Old Galway
The Lazy Wall
This photograph was taken looking west from where Seapoint is today. The house in the picture was roughly across the street from the Bon Bon. It was once an RIC barracks and was latterly occupied by Monica Wallace. There was a concrete bench along the wall in front of the house which was known as “The Lazy Wall”, a place where old and countrified people, known as “The Fámairí” , would relax and chat and gossip. They came not for the views but for the conversations. Many arrived after their crops had been harvested. They usually brought their own food in the form of home-cured bacon, fresh eggs, butter, cooked chickens and cakes of bread.”You rented a room and you ate yourself”. They would use the family kitchen of the house in which they were staying and consider themselves part of that family for the duration. There was a small bit of beach below the wall where the patrons could bathe or paddle.
Galvia / Calvary Hospital
An interesting number of medical institutions were established in Galway in the 20th century. In 1908, the Port Sanitary Intercepting Hospital was built near the docks opposite Forthill Cemetery as quarantine for any suspected cases of cholera or smallpox that might have come in on board ship. It cost £1,000, had 20 beds and happily it was never needed for its primary purpose and only ever housed 3 patients. It burnt down in 1966.
Máirtín Mór
This photograph of the corner of New Dock Street and Flood Street dates from the 1930s. The large threestorey house on Flood Street was formerly known as ‘The Dispensary’ and was the property of the Poor Law Guardians. It was obviously occupied by a doctor. It was in this house that the McDonogh dynasty began in Galway.
Bailey's Hotel (Eyre Square)
When Bailey’s Hotel was being sold it was advertised as being “Fifty Yards from the Railway Station. One hundred and fifty yards from the docks. Frontage; Fifty Feet. Depth: one hundred feet. Eigheen bedrooms,four reception rooms. One additional large room sixty feet by twenty six feet. Bath rooms, lavatories, Kitchen, Pantry, Yard etc. Electric light throughout. Very fine bar, seven day licence. Premises held under lease of 99 years from March 1904, at yearly rent of £4.”
Robert MacDonald, Sanitary and Heating Engineer
This photograph was taken in 1900 of the staff of Robert MacDonald, the plumber from Dominick Street. The business was started by his father, Peter MacDonald (late manager for Ross and Murray), who advertised himself in 1887 as “Plumber, Brassfounder and Gasfitter”.
The first Galway-London airmail flight
On August 26th, 1929, a North German Lloyd Liner arrived at 6.30am in the morning in Galway Bay from New York. Special bags of mail were immediately taken from the ship into Galway by launch, and together with mails that were especially made up in Galway Post Office, were rushed by car to Oranmore Airport. Notices has been placed in the Eglinton Street Office saying that letters would have a special impress affixed for this flight, and that they should be posted early.
Christmas QUIZ 2016
Tom Kenny's Old Galway contribution was in the form of the annual picture quiz, which accompanied Dick Byrne's (devilish) crossword.
The Magic of Glynn's
It was Leonard Martin’s idea to bring Santa Claus to Galway for the first time when he introduced him to his shop in Mainguard Street. It was such a novelty that the mayor, Joe Costelloe came formally to the shop to welcome Santa and shake his hand. Leonard Martin’s shop (where St. Anthony’s Credit Union is today) opened in 1941. For most of the year it was largely a hardware shop by at Christmas it became a toyshop exclusively. The man who played Santa Claus was a war veteran named Jack Kerr.