Old Galway
Mícheál Ó'Droighneáin, 1916 Veteran (08 10 15)
Mícheál was born in Spiddal. He left school when he was 14 and got a job in McCambridge's for 6d a week. Lady Killanin convinced him to go back to school and he became a monitor, went on to training college in Dublin and it was there he became a Nationalist. “I became a member of the IRB towards the end of 1910 when I was teaching in Dublin (from August 1910 to January 1913). Then I came to my native place, teaching in Spiddal for one year and then coming to Furbo”.
Shantalla in 1953 (01 10 15)
Walter Macken’s first published English language play ‘Mungo’s Mansion’ was about people in the tenements of Buttermilk Lane about to be re-housed away out in the country, in the wilds of Shantalla. This was causing great distress to the ‘townies’ who would have to move less than a mile as the crow flies.
Aer Árann, The Early Years (24 09 15)
There was a ferry service to the Aran Islands in the 1960’S, but the ship could only dock at Inis Mór. In 1969, Colie Hernon wrote a letter to the Irish Times complaining of the inadequate transport facilities to the islands which prompted Hayden Lawford to conduct an aerial survey of Inis Mór. Meanwhile, Ralph Langan whose business was fruit wholesaling in Galway and who had problems shipping fresh fruit to the islands, had also seen Colie’s letter.
Terryland Park (17 09 15)
In ancient times, Galway was known as Streamstown because the lower Galway River divided into many streams, thus creating a system of islands. The area was known as “Tír Oileáin” , the land of islands. Two place names survive from that period, Tirellan and Terryland.
The Crescent from Murray's Shop (10 09 15)
This photograph of the Crescent which was originally known as Palmyra Crescent was taken c.1940. Palmyra in Syria is very much in the news these days, but I cannot think of any reason why someone would name a road in Galway after it.
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Galway Hurling (03 09 15)
An elderly lady once told me that “Apart from the Irish language, we have nothing more Irish in this country than the game of hurling”. I agree. It is the greatest game of them all. It is probably the number one game in the county, attendances at senior County finals being a very good criterion – the hurling final has always been the bigger attraction than the football counterpart, ‘even in the balmy days of our football three-in-a-row’ according to Jack Mahon.
Peter Greene, Volunteer and Mayor of Galway (20 08 15)
Peter Greene was born in Galway City in 1895, the youngest child of Colman Greene from Carna and Julia McGrath from Newcastle. He was educated in the ‘Pres’ and the ‘Mon’, where his teacher Brother Ambrose was a major influence; “Boys, I hope none of you will ever wear the red coat”.
Galway Cathedral (13-08-15)
“Catholic cathedrals in Ireland are monuments to our imitative instincts and conservative distrust of artistic originality. There are examples of new church architecture but in general, church authorities remained faithful to the Middle Ages and refused to abandon medieval architecture. It is therefore understandable that in 1949 when the building of Galway cathedral was commissioned, it should have been conceived in a hybrid Romanesque style. In 1959, the foundation stone was laid and on August 15th, 1965, the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St. Nicholas was dedicated by Cardinal Cushing. In December that year the Vatican Council solemnly ended, its revolutionary document The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy which rendered the shape, style, arrangement and setting of such buildings obsolete and anachronistic. This building was almost an object lesson in insularity. It is clear from the late Bishop of Galway’s instructions that for him art can be no more than decoration, an illustration of scripture or a clearly formulated theology. Art is never an original source, a spiritual revelation, a doing of theology”.