Many areas in County Galway had poor or no roads until well into the 20th century. For coastal areas this meant that trade and travel was mostly done by sea.
Sea journeys led to the development of piers and harbours all along the County Galway coast and the sight of currachs and hookers on Galway Bay was common.
The history of those many piers and harbours will be the subject of a lecture by Prof Noel Wilkins, entitled Peering in the Dying Light: the piers and harbours of county Galway. The talk will take place in Harbour Hotel, dock Road, on Monday January 10 at 8pm.
Tracing the history of the piers and harbours tells us as much about the conditions of the people who built them - most were built as famine relief works - as it does about the piers themselves.
The talk, which will be non-technical and represents a ‘work in progress’, is illustrated with slides that show some of the features that often go unnoticed but that store the history of the structures and their modification over time.
Noel Wilkins is an Emeritus Professor of NUI Galway. He is now studying the history and heritage of piers and harbours of county Galway and the Clare coast of Galway Bay.
The talk is organised by the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. All are welcome to attend.
