If you are in an aeroplane flying over a village or town, you get a fleeting impression of what that village looks like, but if one knows how to operate a very good camera while flying the aircraft, you might get a pin-sharp illustration of what that village looks like and how it is laid out. That is exactly what our pilot/photographer did in 1952 when he/she took this shot of the river from the Salmon Weir down to the Hygeia building.
Starting at the top of this photograph, you can see the canal going from the pillars down past the ammunition factory on one side and Hunter’s toy and pram factory on the other. The main feature on the left-hand side of our image is the site of the old gaol surrounded by the big high wall. There were in fact two gaols here, the County Gaol which was at the top as we look at the photograph, and the Town Gaol. Most of the buildings have been demolished. The back entrance to the gaol was close to the debtors' prison. Notice the cottages near Island House, also the four houses further up Gaol Road. They were all demolished by order of the bishop as they interfered with the view of his new cathedral.
Just below that, in our photograph is the shell of the Hygeia complex. There had been a disastrous fire there on November 14, 1951 and as you can see, most of the buildings were gutted, leaving only the strong stone walls. Hygeia was established in 1939 and they manufactured chemicals and veterinary products. Before them, this had been the site of the famous Persse Distillery.
Steamer’s Quay can be seen on the top right of our picture and there are particularly good views of some streets, notably Newtownsmith, the ESB complex, and the Woollen Mills which occupied a very large site. Parts of Bowling Green are shown, at the back of which was the city abattoir which was believed to have been built on the site of a poorhouse. The Corporation had some yards there which, at one time, housed the Fire Brigade. At the corner of Bowling Green was a small factory where they made timber soles for sandals, similar to clogs.
There is also a good view of Market Street and College House in particular. Behind it is the Monastery School, ‘The old Mon’ which looks very small in our picture. It makes one wonder how they fitted all those boys in there. Much of that site is a car park today. To the right of College House is the Connacht Tribune complex.
To the left, at the bottom of our picture is the large building occupied by The Connacht Mineral Water Company which was a big employer in Galway at the time.
This was shortly after the war, and Galway was still very much in recovery so there is very little traffic to be seen.
This image is one of more than 40 old photographs which make up an exhibition entitled Old Galway, A Bird’s Eye View which will go on show in the Kenny Gallery, Liosbán on March 31. Dick Byrne and Tom Kenny will do a live podcast to launch the show. All of the photographs are taken from a plane or from a high building or a high crane. They date from the end of the 19th century to the late 1980s and together, they offer an extraordinary overall view of Old Galway as it has never been seen before. It should not be missed.
