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Old Galway
Father Patrick Peyton, The Rosary Priest (14 05 2015)
Patrick Peyton was born on January 9th, 1909 in Attymass, Co. Mayo, one of 9 children. When they were growing up, the Rosary was central to their lives. His family were subsistence farmers and unable to afford to send him to a seminary, so for a number of years he worked on the farm to help them earn a living as his father was too ill. Then he and his brother emigrated to America. They eventually entered a seminary in Notre Dame to study for the priesthood, but their hopes of being ordained together seemed to be dashed when Patrick got TB. The doctors told him his only hope was to pray, and pray he did, to the Blessed Virgin. He promised her he would dedicate his ministry to her and to the family rosary if he was saved. And so it came to be the two brothers were ordained as Holy Ghost Fathers together on June 15th, 1941.
Magic in the Lane (07 05 2015)
Forty years ago, three young graduates decided to set up a summer Repertory Company in Galway. It had been tried before by Frank Bailey but his Celtic Arts Theatre project had ended quickly and sadly, but at least he was from Galway. These young Thespians were blow-ins with little experience and no money, would they be able to hang in there? They were young, energetic and enthusiastic but they were also talented, exciting, professional, hard-working and provocative.
Walter Macken's Centenary (30 04 2015)
Walter Macken was born in St. Joseph’s Avenue one hundred years ago on May 3rd, 1915.
His father was also named Walter. He came from Knock, Spiddal and worked as a carpenter during the day. At night, he was an actor who performed a variety of roles on stage in the Racquet Court Theatre in Middle St. which was roughly where Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop is today. It was a large multi-purpose hall, one of the most important places of entertainment in Galway at the time. In 1915, he was out of work and had to support his family. They were recruiting for the British Army at the time so he joined the Royal Fusiliers who trained him and shipped him to France. Sadly, he was killed in a place called St. Eloi on March 28th, 1916. His son Wally was 9 months old.
Galway Gaol (23 04 2015)
Our illustration today is of a ‘Wanted’ poster offering a reward for any information on a prisoner, John Hynes, who had escaped from Galway Gaol on November 29th, 1892. We don’t know what Mr. Hynes was in jail for, but £100 was a lot of money in 1892, so it must have been a serious crime.
The Jesuits in Galway (16 04 2015)
The Jesuits have been working in Galway since the early 1600’s. Even before then, men from the west of Ireland had been joining the Order. It was the policy of the Order at the time that only priests with a fluency in the Irish language would be sent to work in their native areas.
The Augustinian Nunnery (09 04 2015)
The Augustinian Friars have been in Galway since 1508 when Margaret Athy, whose husband was mayor at the time, built a friary at Forthill, near a spring called St Augustine’s Well, the waters whereof wrought miraculous cures. In O’Flaherty’s Iar-Chonnacht, there is reproduced a document in which a miraculous cure is attested to by the signatures of several witnesses.
The Barracks, Eglinton Street (02 04 15)
In 1640, on the site of this barracks, there was a three storey slated house to the front, and a one storey thatched house to the back. It was owned by Oliver Dean, an Irish papist. In 1657 it was owned by John Peters, an English protestant and was called Peter’s Plot. The police barracks was built here in 1883. It was a red brick building with a facade of 5 bays and 3 storeys and was adjacent to the Lions Tower.
The Presentation Sisters, 200 Years In Galway (26 03 2015)
In 1815, the warden of Galway Dr. French went to Kilkenny to ask sisters of the Presentation Order to return with him to Galway to found a convent here. A Reverend Bartholomew Burke has left a fund of £4,800 for the purpose. Three sisters arrived here in October of that year. They moved into a house in Kirwan’s Lane temporarily, and from there to Eyre Square. On March 25th, 1819, they moved to a house in poor condition that had originally been built as a Charter School and which would become known as the Presentation Convent. The following year they opened their school adjacent to the convent.