Old Galway
THE GALWAY & CORRIB ANGLER’S ASSOCIATION, THE EARLY YEARS
by Tom Kenny
On February 6th, 1898, Colonel O’Hara from Lenaboy Castle and Henry Hodgson from Currerevagh, Oughterard came together to found The Corrib Fisheries Association for the further improvement of trout fishing on the Corrib. They teamed up with the Board of Conservators of the Galway District to promote proper angling on the Corrib. In 1907, they managed to convince the Department of Agriculture to build a trout hatchery on the Owenriff River in Oughterard. It worked very well for a number of years but eventually fell into decline and closed down in 1924.
As a result, the sport of trout angling on the lake was deteriorating and so a number of concerned anglers met in Bailey’s Hotel and set up The Galway and Corrib Angler’s Association with Mr. L. O’Dea as chairman. Their stated aim was to improve angling on the Corrib and to investigate and report to the Government Commission on inland fisheries in the country. As members of the association, they were allowed to participate in the National Fly Fishing Competition to be held on the lake in April of that year.
M.J. Lydon was elected secretary, Nicholas Geraghty became treasurer and the committee members were Lieutenant Graham, Renmore, Dr. D.V. Morris, G.M. Counahan, Ed. Bailey, E. Lydon, Michael Power, William Cloherty, J.M. Pringle, T. Sweeney, F. Ryan, T. Courtney, J. Moloney and H. Bailey.
They set about trying to re-establish the trout hatchery at Oughterard and they organised fishing competitions, some of which were specifically for pike which was an attempt to control trout predation in the lake.
Thus began a long programme of outstanding work done by the Association over the years in preserving the quality of angling; in lobbying Government on various issues; in organising national championships; in protecting the ecology; in the distribution of fry; in monitoring pollution; in running fly-tying courses; in dealing with the rod licence; in highlighting bad lakeside developments and in building an angler’s hut on Flynn Island. They also worked valiantly and voluntarily to maintain the hatching facility at Oughterard but it was beyond the means of one angling club and so, in 1959, they were happy to hand over the running of it to the Connacht Federation.
In 1971, all the fingerling trout raised at the hatchery were lost due to drainage work. Pollution was increasingly becoming a problem, that same year all the fish in the Claregalway River were wiped out from a disastrous spillage from the Erin Foods factory in Tuam. The dreaded algae bloom was now being reported as a serious threat and later, fish farming for the same reason.
On the positive side, the Association teamed up with Bráithreacht na Coiribe, the other city based angling club, to run a fly-tying course in the Vocational school. In 1988, the club began their protest against the rod licence. They set up a special task force to fight it and organised a public march in the city. Eventually, the dispute was resolved.
Our first photograph shows some of the anglers in the 1952 pike competition including Archie Mahony with the pike on the left. Bernie O’Grady with the rod, Eamonn Walsh and Tommy Mannion with the large pike between them and on the right, Jack Doherty with his cap in his hand.
Our second image shows a group taken at Greenfields in 1971. In front are, from the left; P.J. Dowling, Galway; Murt Folan, Galway; Percy Stanley, Clifden; Eileen Brett, Tuam; J.J. Duffy, Kilmaine; Peter O’Malley, Ballinrobe; Tom Browne, Galway; Christy Deacy, Galway. Among those at the back are Pat Day, Mike Egan, Sonny O’Donnell, Jim Ryan, Tom Cameron, Bertie O’Toole, Tom Varley, Liam Greaney and Paddy Brett.
These photographs and all the information today is taken from a history entitled “Galway & Corrib Anglers’ Association, 75 Years” which was written and published by the late Peadar O’Dowd in 2009.
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Just arrived is a copy of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society journal, Volume 76 edited by Dr. Jackie Uí Chionnaith. It is, as expected, a mixture of fascinating articles on a variety of subjects and is well illustrated. Of particular interest is Roy Foster’s piece on “The memoir of Dermot O’Connor Donelan” and also Séamua Devitt’s article on “The story of ‘The Irish Madonna’. This recalls how Walter Lynch, the Bishop of Clonfert along with many others fled to Inishbofin as the Cromwellians were about to take over Galway. When the island surrendered to the British, all of the clergy were allowed to leave and sail to Flanders. Lynch ended up in Gyor in Hungary with his most prized possession, a portrait of The Blessed Virgin. When he died, this portrait was hung in the local cathedral, and 37 years later, on St. Patrick’s Day 1697, it was seen to weep tears of blood for some three hours. ‘The Madonna of Galway’ painting was venerated thereafter. The article gives us the statements of those who witnessed the event. The journal also includes a wonderful tribute by Bernard O’Hara to Peadar O’Dowd who was an active member of the Society for many years.
Membership of this society is only 20 euro per annum and includes a copy of the journal and postage. Overseas membership is only 30 euro which also included a copy of the journal and postage. The society also host a series of lectures every year which are free to members. This represents remarkably good value to anyone who wishes to join this organisation who have made such an important contribution to our understanding and appreciation of our heritage.
THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD
by Tom Kenny
On this day, February 13th, 1922, the I.R.A. took over Renmore Barracks from the British. When the Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified on January 7th 1922 ,it was only a matter of time before the British Army would leave the Barracks. There was some suggestion initially that the regional Hospital might transfer to the barracks. On February 2nd, the last Black and Tans had left Galway by train. The British did not want to surrender the Barracks to the Volunteers, so an arrangement was made where they would leave at a certain time, and the formal handover wold take place a few hours later.
The Irish officer assigned for the take-over was Captain Stephen Rynne formerly of the Dublin Brigade of the I.R.A. By the time he entered the premises, the locals had stripped the barracks of most of the furniture. Two Volunteers, John Murphy and Sonny King raised a large tricolour. An advance guard arrived to replace the military sentries and are seen in our first photograph. They are, from the left, Henry Lynch, John Bannigan, John Canavan, Patrick White, Michael Francis, Joseph Kelly, Patrick Feeney and Sergeant Thomas Kelly.
GRATTAN ROAD BUILDINGS
by Tom Kenny
The Galway Vindicator of November 24th, 1863 reported that “The completion of the Grattan Road will add much to the beauty and salubrity of the handsomest of our suburban districts. The embankment being made by Miss Grattan will reclaim 28 acres of land, which is now a swamp, but which will become, with a little cultivation, some of the most fertile ground in the neighbourhood. Miss Grattan has given great employment to the poor of the neighbourhood in making this road and embankment. Since June last, up to the present time, there has been over 200 labourers employed and from 12 to 14 masons regularly. It will, when finished, alter the appearance of Salthill and contribute much to make that favourite watering place one of the nicest localities in the kingdom”.
Miss Grattan was a relation of Henry Grattan. The project was known as ‘The Tenpenny Road’ as that was the weekly wage paid to the labourers. It was a major factor in the improvement of Salthill, indeed it was the first time land was reclaimed in the area.
THE CONNACHT LAUNDRY
by Tom Kenny
The very word laundry conjures up images of Dickensian workhouses, sweat shops, the smell of Sunlight soap, long working hours. It is no wonder some 1,500 laundresses went on strike in 1945 for the right to two weeks
In olden times, women washed clothes from a tub, In Galway, many of them would have done their washing from low sections of the river bank or the canal bank which would have provided flowing clean water. The oldest laundry we know of in Galway was the Magdalen Laundry in Forster Street which started up in 1824. In 1904, the Persse sisters started “The Connaught Steam Laundry” in Helen Street. They ran it until 1918 when they sold it to the Emerson sisters. They, in turn, sold the complex to Arthur Goodbody in 1920. It comprised the laundry equipped with modern plant, steam and electric power, three dwelling houses a garden and a builder’s yard. He changed the name to ‘The Connacht laundry’.
In the 1930’, they offered a ‘simplicity service’ – one price, two pence halfpenny per article washed, pressed and aired. The one exception to this was a heavy blanket or quilt which was counted as four articles with a minimum charge of 2/6. No starch was used in this service. Articles requiring starch were treated seperately. They also offered a dyeing and cleaning service. The phone number was Galway 124.
In July 1935, some trade unions took industrial action in protest at attacks on Catholics in Belfast. In Galway, this took the form of dockers refusing to unload a cargo of grain from the S.S. Comber, a ship owned by Sir William Kelly of Belfast. The A.T.G.W.U. went on unofficial strike and called on other workers to join them. Many of the women in the Connacht Laundry joined the strike even though they were not members of any union. Most of them were from ‘the west’ and related to dockers. The owners closed down the factory and the small number of men continued to work throughout. Despite the mediation of clergy, poloticians and union officials, the laundry remained closed with the result that the women sacrificed several week’s wages.
The company continued along traditional lines for almost four decades. It was ‘fully equipped with modern appliances, having a water supply of perfect softness and employing a capable and experienced staff of about sixty, and acquired a very good reputation for the quality of its work’. Initially, their deliveries were by horse and cart or bicycle, then they graduated to small gas-driven vans during the war. Later, they used charcoal-burning vans, then motorised vans and their fleet collected and delivered laundry from as far away as Kilkenny, Waterford and Clonmel. In 1958, it acquired the Dublin-based Court Laundry which gave it a broader representation countrywide.
In the late 1960’s, the traditional business – domestic laundry and dry cleaning – began to disappear with the advent of high street dry cleaners, washeterias and washing machines. Within a matter of years, some 50 laundries throughout the country had closed. The Connacht Laundry employed some 200 people and rationalised the business. They divested themselves of the Court Laundry, set up a towel rental company and expanded into the textile rental market. Next, they sold off the retail outlet in William St. which traded as Connacht Cleaners and Court Cleaners and also the Blue Line Cleaners in the Shopping Centre. Many people will remember their wonderful cinema adverts featuring Milo O’Shea waving his arm and leg while reflected in the window of the William St. shop.
The Goodbodys were always prepared to move with the times. In 1970, they set up the Linen Supply of Ireland. In 1981, a new company, Micron Clean was set up to service companies in the high technology area. The establishment of computer, electronics and pharmaceutical companies meant that ‘clean room’ garments had to be cleaned to an international standard, vacuum packed and delivered into special sterile lockers.
The company’s activities were now based on systems which involved the supply, cleaning and continuous management of a wide range of textile-based products. In 1996, the business was sold to an English company, CWSBOKO.
We have three illustrations for you today, the first an advert for the Connaught Steam Laundry dated 1920; the second, an advert during the Galway Races c1965 and the third, a photograph c1975 of a Schultess tunnel-washer in Helen Street. This massive machine, the only one of its type in Ireland was about to be lifted by crane into the laundry site and installed as part of the modernisation programme. This machine would wash one ton of linen every day.
THE LOCK KEEPER’S HOUSE
by Tom Kenny
The Eglinton Canal was a work of great utility both in terms of draining and regulating the surplus waters of the lake and permitting ingress from the sea. The lower lake used to empty it’s waters through a delta by three visible outlets into the sea; The natural and original shallow tortuous and rocky Galway River, navigable only for very small craft and row-boats; The Mionlach creek, a small stream nearly filled up; “The Friar’s Cut”, about three quarters of a mile in length, fifty feet wide and twelve feet deep.
In 1848, the Board of Works started on a project to improve the drainage, navigation and water power in connection with the lake and river. They built Steamer’s Quay, a regulating weir, built up the walls along the river bank, dredged the river, constructed the Eglinton Canal and the Claddagh Basin, mill races, tail races and bridges over the canal. All of the bridges were swivel bridges, and could be operated by hand so as to allow navigation through.
BALLYBRIT MEMORIES
by Tom Kenny
On the night before the papal visit, most of our extended family moved into my brother’s house in Ballybane. No motorised traffic would be allowed near the place on the day of the event, it would be a shorter walk from Ballybane to Ballybrit, and maybe we would have a chance to get a little more sleep.
Some chance! The extraordinary carnival atmosphere outside as crowds of people made their way towards the racecourse made sleep impossible. My sister-in-law had made an enormous pot of soup, and it was all needed as we spent our time bringing out bowls of soup, mugs of tea and coffee, sandwiches, etc., mostly to people who had travelled long distances by coach and who were now walking to Ballybrit. For them, as for us all, it was a true pilgrimage in every sense of the word.
THE COLONIAL BUILDINGS
by Tom Kenny
“An important structure is now in the course of completion in ‘the citie of the tribes,’ which will supply a decided want in that hitherto neglected town, but destined – we trust at no distant period – to be a great highway from the Old to the New World. Very little indeed has been done in Galway in the way of building improvements, but a wide field is now being opened; and as transatlantic commercial intercourse increases, so must her prosperity and architectural requirements,” so began an exciting article in The Dublin Builder of Jan 1st, 1860. It continued:
“The new institute presents a frontage of about 40 feet by 70 feet flank, each elevation harmonizing in character, and displaying architectural features, with bowed connection between the two fronts. Towards the principal street, on ground floor, is a large business concern, with about 25 feet frontage and 33 feet depth, with central doorway, and also communicating with a small office, a fire-proof safe room, parlour (15 feet square), pantry, hall, and staircase of a private house. In the basement are various apartments, comprising kitchens, servant’ bedrooms, sculleries, cellars, etc, to meet the requirements of the habitations with which they are in connection. The plans throughout are admirably arranged, and in execution will, no doubt, prove most commodious.
MacDONNELLS OF WILLIAMSGATE STREET
by Tom Kenny
In 1904, M.J. McDonnell, 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’.
Jellies, Blanc Manges, Meringues, Pies, all could be made to order as could sweets in great variety. Large or small luncheon and tea parties could be catered for at 24-hour notice. Light Luncheons and Teas were ‘Comfortably’ Served. Wedding cakes could be ordered at the shortest notice and they were also agents for Fuller’s Confections.