Many of the gravestones outside the church are really interesting and originate in this century. They tie in with stories of old Galway, of families connected to the city and the church and provide a lasting account for the lineage of anyone connected to Galway.

The Connaught Rangers trace their history to 1793 and participated in many wars including the Boer War, WW1 before being disbanded in 1922, you can find their battle flags at the door of The Side Chapel today.

The merchant families of Galway had placed stained glass in the church since the 1400s, and there is written evidence in Trinity’s library that Nicholas Lynch FitzStephen paid for the ‘painted glasses’ in the church in 1493. however Cromwell’s troops destroyed them all. New stained glass was installed of the Persse and Fleetwood Berry families in 1890 which are the windows you see today.

A monument to the great war, WW1 was erected to mark the sad loss of the many men who had joined the British army or were part of the Connaught Rangers.

The bells were recast in 1935 and still carry the inscriptions of their original form.

This window was designed by Fr John Francis Hogan (Hogan, John Francis | Dictionary of Irish Biography (dib.ie) a prominent member of Irish clergy, president of Maynooth college and senator for NUI.

Our 700th anniversary occurred in 2020 which was a huge event for Galway.

President Michael D Higgins visits to mark the 700th anniversary. You can read his message to us by clicking the link below.