Athenry, 15 miles east of Galway, proudly claims to be the finest surviving medieval town in Ireland. Fouded about 1235 by the de Bermingham's as Connacht's second major town, it became 'fossilized' after its disastrous sacking in 1579 by Red Hugh O'Donnell. As a result, Athenry still retains more and better medieval monuments than anywhere else in the country. Not only is Athenry's street-plan unchanged since medieval times, but its town walls, with wide surrounding moat, five out of six wall towers and one fine arched gateway surviving, are without doubt the most impressive and best of their period. The strong, imposing castle has been reroofed and fully, while the ruined Dominican Priory, founded in 1241, is architecturally interesting and contains an exciting collection of late medieval graveslabs and other funerary monuments. The fine Church of Ireland church built in 1828 in the medieval ruins of the Catholic parish church, now houses the Athenry Heritage Centre.