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by Tom Kenny
In the year 1296, Uilliam Liath De Burgo started to build a monastery for the Franciscans on a site roughly where the Courthouse is today. It became known as “St. Francis’ Abbey on the island of Saint Stephen on the north side of the town”. The island was formed by the river on the west side, and by a branch of the river running through what is Woodquay and Mary Street today, to join the main stream above O’Brien’s Bridge. A second and smaller island lay between St. Stephen’s and the town wall, so in order to communicate with the town, two bridges were necessary, one at the junction of Mary Street and Abbeygate Street and the other at the Little Gate.
by Tom Kenny
This was Seapoint Corner c1865. The buildings we see, running from the left, are Prospect Lodge; Corrig View; Elm View; Prairie House with the balcony, which was built 1855-1861 by Colman O’Donohoe who had obviously spent some time in America; Beachmount; Villa Marina, which had the sign Michael Horan, Grocer over the door; Sunnyside Lodge; Seapoint House; then a gap which led into Seapoint Terrace; and finally, the thatched building which was George Fallon’s Baths. The sign on his gable read Hot Baths and Bathing, No Refunds and his family operated the baths business at least from 1855 to 1894.
by Tom Kenny
This late 19th century building in Upper Dominick Street was originally a grocery and a pub owned by a family of O’Connells. They used to stable horses out the back. When they sold it, they moved to Dublin where one of them was unfortunately murdered. The pub was taken over by a Mr Cosgrave.
In 1950, Paddy Taylor, who had previously worked in Liptons, bought the building. He had been sent from Dublin to Galway for two weeks to help out in the shop here. The first night he was here, he met Vera FitzMaurice on O’Brien’s Bridge, she worked in a local butcher shop. He never went back to Dublin. In Dominick Street the grocery was out the front, and the bar in behind, and at the back there was a room where they played darts and a lot of cards. There was a granite counter in the bar and a timber one in the grocery. When he was cutting ham with a knife, he would occasionally take chunks out of the wood, and so he moved the granite counter out to the grocery and the wooden one into the bar. He specialised in bacon, and the canopy you see in the photograph was to shield the crúibins, the gluinins, the sides of bacon from the sun. The Taylor children spent much of Race Week cutting rashers for hotels and B&Bs. Later, he installed a big ham slicer on the counter.
by Tom Kenny
For much of the 19th century, the Persse family ran one of the most successful distilleries in Ireland. Their product became world famous. They were major contributors to the industrial life of Galway and provided much needed employment. In addition to their staff, they were also supplied by a number of artisans working in the Nuns Island area — coopers, cork manufacturers, printers, carters, case makers, etc.
by Tom Kenny
Diarmuid Crowley, a native of Co Cork, was arrested, charged with being a judge in the Sinn Féin courts, and incarcerated in Galway Jail even though he was ill. His condition worsened and he demanded the attendance of a private medical doctor. The prison doctor refused, so 40 Sinn Féin prisoners decided to do something to prevent Mr Crowley suffering any further.
The jail building was horseshoe in shape. On November 24, 1921, they piled up bedding and clothing and other articles in an apartment of the ground floor of the southern wing and set them ablaze. They broke into the paint shop, scattered oils and paints, and set them on fire. They seized six prison warders and marched them to the northern wing using no violence against them. They were kept on the corridor on the second floor. The prisoners broke into the punishment cell on this wing and eight bales of fibre there were set ablaze.
by Tom Kenny
The Connacht Mineral Water Company was incorporated 80 years ago tomorrow, on July 6th, 1938. The first board meeting was held on July 18th and the following were appointed as directors John Keane, chairman; John E. Cotter, vice-chairman; Paul O’Dea, secretary and managing director. They manufactured mineral waters, were beer and ale wholesalers, and in the early days sold groceries as well. Their head office was at the top of High St., where overhead a Mrs. Madden had a dressmaking business. Behind the office was an area where staff member Michael Joe Walsh bottled whiskey and rum, and behind that again was a space which extended to Middle St. where they bottled the mineral waters. They used the water from a well in Oranmore which was ideal for blending the whiskey. On the other side of Middle St. they occupied a building known as Corbett’s Yard where Darby Kelleher stored and repaired cases etc. and where they stored the ciders, Babychams and Carlsberg.
by Tom Kenny
When President Michael D Higgins, officially opened the new Our Lady’s Boys’ Club clubhouse in 2015, he said: “Like so many successful community initiatives, OLBC was founded and built on vision, a spirit of participation and a will to make a genuine and positive difference to the community. When Fr Leonard Shiel SJ established a club in 1940, I doubt that he realised just how enduring his vision would be. Today, OLBC is the longest running youth club in the country and has woven its way into the fabric of community life in Galway, welcoming members from many neighbourhoods including Shantalla, Westside, Ballinfoyle, Rahoon, Corrib Park, and Newcastle.
by Tom Kenny
In 1924, three Sisters of Jesus and Mary came to UCG to study for a degree, the first religious of any congregation to do so. While they were pursuing their studies, Mother Stanislaus looked for a suitable premises for a house of studies and finally purchased “Spires House” in Shantalla on June 26, 1925. The house apparently got its name from the two unusual spires you can see on the roof. It was used by the sisters as a hostel for secular students as well as their own nuns. These nuns were known to many people as ‘The Spires Nuns’.
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