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GEORGE CHAMBERS’ PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
by Tom Kenny
George Chambers was born in England in 1873. He lived at Temple Fortune Lane in Middlesex. He travelled extensively and this included several trips to Ireland. In 1929, he toured parts of West Cork and Wicklow, in 1931, he visited Galway City and the Aran Islands and on subsequent trips he went to the Blasket Islands, to Achill and Clare Islands and to various other islands off the coast of Donegal.
Happily, he brought his camera with him and left a visual record of these tours. Sadly, only two of his images of Galway City survive and one of those photographs we have for you today. It is titled ‘Penelope and Katrina’ and shows two ladies, obviously known to the photographer, walking across Dominick Street Bridge with their bicycles. The second city image is just of George standing with his back to the railings of the bridge with the Eglinton Canal behind him.
According to Hely Dutton’s Survey, Dominick Street was built in the early part of the 19th century. It was outside the old city walls and was an indicator of how Galway was beginning to expand at the time.
The bridge in the foreground was originally called ‘Bald Bridge’ or ‘Droichead Maol’. The Irish word maol would seem to suggest that the bridge had no parapets, though a drawing of it on Thomas Phillips’ Prospect of Galway would indicate otherwise. Before the establishment of Mill Street as a thoroughfare in the mid-18th century, this would have been the only communication by road between the city (including the West Bridge) and Iar-Chonnacht. ‘Bald Bridge’ eventually corrupted to Balls Bridge.
The bridge in our photograph replaced the old structure in 1851. It was formally opened on the 28th of August, 1852, a bascule or swivel bridge which could swing open to one side and was made from timber with a steel frame. It was hand-operated and when opened it allowed commercial boat traffic to move up and down the canal. To the left, out of picture, was the Lock House, occupied by a Mr. John Keogh who operated the bridge and also the canal lock at Parkaveara. As commercial traffic had virtually ceased, and because of a major increase in road traffic and the fact that the bridge was becoming dangerous it was decided to replace it in 1954 with the permanent and unmoveable structure that is there now.
The facades of Lower Dominick Street, with one or two notable exceptions, have not changed a great deal, and there is real vintage quality about our main photograph.
George Chambers’ collection of five albums of photographs was presented to the County Council Archive in 2010. He took photographs in all of the locations listed at the top of this piece. Unfortunately, there are only two images of Galway city but the remainder make up a wonderful collection that give an English gentleman tourist’s sympathetic perspective of the landscape, the people and their lives as witnessed by him during his summer holidays. He spent a lot of his time on the islands off the west coast, notably the Aran Islands and the Blaskets, and his photographs illustrate that despite their isolation from the mainland and distance from each other, the islanders lived very similar lives.
‘There are common themes throughout: thatched dwellings, stone walls, lighthouses, cliffs, donkeys, turf bogs, currachs, laughing barefoot children, dark-cloaked women and flat-capped wearing men. Island life in all its guises is captured by Chambers in a very accessible and honest manner, with sensitivity, grace and humour’.
Now the County archivist, Patria McWalter, and her team have researched and digitised this collection, and put it online, thanks to the support of Galway County Council Creative Ireland Fund for 2022. They have published a limited number of copies in book form and these are available, free of charge, while stocks last, in local Galway County Library branches or, they can be viewed on the web at http//:gccapps.galwaycoco.iearchives/AIBS. While you are on the site, check out some of the other material the archive has put online. It is a terrific resource.
George Chambers’ collection points out to us the value of photographs as historical documents. Of particular local interest are the wonderful Aran Island images but you should really look at the entire archive. Highly recommended.
Also highly recommended is the latest issue (Volume 74) of the Galway Archeological and Historical Society, edited by Dr. Jackie Uí Chionna. It comprises a series of well researched and often illustrated articles and is a great addition to any Galway library. If you are not a member of the Society, you might consider joining, the annual ordinary membership is only 20 euro and this entitles you to a copy of the journal as well as admission to their series of public lectures which are normally held on the second Monday of the month.