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Irish Place Names: Connemara
South of Calgary, near the town of Nanton, sits a tiny reminder of the Irish Sea. It's a place called Connemara. And according to historian Merrily Aubrey, Connemara, Alberta got its start as a speculator's dream.
Thomas Newell was the fellow who had great dreams for the place. First of all, it was located on the Mcleod subdivision of the CPR portion of line completed in 1892, so it is fairly old. Thomas Newell had title to the land and he promoted the area and the sale of lots on his land to people in Toronto and England, with the idea of founding Silver City - a name by which it is known, by some, to this very day.
Although he was able to sell a few lots, his dream of wealth and potential of the town site really never materialized.
Like many place names throughout Alberta, Connemara was endowed by the Canadian Pacific Railway as it established stations and sidings along its route.
The original wind-swept Connemara in Ireland is a region in County Galway and is noted for its exquisite marble. The name in Irish means "Seaside", so here, in the middle of continental Alberta, you get a little bit of Ireland and the sea and the birds and all that.
On the Heritage Trail,
I'm Cheryl Croucher.