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Old Galway
INDEPENDENT RADIO GALWAY
by Tom Kenny
In 1978, RTE were on strike for some time which meant the repair shop in O’Connor TV had nothing to do, so John O’Sullivan and friends built a 30-watt transmitter and this prompted Tom O’Connor, John O’Sullivan and Eamonn Geary to get together and set up a pirate radio station called Independent Radio Galway. Their studio was in an attic in the courtyard behind Cahill’s shop in William Street, and when this space became too small, they moved to a larger room over Garavans, where Johnny Waldron’s Joke Shop is today. The 199 metre aerial ran from the top of Glynns to the top of Gleasons. Their furniture consisted of 2 tables, a few chairs, the home-made transmitter, 2 turn tables and a few minor pieces of equipment.
Diving at Blackrock
Up until the mid-nineteenth centuryImages and Links, there was a cluster of thatched cottages at Blackrock. On “The Night of the Big Wind”, these were literally blown away by the ferocity of the storm and the tide and most of the occupants had to move inland. They were mostly fishermen and there had always been a tradition of fishing in the area.
QUEEN’S COLLEGE, GALWAY/UCG/NUIG, 170 YEARS
by Tom Kenny
The history of Galway as an educational centre dates from the close of the middle ages. The Free School of Galway became so celebrated for its classical learning that it had over 1,200 students from all over the country attending its courses under Alexander Lynch in 1615, when it was suppressed by King James I.
Galway Simon, The Early Years
by Tom Kenny
The Simon Community takes its name from Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus carry the cross. It was founded in London in 1963 by Anton Wallich-Clifford and a branch was set up in Dublin in 1969.
The Turf Market at Raven Terrace
by Tom Kenny
Turf was an important and indigenous fuel and so turf markets were an important factor in Galway life (long before anyone ever thought of carbon emissions) especially at this time of year as one prepared to head into winter. Farmers from Rahoon or Barna or surrounding areas would bring their neatly stacked cartloads of turf into town and sometimes go from door to door trying to sell their product.
Balls Bridge, 1685
by Tom Kenny
This drawing is of a detail from a “Prospect of Galway” drawn by Thomas Phillips in 1685. It shows the southern end of the middle suburb with Balls Bridge on the left, and the bit of an arch you can see on the far right was part part of the West Bridge.
TIM O’LEARY’S SHOP, LOWER SALTHILL
by Tom Kenny
Tim O’Leary was a native of Roscommon who came to Galway to work as a buyer for Moons. He eventually bought this corner building opposite the Industrial School and changed it into a thriving business. It was a high-class grocery which sold fruit, minerals and all kinds of confectionery. He operated it almost like a modern day supermarket in that you selected your own goods and brought them to the counter to pay. He had an ice cream saloon attached, “Try one of our ‘Frigidaire’ ices” and would prepare ‘special gift parcels of sweets, chocolate, fruit and cakes at shortest notice for hotel guests’. He was a very entrepreneurial and imaginative businessman who worked very hard. He did deliveries all over Salthill and as most houses left the key in the door in those days, he would just walk in, put the groceries on the kitchen table and be gone quickly. My mother used to say she was always glad she was not in the bath when he arrived.
The Warwick Hotel
by Tom Kenny
Mrs. Holmes was a relation of the O’Hara-Burkes who owned Lenaboy Castle and the Lenaboy Estate. She persuaded them to sell some of their land, ‘the lower pasturelands’ farthest away from the house, down near the gates of the estate to be precise. There, she built the house in our photograph which became known as ‘Greenmount’.