Search Results for 'Dick Byrne'

In the late 18th century, a ‘new town’ — Newtownsmyth — was built outside the town wall on the northern side. The project was undertaken by the governors of the Erasmsus Smith estate. In this suburb, a county courthouse was erected in 1815 and a town courthouse in 1824. In 1823, there were objections suggesting that there were several suitable sites ‘immediately in town’ and that it was ‘quite idle’ to lay foundations in the suburb of Newtownsmyth.

The place-name Shantalla is derived from the Irish ‘Sean Talamh’ meaning old ground, though why Shantalla should be older than the ground around it is a mystery. Maybe a lot of it was never worked and left wild. Sometimes the name was written as Shantallow, and locally it was always known as ‘Shantla’.

The first motor car was imported into Ireland in 1896. The early ones were steam-powered and badly suited to Ireland’s climate and roads. There was no surface on the roads, lots of potholes left by horses and animals, and of course pedestrians who were unfamiliar with motor cars. Some thought they were parts of trains that had broken off, noisy and smelly vehicles driven by faceless people – drivers wore goggles and head coverings to keep smoke from the engines and road dust from irritating their eyes and nose. Others thought they were the devil’s work and would bless themselves and say a prayer as these cars went by.

On May 9, 1905, there was a meeting held in the Royal Hotel of golfers that had been banned from membership of the Gentian Hill club by the landlord there, Sebastian Nolan. They decided to form a new club under the presidency of the Hon Robert Dillon. It was reported that on that day a committee had accompanied Larkin, the Bray professional, over a promising new course on Mr Marcus Lynch’s property at Barna and were happy about the suitability of the ground for a nine-hole links.

The Lazy Wall was a feature of life in old Salthill. It was situated opposite the Grand Hotel and beside the old RIC barracks. It would be roughly where the west-bound lane opposite where the BonBon is today. It consisted of a long concrete seat, boarded on top, backed by a stone wall. It was not very comfortable but it attracted lots of people, mostly tourists, most of whom were country people.

In 1904, MJ MacDonnell, Confectioner, announced the fact in the local papers, that he had just opened a TEA ROOM at Number 8, Wiilliamsgate Street where ladies and gentlemen ‘can have freshly made tea and cakes – all cakes made freshly on the premises with the purest ingredients only. Seed, Plum, Rich Plum, Madeira, Citron, Cherry, Sultana, Genoese, Pastry etc. White and Brown scones, Cream scones and Crumpets always in stock. Ice Creams in 24 hours’.

The Galway Electric Light Company was set up by James Perry, an engineer and County Surveyor of the Western District of Galway, and his brother, Professor John Perry, to generate electricity. On November 1, 1888, they applied for permission from the Galway Town Commissioners to ‘erect poles in some parts of the town as an experiment for the electric lighting of the town’. The company had established a generating station at Newtownsmith in an old flour mill which had existed since the 1600s and straddled the Friar’s River. They installed a hydroelectric turbine in the watercourse which was linked to a generator producing alternating current.

The workshops were launched as part of World Heart Day on Sunday 29 September. The aim of the project is to encourage the arts to patients suffering from heart conditions.

Ronnie O’Gorman was the most influential Galwegian of the past fifty years. In The Galway Advertiser he created and nurtured a unique forum for Galway creativity, enterprise and community. Under Ronnie’s benign yet focused stewardship an entirely new version of Galway developed as the universal image of the city – an innovative, cultured, tolerant and sparkling city, successful, slightly raffish, and fun.

Peadar O’Dowd’s credentials for writing about Galway were impeccable. One of four children, Nono, Willie, Martin and Peadar, born to their parents John and Bridget, he grew up in Bohermore and was always grateful for the fact. He lived his life there and throughout that life would celebrate the area and its people in hundreds of articles and interviews he published in various newspapers and journals.