Search Results for 'John Beatty'

Two hundred years ago, in October 1826, the Warden of Galway wrote to the Superior of the Patrician Brothers asking him to send at least one Brother to Galway to take over a school which had been moved from near the Shambles Barracks to a disused barrack in Lombard Street. Brother Paul O’Connor and Brother Dawson were sent to Galway. Cash in hand was one shilling. Social conditions were very bad, but the Brothers went ahead and established the Monastery School, known as The Mon. Before the school had been a year in operation, the improvement in the youth of the city was so evident that a public meeting was held in the school to vote thanks to the teachers, “whose zeal, attention and excellent arrangements had produced such happy results”.

James Hardiman, in his history of Galway lists the fuels available in Galway long ago as coal, turf and bog deal. Bog deal was mostly the roots of trees that had been grown over by the bog over the centuries. It was regarded as a nuisance by the turf cutter who likes nice clean lines as he used his sleán. The turf men usually threw this timber up on top of the bog. It gave out a lot of sparkle, like a mini firework, while it burned in the grate.

This photograph of the turf market at the Claddagh, near Wolfe Tone Bridge, was taken by the journalist Lillian Bland in 1908. This market used to take place regularly as farmers, mostly from the Barna/Furbo area, sometimes even Spiddal, would bring their cartloads of beautifully stacked turf to town. They were hoping to barter or sell their produce and then do their shopping in town. They often carried loads of hay, sometimes loose, sometimes tied, and large cans of milk, also for sale. There was a weighbridge on the other side of the cottages in our photograph which was often used in these transactions.