Search Results for 'Fishmarket'

The village of Claddagh was a unique collection of thatched cottages arranged in a very random fashion, a place apart, occupied by a few thousand souls. They had their own customs, spoke mainly in Irish, intermarried, elected their own king and had a code of laws unique to the village. Virtually the entire male population was involved in fishing, but when they landed their catch, the women took over and they were the ones who went out and sold the product.

The village of the Claddagh was a unique collection of thatched houses arranged in a very random fashion, occupied by a few thousand souls. They had their own customs, spoke mainly in Irish, intermarried each other, had their own code of laws, and elected their own king. He was quite powerful in many respects and usually solved local disputes. Claddagh people rarely went outside the village to courts of justice. Virtually the entire male population was involved in fishing, but when they landed their catch, it was the women who took over. They were the members of the family who went out and sold the product.

It is a pity really that we cannot see this photograph in colour because what we are looking at must have been a wonderful colourful animated scene full of black shawls, patterned and coloured shawls, blue cloaks and red cloaks, white aprons, práiscíns, baskets, scibs, barrels, fisherwomen from The Claddagh, and customers from the town. Imagine the noisy competition between the sellers, the lively female eloquence, the haggling, “Fresh fish, Johnny Dory, lovely mackerel,” etc. It all sounds like great fun and very romantic, but of course it was vital for the Claddagh women who were trying to make a living, to make enough to support their families.

“The Younger Women with their cloaks draped around their heads looked piquant enough, their faces had not unfrequently the sweetest expression of passion, and their lips pouted charmingly. The old fisher-wives, on the other hand, who sat near the casks and smoked damp tobacco in short clay pipes, had something witchlike and menacing about them.” So wrote Julius Rodenberg in 1860. He obviously had a thing for beautiful young Galway women as he also wrote about them elsewhere. As for the older women, I would say they just glared at him because he did not buy any fish. Otherwise, what he wrote could be true of our 1908 photograph.

The Galway City Council has issuing an advisory regarding potential flooding around the city this week.

The Galway City Council has warned there is potential for flooding in parts of the city over coming days. High spring tides are expected until Sunday, the highest of which is set to occur at 6:26am tomorrow.

Galway City Council is issuing an advisory to the public regarding the possibility of localised flooding in the city over the coming weekend until Monday morning