Grattan Road buildings

Thu, Feb 06, 2025

The Galway Vindicator of November 24, 1863 reported that “The completion of the Grattan Road will add much to the beauty and salubrity of the handsomest of our suburban districts. The embankment being made by Miss Grattan will reclaim 28 acres of land, which is now a swamp, but which will become, with a little cultivation, some of the most fertile ground in the neighbourhood. Miss Grattan has given great employment to the poor of the neighbourhood in making this road and embankment. Since June last, up to the present time, there has been over 200 labourers employed and from 12 to 14 masons regularly. It will, when finished, alter the appearance of Salthill and contribute much to make that favourite watering place one of the nicest localities in the kingdom”.

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The Connacht Laundry

Thu, Jan 30, 2025

The very word laundry conjures up images of Dickensian workhouses, sweat shops, the smell of Sunlight soap, and long working hours. It is no wonder some 1,500 laundresses went on strike in 1945 for the right to two weeks' holiday.

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The lock keeper’s house

Thu, Jan 23, 2025

The Eglinton Canal was a work of great utility both in terms of draining and regulating the surplus waters of the lake and permitting ingress from the sea. The lower lake used to empty its waters through a delta by three visible outlets into the sea; The natural and original shallow tortuous and rocky Galway River, navigable only for very small craft and row-boats; The Mionlach creek, a small stream nearly filled up; “The Friar’s Cut”, about three quarters of a mile in length, fifty feet wide and twelve feet deep.

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Memories of Pope John Paul II in Ballybrit

Thu, Jan 16, 2025

On the night before the papal visit, most of our extended family moved into my brother’s house in Ballybane. No motorised traffic would be allowed near the place on the day of the event, it would be a shorter walk from Ballybane to Ballybrit, and maybe we would have a chance to get a little more sleep.

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The Colonial Buildings

Thu, Jan 09, 2025

“An important structure is now in the course of completion in ‘the citie of the tribes,’ which will supply a decided want in that hitherto neglected town, but destined – we trust at no distant period – to be a great highway from the Old to the New World. Very little indeed has been done in Galway in the way of building improvements, but a wide field is now being opened; and as transatlantic commercial intercourse increases, so must her prosperity and architectural requirements,” so began an exciting article in the Dublin Builder of January 1, 1860.

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The Colonial Buildings

Wed, Jan 08, 2025

“An important structure is now in the course of completion in ‘the citie of the tribes,’ which will supply a decided want in that hitherto neglected town, but destined – we trust at no distant period – to be a great highway from the Old to the New World. Very little indeed has been done in Galway in the way of building improvements, but a wide field is now being opened; and as transatlantic commercial intercourse increases, so must her prosperity and architectural requirements,” so began an exciting article in the Dublin Builder of January 1, 1860.

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MacDonnells of Williamsgate Street

Thu, Jan 02, 2025

In 1904, MJ MacDonnell, Confectioner, announced the fact in the local papers, that he had just opened a TEA ROOM at Number 8, Wiilliamsgate Street where ladies and gentlemen ‘can have freshly made tea and cakes – all cakes made freshly on the premises with the purest ingredients only. Seed, Plum, Rich Plum, Madeira, Citron, Cherry, Sultana, Genoese, Pastry etc. White and Brown scones, Cream scones and Crumpets always in stock. Ice Creams in 24 hours’.

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Seaghan Ua Neachtain

Thu, Dec 26, 2024

This iconic building dates from the late 16th or early 17th century. It has two-bay elevations on two streets, a beautiful three light oriel window with mullions and a transom in at the back. It also has a slight buttress or batter at the base of the outer wall, as has the building now occupied by Evergreen at the top of High Street. The premises has a long and interesting history.

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The Christmas Market

Thu, Dec 19, 2024

The Saturday Market at St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church is a Galway tradition that goes back some 800 years. It was a fruit and vegetable market which expanded greatly at this time of the year when the farmers brought in large numbers of turkeys and geese for sale.

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The Town Hall Internment Camp

Thu, Dec 12, 2024

The last months of 1920, were the most vicious and bloody in the War of Independence in Galway. There were a lot of killings, burnings, shootings and beatings.

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The Galway Electric Light Company

Thu, Dec 05, 2024

The Galway Electric Light Company was set up by James Perry, an engineer and County Surveyor of the Western District of Galway, and his brother, Professor John Perry, to generate electricity. On November 1, 1888, they applied for permission from the Galway Town Commissioners to ‘erect poles in some parts of the town as an experiment for the electric lighting of the town’. The company had established a generating station at Newtownsmith in an old flour mill which had existed since the 1600s and straddled the Friar’s River. They installed a hydroelectric turbine in the watercourse which was linked to a generator producing alternating current.

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Some old election posters

Thu, Nov 28, 2024

Election posters are very much part of the democratic process. They are primarily used to urge people to vote, to communicate political messages, rally public support for a candidate or a cause. They play an important role in our documentary history and are often a powerful way to capture a moment in time. They can be used to educate, inform and inspire people. They also generate loyalty to the cause from the thousands of volunteers who hang the posters up. They were an especially powerful form of communications for previous generations.

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Jimmy Cranny, ‘Mr Swimming’

Thu, Nov 21, 2024

Jimmy Cranny was born in Dublin in 1905. He was orphaned early in life, came to Galway when he was eight and it became his home from then on. He grew up to be a champion swimmer, a winner of the Prom Swim and a springboard diving champion of Connacht. He was a member of the Royal Lifesaving Society and became one of their first lifeguards. He later joined the Irish Red Cross.

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Queen’s College, Galway, the early days

Thu, Nov 14, 2024

The Queen’s Colleges in Galway, Cork, and Belfast were established in 1845, and shortly afterwards, construction of the quadrangular building started in Galway. In May, 1847, despite the Famine, William Brady, the contractor for the building, advertised for 30 stone cutters and 30 stonemasons. Large working sheds were erected on the site so that the work could be carried out in inclement weather. There was no big rush to work from the stone men as the money he offered was below the going rate, but as it was a long term job with shelter provided, so it had a security of employment not available on other building projects, In the end, the building of the college did have a beneficial effect on the depressed conditions in Galway at the time.

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The Franciscans in Galway

Thu, Nov 07, 2024

In the graveyard at the back of the Abbey Church in Francis Street stands an interesting memorial carrying the De Burgo coat of arms and a long broadsword. The inscription tells us that it was erected in memory of William De Burgo who founded the Franciscan friary on St Stephen’s Island in 1296. The site was roughly where the Courthouse is today and the island was formed by the Galway River on one side and a branch of that river which ran through what today would be Woodquay and Mary Street and re-joined the main river. A second and smaller island lay between St Stephen’s and the town wall, so that in order to maintain communications with the town, two bridges were necessary, one at the junction of Mary Street and Abbeygate Street and the other at the Little Gate. The Abbey buildings lay immediately north of the present graveyard and between them and the river was ‘Sruthán na mBráthair’, a small stream that enabled the friars to bring boats in from the main river. The monastery was known as the Abbey of St Francis.

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Developments in the Claddagh

Thu, Oct 31, 2024

Towards the end of the 19th century, the Claddagh started to go into decline, thanks mainly to the local fishermen not updating their methods of fishing. This economic decline continued into the last century so, when the Urban District Council announced in 1916 that they were starting a reclamation programme of the 30-acre field that was known locally as ‘The Swamp’, it caused a lot of excitement locally. A small working committee was established to carry out the details of organisation. From then on the area was to be known as South Park. I am not sure where that title came from, maybe they regarded the Square as East Park, Salthill Park as Westpark, but where was North Park?

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Fairs and markets in the Square

Thu, Oct 24, 2024

In 1902, the number of fairs listed for Eyre Square was: January 1st; March 20th & 21st; April 14th & 15th; May 30th & 31st; June 20th; July 13th & 14th; August 6th; September 3rd & 4th, 20th & 21st; October 21st; November 2nd (pigs only); and December 8th & 9th. This list gives one an idea of how important and busy the Square was for commerce at the time. These were occasions when the country came to town, when rural people brought in their produce and hoped to convert it into cash.

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Ninety years a rowing

Thu, Oct 17, 2024

In 1934, a group of Jes boys gathered in Keogh’s shop, next to the school, to discuss the formation of a school rowing club. As there was no one on the staff to take charge, the school turned down the application but the boys were persistent and made another appeal. So, in October, 1934, the Jes Rowing Club was formed. They had to put together a crew, find a coach, get a boat and a base on the river so that they could get on the water.

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St Endas’ College, a brief history

Thu, Oct 10, 2024

On this day, October 10, 1937, Coláiste Éinde opened on Threadneedle Road for the first time. The school had been founded by the State in 1928 shortly after the State itself was founded. The aim was to teach boys through the medium of Irish so that they would go on to St Patrick’s Teacher Training College, get secure employment for life and, in turn, educate a new generation of boys through Irish.

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The age of sail

Thu, Oct 03, 2024

“A river mouth opening upon one of the finest natural harbours would seem to offer an ideal situation for a town or trading station.” These were the first words written in Professor Mary Donovan O’Sullivan’s very important history Old Galway, which would indicate her surprise that such a fine location would not have attracted a Norse settlement. Water, in the form of the sea, the river and the many streams, was a major factor in the development of the town of Galway from when the Anglo Norman invaders settled and built their castle and town.

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