The Conradh na Gaeilge Oireachtas and Ard-Fheis held in the Town Hall 1913

Thu, Dec 05, 2013

Conradh na Gaeilge, also known as the Gaelic League, was founded by Douglas Hyde and Eoin McNeill in July 1893. Their aim was to keep the Irish language alive and preserve the Gaelic elements of Ireland’s culture. It was open to all creeds, was non-political, and accepted women on an equal basis. It used a broad approach, organising classes and competitions in Irish music, dancing, literature, and games. After a sluggish six years in existence, it suddenly morphed into a mass movement.

Irish metal industries

Thu, Nov 28, 2013

Over the last few weeks we have been writing about the building on Earl’s Island which began life as a bleach and flax mill in the 1850s. It was then converted into a jute factory, became a bonded warehouse, a factory for making cannon shells during World War I, and was occupied by the 6th Dragoon Guards and the 17th Lancers during the War of Independence. After the British army left, it was vacant for a while before being converted into a factory known as IMI, or Irish Metal Industries.

Shantalla village, 1945

Thu, Nov 21, 2013

This remarkable photograph of Shantalla village was taken in 1945 by Pádraic Mac Dubháin and is from the National Museum collection. You will sometimes see the place name written as Shantallow and you will hear it pronounced Shantla by people with Galway accents. It is derived from the Irish ‘Sean Talamh’, old ground, though why Shantalla should be older ground than that which surrounds it is a mystery. Maybe it is because some of the land was not being worked.

The 17th Lancers in Earl’s Island

Thu, Nov 14, 2013

When World War I finished and the National Shell Factory on Earl’s Island closed down, the buildings were taken over by the 6th Dragoon Guards who had a reputation for wanton brutality. This was unusual in that most well armed British army units, with few having a role in the intelligence conflict, were rarely attacked during the War of Independence in the west of Ireland. While individual RIC men became defined as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it was army regiments, rather than individual soldiers, that became so defined.

The Galway national shell factory

Thu, Nov 07, 2013

During the First World War, towns and cities throughout Britain and Ireland had factories producing munitions for the battlefield. Galway was not one of these locations and indeed many Galwegians were travelling to the UK to work in these factories. There was a lot of criticism over this and so the members of the Urban Council and some local industrialists began a lobbying campaign to attract such an industry to the city. It would create employment and would be beneficial to the community.

Persse’s Bonded Warehouse, Earl’s Island

Thu, Oct 31, 2013

Two weeks ago in this column, we showed some photographs of the Jute Spinning factory in Earl’s Island, and what I thought were large stacks of turf beside the building. An eagle eyed reader has pointed out that these were not sods of turf, they were ‘jute butts’, stems of the jute plant from which the fibres were extracted. They were stacked out in the fresh air because they are easier to work when wet. The fibres that made up the rough jute products were extracted from the top half of the plant.

The Galway Jute Spinning Company

Thu, Oct 24, 2013

There seems to have been a few different names on this business but it was known locally as the bag factory. The chairman, Lieutenant Colonel James O’Hara, reported to the Select Committee on Industries Ireland (1884-85) on the company.

The Galway jute factory

Thu, Oct 17, 2013

The Galway Vindicator and Connaught Advertiser of December 24 1851 carried an advertisement which read “TO BE LET, for such terms as may be agreed upon, and immediate possession given. EARL’S ISLAND MILL AND BLEACH GREEN. These well-known concerns occupied for so many years by the late Mr Mitchell, Linen Manufacturer, Miller, Bleacher, have always been esteemed to point of situation; preferable to every other site in Galway, but the improvement made by the Board of Works under the inspection of their skilful engineer SU Roberts ... have rendered it superior to any in the Kingdom. The land will be secured against being flooded for any part of the year. The Mill Race has been changed ... the Mill Power amended and is now equal to 40 horse power. The canal between Lough Corrib and the sea leaves the lake at the very point on which the Mill stands. The layby for boats is within 20 yards of it, and the spacious quay with landing crane and every accommodation for shipping goods will adjoin.”

‘Up goes that hand again for Galway’

Thu, Oct 03, 2013

Those words were a regular part of Mícheál Ó Hehir’s radio commentary on hurling matches in the 1940s and 1950s when Galway were playing. The hand he was talking about belonged to Sean Duggan, who was arguably the greatest goalkeeper ever in the history of the game.

Lower Dominick Street about one hundred and fifty years ago

Thu, Sep 26, 2013

According to Hely Dutton, Dominick Street was built in the early part of the 19th century. It was outside the old city walls and was an indicator of how Galway was beginning to expand at the time. This photograph, which was taken c1965, is probably the earliest existing image of the street.

Hurricane Debbie

Thu, Sep 19, 2013

On the morning of September 16 1961, gale warnings were issued because of a possible impending storm. Violent storms are almost never actual hurricanes by the time they reach Ireland, but all of that was about to change that morning. Hurricane Debbie was the only hurricane, that is known about, to have made landfall in Ireland as a Category 1 event. Gusts of more than 180 kilometres an hour were recorded, and while the winds were not as strong as the gusts, they were capable of causing a lot of damage. Eighteen people died in Ireland as a result of the storm, six in the North and 12 in the South. They were killed by collapsing walls and trees, one was drowned from a small boat, and a young boy was blown into a stream. Tens of thousands of houses and other structures were damaged, some were completely destroyed, some suffered roof loss, while others had lesser damage such as windows blown in, etc.

Galway camogie

Thu, Sep 12, 2013

We know from the old sliotars on exhibition in the folk museum in Turlough near Castlebar that the game of hurling has been played for many centuries, but what of the game of camogie? Two prominent Irish language enthusiasts and cultural nationalists, Máire Ní Chinnéide and Cáit Ni Dhonchadha, were credited with having created the sport while a brother of Cáit, Tadg, was the person who drew up the rules in 1903. So there was always a male presence within the administrative ranks of the sport. The game emanated from the Gaelic League and was dependent on the structures and networks provided by that organisation during the initial expansion of the sport. It was also closely linked with the GAA.

The Dominican school at Taylor’s Hill

Thu, Sep 05, 2013

As the Penal Laws began to relax at the beginning of the 19th century and conditions became a little more lenient for Catholic religious orders, some of them began to think of a return to community life. The Dominican Nuns, whose community had flourished during Penal times, was now reduced to six. There was a lot of building going on in the area of their nunnery in Cross Street, and houses closed in their convent on all sides, making a life of strict enclosure very difficult. The sisters began to search for another house, more secluded, where they could follow their Rule, free from distraction.

De Burgo’s mansion

Thu, Aug 29, 2013

This wonderful photograph, dated c1865, shows a carved stone doorway in Market Street, an interesting example of Renaissance work, almost certainly earlier than the Browne Doorway.

The West Chapel

Thu, Aug 22, 2013

One hundred and ninety eight years ago this month (August 4, 1815), the first High Mass was sung in the West Chapel, and about 50 years later this photograph was taken of the exterior of the building. It was the third church the Dominicans had in the Claddagh.

The 1956 All-Ireland final

Thu, Aug 15, 2013

Galway made it to the All-Ireland final in 1956 for the first time since 1942. They beat Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, and Tyrone on the way and faced Cork in the final. The match was delayed for three weeks because of an outbreak of polio in Cork. It was played on October 7 in front of more than 70,000 people and it turned out to be one of the most exciting and thrilling finals in the history of the sport.

‘A powerhouse of prayer’

Thu, Aug 08, 2013

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.

The pro-cathedral, a brief history

Thu, Aug 01, 2013

“On Monday last (July 1st, 1816), Galway witnessed a scene unparalleled in her history, or in the history of the British Empire. It was an unusual but gratifying sight to behold Protestants and Catholics, the Civil and Ecclesiastical Corporations, the Secular and Regular Clergy, all clothed in their robes of office, preceded by their various insignias, and marching in solemn procession through the principal streets of the town – not for the purpose of reminding Catholic of the galling degradation under which he labours – not to keep alive those feuds which have so long distracted our wretched country – not to display with ascendancy, pride and intolerant bigotry, those shameful destructions which have hitherto been a barrier to the repose and happiness of Ireland – no – but to lay the foundation stone of an edifice, which being dedicated to the supreme worship of the deity, will at the same time be a monument to succeeding generations of the unanimity, concord and harmony which exists between those of every religious persuasion in this loyal and extensive county.

Druid Theatre Company, the early years

Thu, Jul 25, 2013

For many years theatre in Galway was represented by regular productions from An Taibhdhearc and occasional productions by the Dramatic Society in UCG. Occasionally, other groups appeared but they never seemed to survive for very long — The Lamplighters, The D And I, The Galway Little Theatre Company, etc. Most of these were enthusiastic amateurs who often put on memorable shows. In 1969 an attempt was made to introduce semi-professional theatre to the city with the formation of The Galway Repertory Theatre, and two years later Frank Bailey founded the Celtic Arts Theatre, but sadly, both of these companies were short lived.

Newtownsmith c1870

Thu, Jul 18, 2013

Newtownsmith was an important development outside the town wall on the northern side of the city in the late 18th and early 19th century. The project was undertaken by the governors of the Erasmus Smith Estate. In this suburb, the county courthouse was erected between 1812 and 1815, and a little later in 1824 the town courthouse was built. In 1823, it was objected to because there were several suitable sites for a new courthouse ‘immediately in the town’ and that it was ‘quite idle’ to lay foundations in Newtownsmith, or in any part of the suburb. Galway’s second bridge was completed in 1819 and it connected the courthouses with the new county and town gaols on Nuns Island which had been completed in 1810.

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