If you ever wondered what it would be like to walk down Shop Street and see trams and horses and carts pass you by, or to walk by the sea in Salthill before there was a promenade, then you should view the website Old Galway Pics.
Old Galway Pics, http://oldgalwaypics.co.uk, is a site devoted to images of Galway, mostly from the early 1900s, but also as recent as the 1950s and 1960s.
The site is the creation of Philip O’Toole, a Galwegian and former pupil of the Bish who now lives in London. It comes from a collection of postcards and photographs that Mr O’Toole has collected over the years.
The website contains extensive collections of cards and images of The Claddagh from when it was a separate village of thatched cottages; the evolution and development of Eyre Square; the River Corrib; Shop Street and Williamsgate Street, showing different eras with cars, buses, trams, and the fashions of the day; Lynch’s Castle; the Spanish Arch; and Galway’s churches.
There are also special sections for Menlo, Oughterard, Salthill, NUI, Galway and Renmore Barracks, and one detailing the many remains of mediaeval masonry that can be found throughout the city centre.
These fascinating images show all that has changed, and what has also stayed the same, in Galway over the last century and promises addictive web viewing. The site is a valuable and wonderful pictorial history of the city and its evolution from an Edwardian town to a much busier city in the 1960s.
As well as the photographs, Old Galway Pics also has a selection of school magazines from the Bish, the Presentation College, and Taylor’s Hill, such as Bish Bombshells, Precisely Pres, and Blueprint, which can be downloaded in PDF form for a nostalgic browse.
Mr O’Toole is interested in hearing from Galwegians who have photos, postcards, news clippings, etc, they think might be useful for the site and he can be contacted via
the site or through [email protected]
