Russia had its eye on Galway

Thu, Feb 19, 2009

If anyone thought that all a country need do to preserve its freedom when its neighbours are at war is to proclaim its neutrality, then they have only to look hard at what happened to several European countries at the beginning of World War II. Ladies and gentleman of the whinge brigade, neutrality isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

A forgotten night at Galway Docks

Thu, Feb 12, 2009

When Christy Moore sings his well known song, “Viva la Quinta Brigada”, in honour of those who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War one of his sardonic verses includes the lines:

Fuel problems during ‘the Emergency’

Thu, Jan 29, 2009

Because merchant ships were regarded as targets during World War II, the island of Ireland was, to an extent, cut off from the rest of the world, and many products that would normally have been freely available became scarce. Rationing was introduced and each household was given a ration book. Basic foodstuffs such as bread, butter, flour, wheatmeal, sugar, and tea were sold in small amounts... tea was reduced to a half ounce per person per week, which represented hardship for many. There was a black market for this and many other ‘luxuries’, while others tried making their own substitutes like dandelion tea or carrot tea. Some would recycle the tea leaves by taking them from the teapot, drying them, and reusing them. Necessity became the mother of invention.

St Nicholas’ Parochial School, a brief history

Thu, Jan 08, 2009

The Church of Ireland school of the Galway parish of St Nicholas opened its doors on July 12 1926, next door to the Town Hall and opposite the Courthouse. This marked a new departure for the primary education of Protestant children in Galway but it also marked the end of a long and sometimes acrimonious struggle for multi-denominational primary education in Galway.

Galway Rovers soccer teams

Tue, Dec 30, 2008

I am not sure when the game of soccer was first played competitively in Galway or who were the first teams. It seems to have been a popular sport in the Claddagh. In the early 1930s a team called Claddagh Rangers were playing senior soccer which is the equivalent of League of Ireland today. Another team from the area around that time was Old Claddonians, but the club we are concerned with today is Galway Rovers. In their early days, they had no clubhouse, though the Old Malt pub and the Atlanta Hotel could be described as hangouts. One of their earliest teams won the Celtic Shield in 1933.

Galway Rovers soccer teams

Tue, Dec 23, 2008

I am not sure when the game of soccer was first played competitively in Galway or who were the first teams. It seems to have been a popular sport in the Claddagh. In the early 1930s a team called Claddagh Rangers were playing senior soccer which is the equivalent of League of Ireland today. Another team from the area around that time was Old Claddonians, but the club we are concerned with today is Galway Rovers. In their early days, they had no clubhouse, though the Old Malt pub and the Atlanta Hotel could be described as hangouts. One of their earliest teams, as we see in photograph 1, won the Celtic Shield in 1933.

The Claddagh — the old and the new

Thu, Dec 18, 2008

This photograph was taken in the 1930s and illustrates the huge difference between the old thatched cottages in the Claddagh and the new houses that were being built to replace them. Even though the area was a building site with the new houses going up, people were obviously still living in the old houses if we are to judge from the line of washing we see hanging on the gable in the centre. The two thatched roofs look as if they are about to cave in. The woman and child we see on the right look very forlorn... could it be that their house was the next to be knocked and cleared? It may have been small and not very roomy, but it was home, probably to a number of generations of the family, so it cannot have been easy to see it flattened.

The Claddagh — the old and the new

Thu, Dec 18, 2008

This photograph was taken in the 1930s and illustrates the huge difference between the old thatched cottages in the Claddagh and the new houses that were being built to replace them. Even though the area was a building site with the new houses going up, people were obviously still living in the old houses if we are to judge from the line of washing we see hanging on the gable in the centre. The two thatched roofs look as if they are about to cave in. The woman and child we see on the right look very forlorn... could it be that their house was the next to be knocked and cleared? It may have been small and not very roomy, but it was home, probably to a number of generations of the family, so it cannot have been easy to see it flattened.

Scoil Fhursa, seachtú cúig bliain ag fás

Thu, Dec 11, 2008

The Irish Church Missions was the missionary wing of the United Church of England and Ireland. They were a very rich organisation and at the height of their endeavours, had an income of between £30,000 and £40,000 a year in this country alone. They first came to the west of Ireland, to Clifden, in 1849. Soon after a school was established in Galway, where a child might be given an evening meal and a night’s lodging after his attending a Bible class. They had two houses in Merchants Road, one named ‘The Dover School’.

Galway Rowing Club, one hundred years

Thu, Dec 04, 2008

Competitive rowing had been taking place on the Corrib for many years when the Ancient Order of Hibernians decided to form a new club in 1910. They got local contractor Walter Flaherty (who had already built the Corrib Club) to build a wooden clubhouse on the site of the present Galway Rowing Club. It was tarred each year up to 1970 in order to preserve the wood, and so it became known as ‘the Blackening Box’. In that year also there was a dispute in Saint Patrick’s Rowing Club and a number of oarsmen left and joined the new club.

The making of Alfred The Great

Thu, Nov 27, 2008

In 1968 MGM came to Galway to make a ‘swords and sandals’ epic film called Alfred the Great. A lot of preparatory work had gone into selecting three main locations in Kilchreest, Ross Lake, and Knockma, each of which encompassed 90 acres. A vast amount of money was spent on the exact replication of every aspect of the ninth century it depicted, turning some corners of County Galway into Wessex, including etching a 200-feet long white horse into the hill at Knockma.

Seoda...Seoda...Seoda

Thu, Nov 20, 2008

In 1951 Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann was set up to promote traditional Irish music. The first Galway branch was formed about 1965 and initially they held a committee meeting every week. Then somebody suggested they have a session every week instead, and this they did, in Martin Forde’s Eagle Bar in William Street West. Mind you, the session could not start until Mrs Forde had finished watching The Fugitive on television. These sessions became hugely popular at a time when very few pubs in Galway allowed live traditional music.

Fr Rhatigan strikes a blow for Rome

Thu, Nov 20, 2008

On February 28 1879 a desperate row erupted on peaceful Omey Island, near Cleggan, Connemara. The local curate Fr William Rhatigan burst into the local Protestant schoolhouse, run by the Irish Church Mission Society, saying he was ‘in search of his straying sheep’*. An argument broke out between him and the Rev William Lindsey MacNeice, the schoolmaster. Blows were struck. Who struck the first blow will forever be in dispute. But the evidence of Fr Rhatigan’s temper and strength is testified by the fact that it took the combined efforts of MacNeice, aided by his wife, his daughter Charlotte, his young son John Frederick, and two teachers from Claddaghduff, Messrs Davis and Coursey, to force him backwards out of the schoolhouse.

Immediately the rumour spread that the priest was ‘almost murdered’ by MacNeice and his family. An angry crowd stormed the schoolhouse. Stones and abuse were fired at the building and its occupants.

From crossroads dances to the internet

Thu, Nov 13, 2008

Gerry Cahill was born in Caherlistrane and started playing music from the age of eight..... first the melodeon, then the double row accordion, and later the piano accordion. He was a great admirer of musicians like Will Starr and Jimmy Shand. He soon developed a distinctive style of his own and he was very much in demand at house dances and roadside dances, which were very common at the time.

A street scene in Galway, 1835

Thu, Nov 06, 2008

Some weeks ago we reproduced a painting by William Evans of Eton College in this column. It was a colourful scene painted at the back of the Spanish Arch in 1835. Today’s image was painted in watercolour over pencil and heightened with body colour in that same year and was entitled “A Street Scene in Galway”.

The American Hotel, Eyre Square, c1940

Thu, Oct 23, 2008

The O’Sullivan family first came to Eyre Square in 1765. They took over a thatched house which had been rented by a family named Glynn from their landlord, who was one of the Eyres. The premises has been in the O’Sullivan family since. They set up a bar and grocery business, and it seems they always had rooms to let. By the time this photograph was taken c1940, they also had a travel agency which represented the Holland America Line, the Cunard White Star Line and the Greek Line (there were not too many commercial flights then). It was obviously the reason why they called the premises ‘The American Hotel’. It turned out to be an astute choice of name as they always had a lot of American guests.

Galway hurling legends

Thu, Oct 16, 2008

One could almost say that the Duggan family of College Road were born to play the game of hurling. A number of their predecessors had played for a famous College Road team in the 1890s, and their uncle Paddy played for Galway. They were given their first hurleys by Eddie Moore O’Flaherty from the Claddagh when they were very young children, so it was no wonder that Sean and Paddy and Jimmy would play for Galway and that Monica would become a very famous camogie player. Paddy and Monica have gone to their reward, but happily Sean and Jimmy are still with us.

Those who sing pray twice

Thu, Oct 09, 2008

A friend once told me that the quality of choral singing in her local church was such that even the most familiar hymns sounded unfamiliar. For those who frequent the Augustinian church on Sunday mornings, the reverse is true as each Sunday is made special by the wonderful four-part harmonies and beautiful singing of the choir there. A century ago they were referred to in the local press as ‘magnificent’ and even then were singing works by Haydn, Mendelsshon, and Weber.

A May procession in the Claddagh, c1935

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

This photograph was originally taken from the top of the high wall which fronted the town dump in the area of the Claddagh still known as ‘The Swamp’ in 1931. In the early years of the 20th century Galway’s Parliamentary Representative Stephen Gwynn prompted the Government to award a grant of £450 for the reclamation of this marshy ground between the Claddagh and the seashore, which was prone to flooding, and as a result a half-mile racing track in the shape of a rectangle with rounded corners was built around the perimeter of the area. It cannot have been very successful, because some time afterwards the area became the site for the city dump. In 1931 the Carnegie Trust presented the city with a grant of £500 to help develop part of the site into a number of playing pitches. This development was a gradual process and eventually, in the early fifties, the whole area was converted into a municipal park devoted entirely to sporting activities. The high wall was largely knocked and reduced to its present height. It took a while to completely clear the ground... many who played matches there at the time remember taking lumps of glass or tin out of the surface of the playing pitch and leaving them on the side wall.

The Spanish Arch, one hundred and seventy years ago

Thu, Sep 25, 2008

Antique paintings can be very important documents of social history, giving us an insight into what life must have been like when the picture was painted. They can recreate for us the streets and scenes and buildings where our ancestors may have lived or worked, show us how they dressed, the games they played, etc, before the Famine or before photography was invented. Such images of Galway are rare, so it is a pleasure to come across this descriptive watercolour of the back of the Spanish Arch, which is in a private collection.

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