Galway in Days Gone By

Galway In Days Gone By

Published

6 years ago

April 28, 2016

Enda Cunningham

1916

Rising in Galway

Between 5 and 5.30 this (Wednesday) morning, about six or seven motor cars left Galway for the affected portion of the county for the purpose of seeing how the ground lay; what the fate had been of outlying barracks which might have been invested during the night; for quelling the insurrection; and for making arrests.

All went well until the party reached the cross-roads at Carnmore, where the most serious encounter of the local crisis occurred. At this spot, the police were ambushed by a crowd of peasants who at once opened fire.

Previous to this, it would appear that the cars had pulled up, the travellers apparently having got wind of what awaited them.

The Volunteers had the protection of two large stone walls, and of this they made the most, and the police sought what shelter they could.

For a full half-hour, shots were exchanged and in the course of the encounter, Constable Whelan, Eglinton Street, Galway, received a shot wound to the side of the head, from which he expired ten minutes later,

The remains were subsequently conveyed to the city in the motor on which he had journeyed out alive.

The losses of the Volunteers are not known, but they left a lot of pikes after them when eventually they withdrew, and in the course of the engagement some of their number was seen to fall.

Rail sabotage

The most exciting incidents of the year so far as can be learned in the City, occurred in the vicinity of Oranmore. Early yesterday morning, four armed men entered the signal cabin, and whilst they had the signalman “covered” with their revolvers, one of the number took a shovel and broke the signals.

At the moment Mr. Courtenay, superintendent of the line, was endeavouring to get into communication from Athenry with the Oranmore signal cabin. The armed men, whom the signalman, a newcomer to the district, did not recognise, left after putting the signals out of commission.

Subsequently, as the two o’clock train, which had only established a connection as far as Mullingar, was covering the distance between Athenry and Galway, a sharp look-out was kept, Mr. Courtenay travelling on the train.

But for the effective vigilance of those on the engine, a disaster would undoubtedly have occurred, as a short section of the rails had been removed in the region of Derrydonnell.

The incoming train, which was travelling at 40 miles an hour, was brought to a standstill just in time. Mr. Courtenay, and some of the passengers, immediately left the train and set out on for Galway, walking along the line.

1941

Fair ban

The ban on the holding of fairs in County Galway may be removed next week – at least in respect of a large proportion of the county. The area about Portumna, which is close to the Offaly and Tipperary borders, and possibly an area close to the Clare border in the south of the country, may be obliged to endure the ban a little longer.

Galway has had a clean bill of health, and should foot-and-mouth disease continue to diminish, in the next few weeks, many counties may have the ban entirely lifted.

Even though the ports may not be open for shipment, the holding of fairs in County Galway would bring a good deal of relief in respect of sheep, especially hoggets. Precautions against the spread of the disease continue urgent, and all farmers should be on the alert.

Creggs coal seam

At a meeting of Glinsk and Kilbegnet Parish Council, the Secretary (Mr. A.L. Mullany, B.A., N.T.) read a letter from the Minister for Industry and Commerce stating that he had considered their resolution regarding the belief that a coal seam existed near Creggs, but that the geological survey did not suggest the presence of coal in the district.

Mr. Sirr said they should not let the matter rest there. He was born at the foot of the mountain and from his earliest years had heard the old people of the district talking of the coal that was there.

The Rev. Chairman said that a townland on the mountain side was called Coalpits and there must be some reason for that. Mr. Sirr said they should send another resolution to the Ministry asking to have their claim investigated.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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Galway In Days Gone By

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Galway In Days Gone By

Galway in Days Gone By

Galway In Days Gone By

Published

4 days ago

January 13, 2022

Stephen Corrigan

Some of the cast of the Renmore Panto in 1979/1980.

1922

Violent assault

At Loughrea Quarter Sessions, before his honour Judge Doyle, K.C., Mrs. Anne Lowry, Carhoon, Tynagh, claimed £100 compensation for the alleged kidnapping of her daughter, Julia Goonan (under age), by armed and disguised men, and for the cutting of her hair on the night of October 6 last. Mr. Mulcair, solr., appeared for the applicant.

Julia Goonan, examined by her solicitor, stated she was seventeen years of age, and the daughter of Mrs. Annie Lowry, who resided at Carhoon, in the Portumna district. Witness was at her service with a man named Patrick Harte, Athenry-road, Loughrea, for about six months.

On the night of the 6th October last, four disguised men came to Mr. Harte’s door and knocked. They were admitted by Mr. Harte and coming in around the kitchen asked if he had a girl in the house. He replied he had, and witness, who was in a room off the kitchen at the time, was preparing to go to bed.

“The men, who were looking about everywhere,” proceeded witness, “saw me in the room and they pulled me out. They took a shawl that was hanging on the door and wrapping it around me took me to a motor that was outside and put me into it. I saw another man standing beside the driver when I came out to the car. They then drove me up as far as Nonie Ryan’s house at the other end of the town and on arriving there, took out Nonie Ryan and put her into the motor.

“I noticed some men outside Ryan’s house when the car stopped. They then drove us away up the Ballinasloe road, and when we had gone about three miles they blindfolded us. One of the men gave me a few slaps across the face.”

To his honour: Witness did not know the men. They were masked and blackened.

Continuing, witness stated the men, who apparently went astray, drove them around the roads from twenty minutes to twelve on Wednesday night, October 6, until three o’clock on the following morning. At Knockbrack witness was ordered out of the car and taken away about twenty yards, still blindfolded. She was “hung up” by the hair by one of the men and another shaved her hair in to the bone.

His honour: Don’t girls “bob” their hair to make themselves look attractive? (laughter).

Witness: They do, your honour. – His honour: Did they “bob” your hair or cut it off altogether? – Witness: They cut it off altogether.

Mr. Mulcair: It is apparently growing now. When I saw her after the incident, she was very bare.

In further evidence, witness said the men told her wile in the motor they would take her to Athlone barracks and get two nice Black and Tans for herself and her companion. They subsequently stated they would take them to Ballinasloe barracks, and finally left them at her mother’s house in Carhoon in the morning.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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Galway in Days Gone By

Galway In Days Gone By

Published

3 weeks ago

December 30, 2021

Stephen Corrigan

Dancers in the Renmore Parish Pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, on December 10, 1979. This promotional photo of Anne Sandys, Susan Walsh, Carole Cawley, Mary Stankard, Gisela Junold and Rosalyn Keane, was published in the Tribune ahead of staging at the Jesuit Hall in the first week of January 1980.

1921

No port like home

We produce this message in full, because it contains its lesson for the people of Galway – a lesson which if not read swiftly and acted upon promptly may be lost and may lose for the home port the one feature around which a great city could be built in the year to come.

In the years of peace and progress which lie ahead, trade will be rapidly developed between Ireland and America, and a considerable stimulus will be given to passenger service. Galway is the nearest port to the United States and Canada.

Its claims in this connection are incontestable. Indeed, we believe that those claims are accepted by men like Mr. Arthur Griffith who knows the country thoroughly.

Money to develop the country will assuredly be available in the near future, and one of the first schemes of development is likely to be the opening up of our long-disused ports.

In the future there will be no hostile Liverpool trade interests to content against. We shall be free to develop our own resources in our own way. But theirs will be rival ports on the western coast. Cobh is consolidating its position.

The Galway Port has yet to be made. The people of Galway should see that its claims are kept well in the foreground, and the representatives of Galway in the new government should have all the facts in connection with Galway placed at their disposal.

Establishment robbed

Mr. Murty O’Leary’s grocery establishment, Wood-quay, was raided at about twelve o’clock on Saturday night by burglars when tobacco, cigarettes, polish and other goods, with £5 or £6 in notes and silver were taken away.

Mrs. O’Leary had gone to midnight Mass at the time, and the door was locked when she left. Mr. O’Leary was upstairs at the time the raiders entered, and when he heard some noise at the door a few minutes after his wife had left he did not suspect that anything was wrong.

How these burglars succeeded in getting in, considering that the door was locked, remains a mystery.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

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Galway in Days Gone By

Galway In Days Gone By

Published

4 weeks ago

December 22, 2021

Stephen Corrigan

Santa arriving by donkey and cart to An Spidéal on December 10, 1994.

1921

Prisoners’ memento

Some of the Galway prisoners took home with them on their release from Ballykinlar a little camp publication run off on a cyclostyle, entitled “Barbed Wire”, on which the tedious hours were passed.

The spirit of the men in the camp was revealed in this little publication which gives us a more intimate glimpse into camp life than, perhaps anything published. We reproduce some of the principal articles. The “leading article” says: –

“The phenomenal success achieved by ‘The Barbed Wire’ is a splendid tribute to the intelligence and culture of our readers. To say that the advent of our precious little periodical set the world agog is a very mild way of describing the effect which it created in all the courts and alleys of Europe, America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Ireland and Carsonia. While it had a sobering effect on the wider sprits in our midst, we have reason to believe our high-explosive magazine staggered humanity.

“Our first edition was sold out in a few minutes, and the editions which were ‘run out’ afterwards were sold as quickly as they were ‘run off’ the machine. In spite of our colossal labours, we were unable to meet the demand. Apologies are, therefore, due to the untold millions who were unable to procure a copy of our very August number. We had hoped to render apologies unnecessary on this occasion but owing to the vital part of our machinery – the silk – going on strike we must again apologise – this time in advance to the millions who will be denied the pleasure of buying the September issue of ‘The Barbed Wire’.

“S.O.S. – Appropriately enough, our line operator has sent a wireless message to us asking for a new machine, which we hope to let him have in good time for our magnificent Xmas number. Our policy this month is the same as it was last month. In this, as in many other matters, we differ from the majority of publications. Hence the unique position to which we have attained in the journalistic world.”

While a few people may dislike The Barbed Wire, all will admit that it has some good points.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.