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.

The egg and butter market

Thu, Sep 18, 2008

Hely Dutton in his “Statistical and Agricultural Survey of the County of Galway” which was published in 1824, wrote, “The vegetable market near the Main Guard is generally well supplied and at reasonable rates ; all kinds come to market washed, by which means any imperfection is easily detected. The cabbage raised near the sea on seaweed is particularly delicious ---- those who have been used to those cultivated on highly manured ground cannot form any idea of the difference. There are also in the season peaches, strawberries, gooseberries, apples, pears etc.

Galway’s first taxi rank?

Thu, Sep 11, 2008

This photograph was taken about a hundred years ago and shows a number of side-cars lined up in the Square while waiting for custom. I am not sure when hackneys became taxis, but a century later they are still lined up in the Square. They had less traffic to compete with then.

Galway in mourning for air crash victims

Thu, Aug 14, 2008

Fifty years ago today, a Dutch KLM Super-Constellation airliner named Hugo De Groot crashed into the Atlantic, about 100 miles off the Conamara coast, with the loss of 99 lives. The plane was en route from Amsterdam via Shannon with eight crewmen and 91 passengers. Nobody survived. It was the worst disaster involving a single plane in the history of commercial aviation up to that point.

Peter Greene’s pub

Thu, Aug 07, 2008

Towards the end of the 19th century Colman Greene came from Carna to Galway to work, mostly as a fisherman. He married Julia McGrath from Newcastle and they opened a pub near the Spanish Arch. They also sold tea and sugar and candles, etc, often as provisions to boatmen going out to fish. They had trawlers and fishing boats of their own at the Claddagh, and were fish merchants also.

Developments in Ballybrit

Thu, Jul 31, 2008

Racing in County Galway took place on a number of courses at the beginning of the 19th century... Kilconnell, Eyrecourt, Brook Lodge (near Tuam), Rahassan, Ballinasloe, Ballymoe, Dunmore, Athenry, Bermingham Hunt (run by John Dennis, Bermingham House, Tuam), and Carraroe Hunt. Only seven of these courses were extant at the dawn of the 20th century.

Ray McBride — a profile

Thu, Jul 24, 2008

Ray McBride was born in Bohermore, the son of Bobby and Kathleen. He was educated in the Claddagh National School and in Saint Mary’s College. He was always very athletic and tried his hand at a number of sports. He was no good at rugby and his Gaelic football career was cut short by a broken wrist, but he was a nifty soccer player.