This 1948 photograph was taken from the old RIC barracks which was opposite the Banba Hotel . The bit of a wall you can see in the immediate foreground was part of ‘The Lazy Wall’. There was a concrete seat running along the other side of this wall and it was there people known as the ‘Fámairí’ used to congregate, people mostly from farming families. When they had the harvest in, they would come to Salthill on holiday and often meet with the same people as last year. They would sit here and gossip, smoke their dúidíns and sometimes paddle in the sea beside them.
All of the storm beach on the right is now reclaimed and is mostly taken up by a car park. The sea wall protected the road, though the corner was prone to flooding by very high tides.
On the far right, we see the famous seawater baths being demolished. In 1894, Mrs. Frances Cremin and her two children James and Mary took over what was known as Seapoint House and the Fallon bathing business. Here one could have a sea water or a seaweed bath, hot or cold, which was considered to have curative powers for arthritis, lumbago and other ailments. Some people gargled and drank the water. Cremins constructed new baths and bathing boxes beside the house and developed the business into a kind of health spa, a must-visit venue for tourists coming to Salthill. “The premises have a freshness and cleanliness about them that of itself is invigorating, the attendance is admirable and they are under capable management”. In 1944, the baths complex was bought by Noel Finan who realised that young people coming to Salthill wanted something more than the invigorating salt air so he sold the family pub (now Killorans ) to raise funds and borrowed heavily, then he cleared the baths site and in its stead built Seapoint Ballroom.
It was a first class ballroom with a 4,000 square foot restaurant which could seat 350 diners on the ground floor. The ballroom had a floor area of 5,200 square feet and was laid out with a specially sprung maple floor capable of accommodating more than 2,000 dancers, and it had a balcony which was a great place for spotting talent. It was built in 13 months by 30 men working for McNallys. They had no cranes or lifts, just men pushing barrows and hoisting blocks, and they had to be very careful to work with the tide so they built a breakwater around the perimeter. The foundations were critical as the building was very high. When the tide was high, local youngsters used to paddle lumps of timber around inside the foundations.
The ballroom was officially opened by Mayor Joe Costelloe on July 17th, 1949 and it is reasonable to say that Salthill has never been the same since. Seapoint brought in terrific big bands and major acts which attracted huge crowds and then came the Showband phenomenon and more big acts like The Clancy Brothers, The Boomtown Rats, U2, Horslips, Bagatelle etc. It truly was a palace of dreams, of romance, excitement, energy and fun. Thousands of marriages were started in this building, all thanks to the vision and courage of Noel Finan who was always courteous and maintained very high standards. The ballroom closed in 1985.
This photograph shows much of what was the village of Salthill at the time. Next door to the Seapoint complex was a public House known as Villa Marina, later Keaveney’s and later still O’Leary’s. Beside that was originally called Prairie House, presumably built by someone returned from America. It later became O’Reilly’s Hotel. The house next door was originally known as “Elm View”, presumably because of the trees across the street, and the building beside that was known as Prospect Lodge.
The house to the left of picture was O’Briens, MacAlinneys was snext door then the opening to Lenaboy Avenue. Then there was Kellys house and the building on the corner was originally known as Kenny’s pub, grocery and guesthouse, later changed to The Strand Bar by Bill Sammon, then Betty Gallagher bought it and changed it to The Scotch House and later still, Stan Reilly took it over and called it The Stroll Inn.
Listen to Tom Kenny and Ronnie O'Gorman elaborating on topics they have covered in this week's paper and much more in this week's Old Galway Diary Podcast.
