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Old Galway
PATRICK JOYCE
by Tom Kenny
Patrick Joyce was born at Lisheenagaoithe, near Headford on May 23rd, 1868. He became a monitor teacher in 1884, taught in Cloghanover School for two years, later as principal of Trabane and then Tiernee in the parish of Carraroe. In 1892, he married Margaret Donohue. He was eventually appointed as principal of Barna National School and his wife taught in Boleybeg National School.
Stone Mad
by Tom Kenny
Like most towns, Galway was built using native stone and there was plenty of that around.
Some Nasty Close Shaves in Galway
by Tom Kenny
Baker’s Hotel and Billiard Rooms on Eyre Street was run by Captain Baker who had served with the British Army during the war. It was much frequented by the Black and Tans, some of whom (including Edward Crumm) stayed there.
The Black and Tans Raid on O'Flaherty's Pub
by Tom Kenny
The tall building in the centre of our picture of New Docks Road taken in 1903 was known as “Gas Tank” Flaherty’s pub. We presume he got his nickname because of the gasworks across the street.
Wolfe Tones, County Football Champions, 1936
by Tom Kenny
Now that GAA club games are being played again, we thought to show you the County Champions of 1936, Wolfe Tones. They were a city based team who also won the championship in 1941 but after that they seemed to fade out.
Fairies and pookas in The Claddagh
by Tom Kenny
These two women are chatting at the doorway of a Claddagh house on Dogfish Lane c1920. The lane is cobbled, the geese and hens are pecking around, the thatch roof is perfect, there are flowers on the windowsill, everything is calm and peaceful, but what are they talking about? Could it be about piseógs, about the ‘good people’, the fairies, the banshee?
A VIOLENT NIGHT IN GALWAY
by Tom Kenny
Edward Krumm was 5’ 11”, 26 years old, a bachelor and a member of the Church of England from Middlesex. He was a lorry driver with the Black and Tans and had been in Galway three weeks when he arranged to meet a civilian driver he had come to know in a pub in Abbeygate Street. This man, Christopher Yorke, described Krumm as a “generally reckless fellow who drank a lot”. Krumm was fairly drunk brandishing a revolver and bragging that he could knock the neck off a bottle at ten yards range, and apparently shot at a few bottles in the pub.
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
by Tom Kenny
It is that time of the year again when children go back to school. It will be different this year as most of them will be delighted to return to classes the meet their friends after such a long break. For older generations, this time of year was, in the words of the Bard, more akin to ‘creeping like snail unwillingly to school”. And yet, when we look back on our schooldays, it is usually with affection. The old cliché ‘the best years of our lives’ still applies. It was where were educated, matured, learned and developed skills, remembered quotations like the above from the Bard, made friends for life.