This photograph was taken looking west from where Seapoint is today. The house in the picture was roughly across the street from the Bon Bon. It was once an RIC barracks and was latterly occupied by Monica Wallace. There was a concrete bench along the wall in front of the house which was known as “The Lazy Wall”, a place where old and countrified people, known as “The Fámairí” , would relax and chat and gossip. They came not for the views but for the conversations. Many arrived after their crops had been harvested. They usually brought their own food in the form of home-cured bacon, fresh eggs, butter, cooked chickens and cakes of bread.”You rented a room and you ate yourself”. They would use the family kitchen of the house in which they were staying and consider themselves part of that family for the duration. There was a small bit of beach below the wall where the patrons could bathe or paddle.

An interesting number of medical institutions were established in Galway in the 20th century. In 1908, the Port Sanitary Intercepting Hospital was built near the docks opposite Forthill Cemetery as quarantine for any suspected cases of cholera or smallpox that might have come in on board ship. It cost £1,000, had 20 beds and happily it was never needed for its primary purpose and only ever housed 3 patients. It burnt down in 1966.

This photograph of the corner of New Dock Street and Flood Street dates from the 1930s. The large threestorey house on Flood Street was formerly known as ‘The Dispensary’ and was the property of the Poor Law Guardians. It was obviously occupied by a doctor. It was in this house that the McDonogh dynasty began in Galway.