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Old Galway
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO THIS WEEK …
by Tom Kenny
John Henry Foley was one of the greatest artists this country produced in the 19th century. He was a world famous sculptor who was commissioned to produce many public works in different parts of the world including Galway. The statue he produced here was of Lord Dunkellin, a 2.5 metre high bronze on a polished Peterhead Red granite base which stood on two steps of Aberdeen granite about 20 yards inside the main gate into the Square. ‘In none of the great works which have given him world-wide celebrity has he shown more genius and skill than in the present instance where, with only the slender assistance of a photograph, has he been able to produce the faithful likeness’.
A NIGHT OF TERROR
by Tom Kenny
In November 1920, Jimmy Folan, aged 20, of O’Donoghue’s Terrace, Woodquay, was sentenced by court martial to 6 months imprisonment with hard labour for acting as a republican policeman and possessing seditious documents – one of which blamed the local RIC for the killings of Seamus Quirk and Seán Mulvoy. Having served his time, he was released on May 10th, 1921. That evening, a benevolent RIC sergeant warned a local volunteer to tell Jimmy ‘not to be at home tonight’.
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, 50 YEARS IN GALWAY
by Tom Kenny
In May 1971, it was reported that U.S. computer manufacturer, Digital Equipment Corporation (known here simply as Dec) had chosen Galway for its first hardware manufacturing base in Europe because of the availability of an English-speaking workforce, a favourable tax policy, a local university and the anticipated entry of Ireland into the EEC.
The company started with 30 employees, reaching 109 by the end of the year, at its 40,000 sq. foot Mervue plant, assembling and shipping mini-computer systems, mainly for the European market. At the same time, work began on a new 130,000 sq. foot facility at Ballybrit. The business grew rapidly and by the time Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave officially opened the Ballybrit plant in September, 1973, the factory was employing an extra 40 people per month.
THE GALWAY YOUTH ORCHESTRA, 40 YEARS
by Tom Kenny
Years ago, there was neither an independent community orchestra nor a musical instrument teaching system in Galway city or county. A handful of schools, mostly run by religious orders, taught a small range of instruments and would put a small orchestra together for their annual school show or operetta, their music teachers being very influential in passing on a love of music to their pupils.
Higgins’ Garage
by Tom Kenny
In 1912, WP Higgins, working from his base in Athenry, went to Cork city to meet Henry Ford to ask him for the Ford dealership. It marked the start of a great business partnership between a business legend and Higgins' Garage.
Meanwhile, in Galway, Bertie Simmons had owned and operated a garage in a little alley off William Street called The Corrib Motor and Engineering Works. Bertie was a mechanical engineer and he painted a Model T silver with a red cross on each door and drove this ambulance to France to support the Allies' cause. While he was in France, his father, a photographer, tried to manage the business but it declined and it was decided to sell it. WP Higgins bought the garage and all the tools and lathes for £100 in 1917 and so was able to move his Ford dealership into town.
THE SACRE COEUR HOTEL, THE EARLY YEARS
by Tom Kenny
My earliest memory of Jim was of him building his house near us in Salthill. He had a small corrugated iron shed he lived in while working there. We local working men, all of us about six or seven years old, decided he needed a hand, so we went to “help” him, moving sand and mixing cement etc. We were obviously a complete distraction and a nuisance but he was a gentle man. He would sit us down beside his shed, give us a slice of bread and jam and then frighten the life out of us telling us ghost stories. A very nice way of getting rid of us at the same time as vastly improving the efficiency level of the amount of work being done on site.
A NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCE IN GALWAY – WOOLWORTHS
by Tom Kenny
The expansion of the Woolworth chain in Ireland in the early 1950’s proceeded smoothly except in one location, Galway. A number of city councillors, supported by some local retailers were against bring new business into town. Eventually, Woolworths purchased the site of the old Royal Hotel in the Square. The hotel was demolished and a brand new purpose built retail store in its place. When they advertised for staff, more than 500 girls applied. Officials of the firm were very taken aback and it took several days to complete the interviews. The weekly wage offered to the girls, £4 7s 6d was very good for the time. About fifty people were initially employed.
CHURCH LANE
by Tom Kenny
On a 1625 map of the city, this lane is referred to as ‘Crooked Lane’ and a little later in that century, it was commonly known as ‘Céim Cam’. In 1708 it was referred to as ‘Church Lane’ and on two documents dated 1824 it is down as ‘Bohercranmore’ (the Lane of the Big Tree) and also as Church Lane, sometimes called Lána an Teampaill. During the last century it was locally known as ‘O’Gorman’s Lane.