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Old Galway
ST. ENDA’S COLLEGE, A BRIEF HISTORY
by Tom Kenny
On this day, October 10th, 1937, Coláiste Éinde opened on Threadneedle Road for the first time. The school had been founded by the state in 1928 shortly after the state itself was founded. The aim was to teach boys through the medium of Irish so that they would go on to St. Patrick’s Teacher Training College, get secure employment for life and, in turn, educated a new generation of boys through Irish.
It started life in Furbo House, an old house belonging to the Blake family. The school was not long there when some kind of domestic dispute arose between members of the owner’s family which made the their stay there very short and they had to evacuate the building at Christmas, 1930. The college was transferred to Talbot House in Talbot Street, Dublin the following month. There were 29 pupils in the first class. The second group of scholars came to the college in the school year of 1931/32. Two years later, the college moved to a premises in Glasnevin.
THE AGE OF SAIL
by Tom Kenny
“A river mouth opening upon one of the finest natural harbours would seem to offer an ideal situation for a town or trading station”. These were the first words written in Professor Mary Donovan O’Sullivan’s very important history Old Galway, which would indicate her surprise that such a fine location would not have attracted a Norse settlement. Water, in the form of the sea, the river and the many streams, was a major factor in the development of the town of Galway from when the Anglo Norman invaders settled and built their castle and town.
For these settlers, the sea at the bay was the only link with the authority to which they owed allegiance and so boating and shipping were the breath of life of Galway. The citizens endeavoured to maintain control of the bay and tried to prevent the native Irish from having the same access to boats. As the wealth and influence of the merchants grew, their success in business depended to a large extent on the port and on their ships so the power of seafaring became more and more important. The levies on imported goods helped to build the city walls and give security to the inhabitants. Trade was the staple of the city.
150 YEARS OF RUGBY
by Tom Kenny
Queen’s College Galway Rugby Club was founded in 1874, 150 years ago, making it the oldest rugby club in Connacht. They have a long and proud history and have helped nurture and boost many rugby careers helping players to the highest levels. They were a founding club of the Irish Rugby Football Union. They won their first Connacht Senior Cup in 1897 and have managed to hold that trophy aloft many times since. Their first victory in the Dudley Cup, played for by the three Queen’s Universities, was in 1905. They have featured many times in the Bateman Cup, an exclusive competition in which clubs participate by invitation only.
They have fielded teams at minor, junior and senior levels, and won trophies at all of them. Many of their players have featured on Provincial teams, on Irish Universities International teams and ten of their players have been capped for Ireland, several while playing for UCG.
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT
by Tom Kenny
Our main photograph today (which comes courtesy of the National Library) is an aerial one of part of Salthill taken in 1953. The main feature is the Warwick Hotel, the white building in the foreground. To the left of it you can see Hotel Summerset Hotel and the little shop, An Bearna, run by James and Maura Codd. Behind the Warwick you can see Lenaboy Park and towards the top of the photograph, the newly built houses of Devon Park.
All of this land was originally part of the O’Hara Estate. A Mrs. Holmes was related to the O’Haras and managed to persuade them to sell her some of their land, the ‘lower pasture lands’ furthest away from their house, down near the original gates to their estate. This land is known as Lenaboy Park today. She built herself a house called ‘Greenmount’ on the main Salthill road and ran it as a B&B for a number of years. It eventually became too big for her, so she converted some farm buildings in the park into a house for herself. She asked the Council to supply water and sewage and roads estimating the cost to be not greater than £900 and she in turn made over to the council the right of way between the park and what we now know as Devon Park. She then began to sell off plots in the park to people whom she approved of and thought they would be ‘nice’ neighbours.
GALWAY BOHEMIANS, THE EARLY DAYS
by Tom Kenny
John O’Dowd got the inaugural juvenile soccer league (for boys under-16) underway in Galway in1931-2. The clubs competing included Crusaderrs, Hotspurs, Reds United, Emmetts, Unknowns, Bective Rangers and Hibernians. The swamp was the only soccer pitch available in Galway at the time. The league was a big success and this prompted the organisers to run a minor league in the 1932-33 season.
In the season 1934-5, the Free State Minor Cup was introduced and was the beginning of under-age soccer at National level. John O’Dowd decided that Galway should be represented in this competition and so Galway Bohemians A.F.C. was formed with a team selected from the best players from Crusaders and Hotspurs. Their good showing in the National competition prompted John O’Dowd to suggest to the players that they should stick together as a fully-fledged Bohemians club and enter junior competitions in Galway and Connacht. After agreement was reached with Hotspurs and Crusaders, the new club was formed.
STREET FESTIVALS
By Tom Kenny
It was professor T.P O’Neill who suggested the idea of celebrating the 500th anniversary of Galway being declared in 1484, to the then County Manager, Seamus Keating, so a Quincentennial Committee was set up. At one of the early meetings, Willy Fahy suggested the idea of street festivals as part of the programme.
The first such festival started on Easter Monday, April 23rd, 1984, organised by the businesses and residents of High St, Cross St and Quay St. The area had considerable charm with an aura of antiquity. Parts off it were run down but some tasteful urban renewal had begun. The idea was to bring a carnival atmosphere to the streets, involving as many locals as possible, to get the shops to spruce up their facades and create a ‘Mardi Gras’ type ambience. Local pride helped the locals to bond to make the events a big success.
ST. NICHOLAS’ PAROCHIAL SCHOOL
by Tom Kenny
This Church of Ireland School is situated in Waterside beside the courthouse and the Town Hall. The earliest existing school records date back to 1901 to the Model School which was situated on Upper Newcastle Road. It had opened in 1852 with 400 pupils, many of whom were Catholics. This proved too much for the then catholic bishop who set out to make way for explicitly catholic education in Galway. He invited the Mercy Sisters and the Patrician Brothers to set up schools here and made it a ‘reserved sin’ for catholic parents to send their children to the Model School. This resulted in 199 pupils withdrawing and meant the end of multi-denominational education in the city.
The Model school went into decline and it eventually closed down in 1926 and all the pupils transferred to Buckland Buildings on Waterside where St. Nicholas’ Parochial School opened on July 1st of that year. The building had been constructed in 1835 by the Protestant Nautical Society and the inaugural address was given by a distinguished naturalist named Frank Buckland. The lecture was so successful that it was proposed that the Society’s rooms would be renamed Buckland Buildings. They were leased in 1892 to Henry Persse of Glenard, Richard Biggs of the Grammar School and Rev. Fleetwood Berry, rector of St. Nicholas’ Church.
COLLEGE HOUSE AND MONASTERY SCHOOL
by Tom Kenny
This property originally consisted of College House fronting on Market Street and the Monastery School to the rear of Bowling Green with the residence of the Patrician Brothers to the east of the enclosed quadrangle and the out offices to the west thereof.
College House (sometimes known as Parochial House) was situated just opposite Church Lane. The original College House was on the site of Athy Castle, which was said to be the first stone castle built in Galway. On June 23rd, 1703, as the property of James Ruttledge (who had been accused of treason) and occupied by his wife, Catherine, it was sold by the trustees for selling forfeited estates for £60, by cant in trust for her Majesty. Shortly afterwards, it was converted to an army barracks.