Search Results for 'Donal Taheny'

As we pointed out last week, much of what we now know as Woodquay was under water until the funnelling of the various streams that came down from the Corrib into the river that we know today began in the mid-19th century. As part of the project, the lands of Woodquay were gradually reclaimed. The people living in the area in those early years were mostly small farmers and fishermen. Their houses were very basic, single story, and for the most part, thatched and built of crude stone. There were of course some landmark houses but things began to change generally around the turn of that century with the construction of terraces of new slated houses around the broad space of Woodquay as we know it today, mostly built by the Urban District Council.

The present club was established in 1975 at a meeting in Giblin’s Hotel, now part of TKMaxx department store on Prospect Hill. It was however preceded by a similar club founded in the late 1950s which survived until the late 1960s.

In May, 1846, as part of a Famine relief project, 175 people were employed to build a road linking Dangan to Salthill. Part of that road was known as Bóthar na Mine (the Road of the Indian Meal) because all of the wages were used to buy oatmeal. I have never been able to find out how, when, or why this name was translated into English as Threadneedle Road.

Hely Dutton, in his survey of County Galway in 1824, wrote: “In every considerable town there is a market for fat cattle and sheep once a week. The earliest cattle fairs in Galway were held at Fairhill (hence the name) but in the 19th century, they moved to Eyre Square. It was where the farmer sold his product to other farmers, to butchers and to visiting dealers. It was where town and country met, where the rural people would come to town to sell, then buy whatever necessities they needed before returning home."