Search Results for 'James Hardiman'
8 results found.
Forty years a-binding, and more to come
An extraordinary row on the Late Late Show, 17 years ago, had a positive impact on a small Galway business struggling for survival. ‘A very attractive lady,’ Siubhan Maloney, called into Kenny’s Book Bindery, located in Salthill at the time, and told Gerry Kenny that she was a contestant in the Late Late’s Antique Show. She was re-upholstering an old chair, which included a small shelf. She wanted to see how to re-cover an old book in highly decorated leather, which would sit into the shelf. Jerry was happy to show her how it was done. First of all the pages are handsewn together, then clamped and trimmed ready for gold foil, which is applied with heat. This prevents the pages becoming dusty.
‘A powerhouse of prayer’
The exact origins of the Poor Clare Sisters in Galway are not easy to trace. We know there was a convent of Clares, if not Poor Clares, here before 1640, based on an inscription on a headstone which read “Here lieth the body of Elizabeth Lynch, the Foundress of the Order of St. Clare who died 14th December 1626”. James Hardiman describes another headstone inscribed thus: “Here lieth the body of R. Mother Maria Gabriel, alias Helen Martin, first Abbess and religious of the Poor Clares of Galway who died on 14 January aged 68 in religion for 40. Pray for her Soul.” This suggests the nuns were in Galway since 1632 when she entered the order.
Calling all Claddagh School past pupils
The historian James Hardiman, in describing the Claddagh, said: “It is said that they considered it a kind of reproach either to speak English or to send their children to school, and that a schoolmaster among them would be considered a phenomenon; but of late there are some exceptions to this rule. How far education would make these people happier in themselves, or more useful members of society, is a matter of doubt, but it is certain that the trial has never been made, although a most respectable convent lies at the head of their village, to which they are liberal benefactors.”
City surrendered to Cromwell three hundred and sixty years ago this week
An important event occurred 360 years ago this week, which changed the fortunes of Galway town forever.
The Augustinians and Forthill
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.
