Clare Sheridan

Thu, Mar 20, 2025

“She was beautiful, fearsome, an English aristocrat, a communist spy, a loose woman, a middling novelist, a doting mother, an impossible parent, a successful sculptress, a respected journalist.” This was how Anita Leslie described her first cousin in My Cousin Clare, her wonderful biography of Clare Sheridan.

Competitive rowing in Galway

Thu, Mar 13, 2025

Rowing ‘matches’ or ‘badge races’ have been taking place on the Corrib for about 170 years. Initially, when there was only one club, The Corrib Rowing and Yachting Club, competitions were confined to members. Then the Commercial Boat Club was formed in 1875, and a meeting was held to promote a regatta at the river beside Menlo Castle. This regatta proved to be a success and was a great boost to the sport of rowing.

The turf market

Thu, Mar 06, 2025

James Hardiman, in his history of Galway lists the fuels available in Galway long ago as coal, turf and bog deal. Bog deal was mostly the roots of trees that had been grown over by the bog over the centuries. It was regarded as a nuisance by the turf cutter who likes nice clean lines as he used his sleán. The turf men usually threw this timber up on top of the bog. It gave out a lot of sparkle, like a mini firework, while it burned in the grate.

Altar boys in the Abbey

Thu, Feb 27, 2025

An altar boy is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy.

The Galway & Corrib Anglers' Association, the early years

Thu, Feb 20, 2025

On February 6, 1898, Colonel O’Hara from Lenaboy Castle and Henry Hodgson from Currerevagh, Oughterard came together to found The Corrib Fisheries Association for the further improvement of trout fishing on the Corrib. They teamed up with the Board of Conservators of the Galway District to promote proper angling on the Corrib. In 1907, they managed to convince the Department of Agriculture to build a trout hatchery on the Owenriff River in Oughterard. It worked very well for a number of years but eventually fell into decline and closed down in 1924.

Altar boys in the Abbey

Thu, Feb 20, 2025

An altar boy is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy.

The changing of the guard

Thu, Feb 13, 2025

On this day, February 13, 1922, the IRA took over Renmore Barracks from the British. When the Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified on January 7, 1922, it was only a matter of time before the British Army would leave the Barracks. There was some suggestion initially that the Regional Hospital might transfer to the barracks. On February 2, the last Black and Tans had left Galway by train. The British did not want to surrender the Barracks to the Volunteers, so an arrangement was made where they would leave at a certain time, and the formal handover would take place a few hours later.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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