Search Results for 'Historian'

64 results found.

Through the glass darkly

One of the oldest books I possess, bought at Kenny’s Bookshop many years ago, is a 1772 edition of The Book of Common Prayer, described by one historian as “the official doctrinal standard of the Church of England and most other churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion”.

The Augustinians and Forthill

image preview

The Augustinians have been associated with Galway since the year 1500. Their first convent, or priory, was built on Fort Hill between 1506 and 1508. Its patroness was Margaret Athy who was the wife of the then mayor, Stephen Lynch. He sailed for Spain in search of a cargo of rich wines, and when he returned, he was astonished to see the graceful outline of a new church, with tower and tapering spire, on the elevated promontory that was Fort Hill. Not one stone of it had been laid when he left the city.

Thousands expected to throng Claregalway for garden festival

Thousands of people are expected to flock to Claregalway this Saturday and Sunday for the second annual Galway Garden festival, to be held in historic Claregalway Castle.

Attempts made in 1847 to establish fishing industry in the west

image preview

The tragedy of the Great Famine was compounded by the fact that our seas were full of fish, yet the lack of a sustainable fishing industry, and a general dislike of fish among the peasantry, left untouched this abundant food source. As the appalling statistics of hunger, riots, death, fever and evictions began to penetrate the British government, some action was at last taken*. Unsuitable as it was for Irish palates, vast quantities of American maize was imported, and distributed. Public relief schemes, such as canal-building and new roads were introduced to provide some employment, and efforts were made to establish a fishing industry.

Fish - Not regarded as real food during the Great Famine

image preview

Week II

Galway Garden Festival set to rock the castle walls — again

Galway has a multiplicity of festivals, all honed over the years into something special. But none of these made the instant impact that the Galway Garden Festival did when it was inaugurated last year, over two days of differing climatic conditions at the beautifully-restored Claregalway Castle.

Coolbawn Ambush Commemoration

The annual Coolbawn Ambush Commemoration took place in Castlecomer on Saturday June 18, exactly 90 years since that fateful day. The event was organised by North Kilkenny Sinn Féin and drew a large, enthusiastic, crowd to the town despite the inclement weather.

Hundreds of thousands starved while the sea teemed with fish

image preview

Reading William Henry’s book Famine - Galway’s Darkest Days*, I was struck yet again by the fact that while thousands of people died of starvation in the west of Ireland, when whole communities abandoned their homes in a desperate search for food, our seas were boiling with fish. The author tells us that in Galway at the beginning of the Great Famine in 1845 the Claddagh fishermen fiercely protected their fishing rights in the Bay, which they regarded as their exclusive property. But as the famine dragged on to the end of the decade the Claddagh fishermen had no means left for catching fish. They had pawned their boats and fishing equipment for food. The historian Cecil Woodham-Smith in her classic account of the Great Famine**, tells us that on January 9 1847, ‘all boats were drawn up to the quay wall, stripped to the bare poles, not a sign of tackle or sail remaining....not a fish was to be had in the town, not a boat was at sea.’

Galway Garden Festival set to rock the castle walls — again

image preview

Galway has a multiplicity of festivals, all honed over the years into something special. But none of these made the instant impact that the Galway Garden Festival did when it was inaugurated last year, over two days of differing climatic conditions at the beautifully-restored Claregalway Castle.

Business people celebrated at Midlands Gateway event

Last weekend saw some 300 business people attend the MidlandsIreland.ie Gateway awards, held in the Mullingar Park Hotel.

 

Page generated in 0.0517 seconds.