| Recess | |
| Native Name: | Irish: Sraith Saileach |
| Native Name Lang: | ga |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Pushpin Map: | Ireland |
| Pushpin Label Position: | right |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Ireland |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Ireland |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Connacht |
| Subdivision Type3: | County |
| Subdivision Name3: | County Galway |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Utc Offset1: | +0 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | IST (WEST) |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | -1 |
| Coordinates: | 53.467°N -9.738°W |
| Elevation M: | 63 |
| Blank Name: | Irish Grid Reference |
Recess (Irish: Sraith Saileach or Sraith Salach) is a village in County Galway, Ireland. Its official name is in Irish, Sraith Saileach, and translates as "stream of the willow tree". A notable former resident was Seán Lester, the last Secretary General of the League of Nations, who lived there following his retirement until his death in 1959; another was Pádraig MacKernan, a noted Irish diplomat who owned a home at the nearby Lough Athry.
Recess railway station was on the Galway-Clifden line of the Midland Great Western Railway. The line opened on 1 July 1895 and was closed on 29 April 1935.[1] The railway owned a hotel at Recess which on 13 October 1922 was burned down by Republicans (together with nearby Glendalough House) to prevent the National troops from using them as billets.[2]
The name in the Irish language is Sruth meaning stream and Saileach meaning Sally tree. The name stone on entering the village is incorrectly spelled which gives another meaning.