Search Results for 'Henry Wall'

There is a general lack of specific references to dancing in our older literature but it would be remarkable if there was no dancing in ancient Ireland, if a people with a native taste for music had no knowledge of the kindred art of dancing. There are two Irish words for dance, ‘damhsa’ and ‘rince’. The first is derived from the French ‘danse’ and the second from the English ’rink’ as in skating on ice. The Normans are credited with introducing ‘round dances’ to Ireland.

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.

The regular use of the words ‘litir’ and ‘post’ in 15th century Irish manuscripts suggests that by that time a postal system was already in existence in Ireland. The English postal system was completely reformed by a man named Witherings in 1638 and he was then invited to do the same in Ireland. By the 1650s, mail was being carried by post boys who walked 16 to 18 miles a day between towns. It is believed the Galway Post Office was set up in 1653 when the Cromwellians were still here. In those early years, the local postmaster was expected to provide the premises, so every time a new postmaster was appointed, it meant a new main Post Office.