Introduction
Galway's story is presented as a community on the periphery of Europe, which endured successive upheavals due to the waves of influence that came westward from the Continent and from England. Following the Ice Age, there are the first humans (hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic and the farmers of the Neolithic), the Iron Age Celts, Christianity, the Vikings, the Normans, the Reformation, the Cromwellian Conquest, the Industrial Revolution, and the first Communications Revolution (exemplified by the coming of the Railway). Each of these had detrimental effects as well as good effects. The story ends with Galway becoming less peripheral and forging a strong identity as a go-ahead, progressive city of culture since Irish Independence and membership of the European Union.
Galway's early history
The city of Galway stands on a natural cross-roads. A broad river runs north and south, but it is also fordable so that travellers can move east-west and avoid the lake to the north, Lough Corrib, the second largest in Ireland. Once there was only the sea, the land and the sky. The land was covered with thick ice-sheets. After the glaciers withdrew about 10000 years ago, a lake and a river formed. The river meandered slowly through the reeds from the lake and cascaded over stones into the wide, deep bay. On each side, there were forests full of game, wild fowl lived on the river and the waters of the bay and lake teemed with fish.
The Arrival of Man
Men and women made their way here. Ireland's first inhabitants, nomadic hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic, 7000 years ago. The only traces of these people are the eating sites left from their encampments, like this one at Gentian Hill. Next came the first farmers of the Neolithic, 6000 years. These settled in permanent habitations like the huts that once stood on this site.
The Iron Age
Later, the Celts arrived at the start of the Iron Age, about 1000 BC This period has left its traces in the form of ring forts like this one at Ballybane. These could consist of an earthen bank surrounding a farmhouse, or a large enclosure protected by a deep ditch and steep embankment, or dry stone wall. Many of the larger structures are on hills, promontories or islands. Pits were dug for storage, perhaps for refuge? Later generations imbued these forts, even the small ones, with a superstitious awe. They were called fairy forts, the homes of the little people, preserving folk memories of previous inhabitants. Perhaps this is why there are so many of these structures survive today.
Christian Era
In the Christian era, about 500 AD we do have firm evidence of a fishing village here, probably near the site of the modern Claddagh. It was called Baile-na-Sruthain, the town of the streams. The "streams" now form part of the canal system on the west side of the river. From this era also, we have the ancient monastery of Roscam, here with the butt of its Round Tower and the ruins of a church. The Vikings sacked Roscam in the 10th century, and passed up the river to attack monasteries in Lough Corrib. In the 11th century, a powerful King of Connacht, Turlough O'Connor, High King of Ireland, ordered a fort to be built here, by the mouth of the river, to prevent incursions into his kingdom. In the annals the fort is called "Dun Bhun na Gaillaimhe", the fort at the mouth of the Galway, telling us at that time, the river was known as the Galway.
The Arrival of the Normans
It took men who were descended from the Northmen to found a city - the Normans. In the 12th century, these men were Europe's most accomplished warriors and statesmen. Coming first as mercenaries, their large horses, heavy armour and the longbow gave these professional soldiers an enormous advantage over the lightly-armed Irish. The King of Connacht and High-King of Ireland, Rory O'Connor, was forced eventually to submit to their King, Henry II of England, who now styled himself "Lord Of Ireland". One of their number, Richard de Burgo, was granted land in Connacht by the King. In 1232, this medieval conquistador came west with an army and captured the fort at the mouth of the Galway. Here he built his castle and it became the centre of his domain. Around it, the medieval city of Galway grew, its winding streets still visible in the modern street plan. In the wake of the Normans came settlers, English, Welsh and Flemish. Their names testify to their origin: Blake, Browne, Penrice, Joyce. The city became known as Galway and the river as the Corrib. The inhabitants were not soldiers any longer, but merchants. Over the years the richer families grew in wealth and status until they were able to take power into their own hands and away from the de Burgos. In 1484, the King of England granted a charter to allow them elect their own Mayor and Burgesses. The Norman conquest of Ireland had weakened and receded by the 14th Century. Many Norman families intermarried with the Irish and adopted Irish ways. Galway was left isolated, a western English outpost after the tide of conquest had ebbed.
Trade in Medieval Times
But the city prospered in trade. While the citizens forbade the native Irish to become freemen of the city, business was another matter. The first export product was salted fish, as told in the copy of the "Annals of Galway" in Trinity College, Dublin, which states that the early inhabitants of Galway "... got their livleyhood by cods and other sea fishes, drying them in the sun." Later, the export trade grew to include hides and wool. Wine and manufactured goods were the main imports. Casks of wine were shipped on up the river to places like the castle at Aughnanure, near Oughterard, or taken on pack horses to other inland destinations. Land communications were very poor - there were few bridges over the rivers and in winter the country roads became boggy and impassable. Galway merchants traded with Bristol and they are mentioned as trading with the Hanseatic towns of North Germany. Maybe as an echo of an earlier relationship, the townsmen paid money to the chieftain of Aran to "protect" their ships from pirates. Their ships were made of wood, and the commonest medieval ship type was the "cog", a squat and sturdy tub of a ship of about 20 tons. The city grew into the second city of Ireland, at its maximum extent 4000 people approximately, small by our standards. It was walled, with a murage tax charged by the town corporation for the wall's upkeep. The Burgesses of the corporation elected a Mayor who held office for a year. In particular, the wine trade with France and the Iberian peninsula made the town's fortune. At different times Cork, Limerick or Dublin vied for leadership in importation of wine, but Galway always remained a steady second in a growing trade. Galway's wealth, combined with its isolation from the sources of English power, made it a virtual city-state comparable with those of Northern Italy.
St.Nicholas Church and Lynchs' Castle
St Nicholas Church was the focal point of the medieval city, and it was here the Market Cross stood and the market was held, where also a market is still held every Saturday The Church itself was first built in 1320 but much extended over the following two centuries, in particular by the powerful Lynch family who extended this side of the church as their private chapel. The main branch of the Lynch family lived here in what is known as Lynch's Castle, with its beautifully carved windows. Behind St Nicholas' is the Lynch Memorial Window, reconstructed by the town commissioners in 1854 to commemorate the legend of Mayor James Lynch Fitzstephen who is said to have hanged his own son out of a window in defiance of public opinion. His son had murdered a Spaniard and the father did this, the analyst says, "...to show good example to posterity so tender were the townsmen of their credit"
Norman Influence
The town maintained a tense balancing act in the shifting alliances of chieftains and clans outside its walls. To the west were the much-feared O'Flaherties, to the east the de Burgos, now Irish in outlook and known as the Burkes. Some of the city ordinances give evidence of the attitude of the wealthy burgesses to these proud and warlike people: "If any man bring an Irishman to brag or boast upon the town to forfeit 12d." "That no person of the towne shall lend or sell galley, boat or barque to an Irishman" "That no Irish judge nor lawyer shall plede in no man's cause or matter with this towne..." "That no person shall give ne sell to no Irish any munition, as hand povins, calivres, poulder, leade nor salt petter..." Other ordinances forbade Irish games and funeral customs like public wailing, or "keening". However, there is physical evidence that by the 16th century, these laws were falling into disuse. This graveslab from St Nicholas' Church has the names of three people: two brothers named "O'Tierney" and the wife of one, named "O'Donoghue". The slab tells us they were coopers, or barrelmakers, an important craft in a medieval city. This slab is that of a shoemaker with the English name "Moraford" but his wife's name is "O'Loughlin". This suggests that intermarriage was occurring and probably a mingling of cultures. This is supported by the written evidence, which shows Irish street names like "Sraid idir an da bothar" for Middle Street, and Irish nicknames for leading citizens like "Sean a tSalainn" or John of the Salt for a merchant who imported that commodity.
Christopher Columbus
At the end of the medieval period, a famous seaman visited Galway - Christopher Columbus, then a merchant seaman and cartographer, working out of Lisbon in Portugal. No doubt Columbus gathered information to support his theory that China lay some day's sailing out in the Atlantic. He may have heard of the legendary voyage of St Brendan who had founded the monastery at Annaghdown on Lough Corrib, and who was believed to have visited islands in the Atlantic. A Latin book the "Voyage of St Brendan" was published in the 15th century so that is probable that a contemporary geographer like Columbus knew of the legend. In his own notes, Columbus mentions a couple of oriental-looking men who were washed ashore near Galway. To Columbus these exotic men, perhaps Eskimos, were proof of his theory.
The Reformation
Galway was the height of its prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, the Reformation had driven a wedge between the government in London and the English in Ireland, the Old English as they became known. England was now a Protestant country but the Old English remained Catholic. To make things worse, Ireland now constituted a strategic problem for England as the Catholic powers of Europe like Spain and France threatened invasion. Despite this, Galway remained loyal during Hugh O'Neill's rebellion in the 1590's
The Spanish Arch
Earlier, in the 1580's, Galway had also demonstrated its loyalty to the crown by building the fortifications of the medieval harbour - now called the Spanish Arch. This bastion was a defence against an attack from the sea. The expected Spanish Armada did reach Ireland, but in flight from its defeat in the English Channel. Over twenty ships were wrecked off the Irish coast. One galleon struck this reef off Renvyle in Connemara, and the crew were handed over to the English by the O'Flaherties. So much did the English fear a Spanish presence in Ireland, even shipwrecked sailors, that they were all executed in Galway, including two Dutchmen who had been press-ganged into the Armada. It is ironic therefore that one of Galway's most famous monuments should afterwards acquire the name "Spanish Arch". Its original name was "Kanavalla", from the Irish "Ceann an Bhalla", the Head of the Wall. As we can see, it originally had four arches, and was crowned with battlements. The "Spanish" name came later, from a supposed resemblance between Galway's medieval architecture and Spanish architecture, a resemblance that was probably more fanciful than real.
The Siege of Galway
One of the crisis points of Galway's history came in the 1640's. The Old English and the Irish made common cause in the body known as the Confederation of Kilkenny, formed to try to win religious toleration from the English King Charles I. But Charles was defeated and beheaded by Cromwell, and Cromwell's army arrived in Ireland in 1650. It began a victorious advance through Ireland. Eventually a force arrived outside Galway led by the Cromwellian, Sir Charles Coote. The situation in Galway grew desperate. Plague raged in the city and many died. The political leader in the town was the King's Lord Deputy in Ireland: Ulick Burke, Marquis of Clanricarde, descendant of Richard de Burgo. Burke had this map of Galway made in hopes of using Galway as security for a loan to raise an army of mercenaries in France. Alas, French assistance was too little and too late for Galway which had to surrender in April, 1652. The analyst who recorded the surrender wrote: "Three scourges than reigning, famine, plague and sword....." The English conquerors looted and wrecked many of the fine houses. 2000 people from Galway and the surrounding country were sent to Barbados and sold as slaves.
The Tribes of Galway
The ruling elite were contemptuously called the "Tribes" by the new conquerors and were banished. But the leading families took the name of "Tribes" with some pride so that Galway is still known as the "City of the Tribes". Most of them went to live on their country estates and await more favourable times. While most families did survive with some wealth and influence, the days of the "Tribes" were over.
Protestant Ascendancy
New names of the Anglo-Irish gentry began to figure in the ranks of the corporation and the Mayor's office. The town surrendered again to the English after the Williamite Wars in the 1690's. Catholics were forbidden to sit in Parliament, and many of the professions were barred to them. Members of Galway families joined the Wild Geese, the famous emigrants from Ireland to the Continent in the 18th Century who became merchants, politicians, lawyers and soldiers in France, Spain and other European countries. Galway's trade with these countries remained steady, and also trade with the West Indies was added. But in relative terms, its position as an important port in Ireland was in decline. Transport of heavy goods to Galway was still easier by sea than by land. Even in the middle of the 18th century, the last stage of the journey to the city overland had to be made on horseback. Later, the coach was introduced, but travel across land to Galway remained laborious and difficult, particularly in winter. Perhaps for this reason, the city retained a particularly old-fashioned flavour. Its traditional reputation as the most Irish of Ireland's cities dates from this time. Its isolation meant that local landlords could still be enormously influential.
Humanity Dick Martin
Richard Martin was the outstanding Galwayman of his generation. From an old tribal family, he was raised as an English Protestant gentleman by going to Harrow and Cambridge, but in later life he attended Parliament and agitated for Catholic Emancipation. He was known as "Humanity Dick" on account of his struggle for animal rights and his townhouse still stands here in Cross Street. These years were prosperous times for Galway. In 1816 a new bridge was added over the Corrib, and the courthouse was built beside it. Across the river, where the cathedral now stands was built, with some symmetry, a gaol. The city and its surroundings had grown to about 40,000 inhabitants and the urban core had begun to extend well beyond its medieval walls. River fishing was also an important source of food as this old map shows. Salmon, trout and eels abounded in the river. Here are eel traps, near where eel traps still stand today. Other men fish from boats and on the bridge, two men with tridents try to spear fish - a method which would earn them a fine in court today, if they were caught!
Alexander Nimmo
The early industrial revolution brought to Galway new water-powered industry. In fact, water milling in Galway dates back many centuries as the old 1651 map shows. By the mid 19th century there was a major canal complex on the west of the river with 24 water wheels powering mills, breweries, distilleries and paper mills. Farther to the west, where there had been a total absence of good roads, a Scottish Engineer, Alexander Nimmo, built many roads that finally opened up some of the west to all-year traffic. Nimmo also improved the coastal trade by building many piers and harbours along the west coast. He also built this pier in Galway, near the Claddagh, still called Nimmo's Pier.
The Claddagh
The Claddagh remained a thriving fishing community alongside the city. The men fished from their distinctive fishing craft: hookers (or bad mor), gleotogs, or pucans. The women sold fish at the fishmarket outside the Spanish Arch. The village formed its own distinctive community, with its "King" or headman. But as the century wore on, the old customs went into irretrievable decline. Deep-sea fishing undermined the Claddagh way of life. Young men from the area were much in demand for their seamanship, and many left to join the Royal Navy, or the Merchant Marine. By the turn of the century the old fishmarket was also gone. The Claddagh had formed a bustling entrepôt in the commerce up and down river. Downriver came boats with turf and farm produce for sale in Galway and the Aran Islands. From the sea came fish and seaweed, exported or transported up river and much prized as a fertilizer. To facilitate this commerce, the Eglinton Canal was completed in 1851 and formed a bypass to the city on the West for the small boats plying between the lake and the sea. In many ways, the history of Galway itself, and the west in general mirrored the story of the Claddagh. From a high point at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, about 1815, agricultural and industrial prices declined.
The Fammine
Emigration from the west began. Then came the terrible Great Famine of the 1840's. Potato blight destroyed the staple diet of the poor, followed by epidemics of cholera, typhus and typhoid which carried off thousands already weakened by hunger. The city itself and the Claddagh did not suffer overmuch from the Famine but the Galway Poorhouse became crowded by the desperate people fleeing form the countryside. Government assistance was inefficient and ineffective. Poor road communications hampered relief in the interior. About a million people took refuge in flight from the land that seemed to have turned against them.
The Arrival of Railway
A revolution of a different sort came to Galway in 1852. The invention of the railway, the marine steam engine and the electric telegraph had made the world dramatically smaller. The railway finally connected Galway securely into the world's first global communications network. You could now travel to Dublin in a day, instead of three to five days as formerly. Thus was finally was ended Galway's isolation, a feature of its history since the foundation of the city in 1232. At this time, the Great Southern Hotel, then called the Railway Hotel was built at the south side of Eyre Square. In its day, it was the largest in Ireland.
Galway Line Steam Packet Company
The invention of the steam engine produced another innovation - the steamship. An effort was made to exploit the improved communication by taking advantage of Galway's relative proximity to the United States. The Atlantic Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, popularly known as the Galway Line, was founded in the city. It was the brainchild of a local priest and entrepreneur, Father Peter Daly. The Galway Line for a while won mail contracts from the British Government to carry the post across to Canada. Mail from the New World could be quickly transferred to trains at Galway station for trans-shipment to England. The Galway Line's ships were the most advanced of its time, and two of them held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic. But alas, technology could not keep pace with the company's ambitions. Its ships suffered a series of mishaps at sea, and the company lost the mail contracts. In 1863 it finally ceased to operate. In the end, this communications revolution seemed to take more from Galway than it contributed. It brought in cheap, mass-produced goods from Britain, Europe and the United States which undermined local industry. It carried away tens of thousands of emigrants who took their ship in Liverpool. The local Irish culture and language accelerated their decline. Rail costs were cheaper than shipping costs so that the volume of shipping in the port dwindled away. Gradually the mill wheels stopped turning one by one, until by the end of the century none was left. The population of the city and the surrounding borough declined from 40,000 in 1820 to 17,000 by 1901. In the 1880's, the Allen Shipping line began direct passenger sailings to the United States for emigrants. The port had never been developed for larger ships and the liners anchored in the bay. An intermittent service continued until the 1960's with various companies. The improved road and rail communication into Connemara also ended the lake and coastal trades, which today only continues to the Aran Islands.
Return to Prosperity
It was not until one hundred years after the closing of the Galway Shipping Line that circumstances began to turn again in the city's favour. The recovery somehow coincided with the visit of the young and vital American President, John F. Kennedy, in 1963. Enlightened industrial policies, and Ireland's entrance to the European Community led to the foundation of new, modern industries in electronics, healthcare and light engineering. In the sixties and seventies, Galway became the fastest-growing city in Europe. The promise of the Railway Hotel has been fulfilled and Galway is now one of the most exciting tourist destinations in Ireland. Its University, founded in 1849, and its Regional Technical College founded in 1973, ensure that artistic, cultural and intellectual life are of a high standard. The Galway Arts Festival, held every July, is a major event in the country's Arts Calendar. Road, rail, air services and telecommunications links now ensure that what was once an isolated city is now fully integrated into a network connecting it to all the cities of the world. In 1984, the city celebrated its quincentennial - the 500th anniversary of the granting of its charter to elect its own Mayor and Burgesses. For Galway is a city that looks back on its chequered past with pride and looks to the future with confidence. It retains its flavour as the most Irish of cities: relaxed, yet modern; possessing all the services of a city, but preserving the intimacy of a small town; people who are always ready to greet you with a smile and help you on your way. Galway has had a long history, often glorious, often tragic, but the tradition of welcome for the traveller is one that will never die in this proud and ancient City of the Tribes.
Galway's story is presented as a community on the periphery of Europe, which endured successive upheavals due to the waves of influence that came westward from the Continent and from England. Following the Ice Age, there are the first humans (hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic and the farmers of the Neolithic), the Iron Age Celts, Christianity, the Vikings, the Normans, the Reformation, the Cromwellian Conquest, the Industrial Revolution, and the first Communications Revolution (exemplified by the coming of the Railway). Each of these had detrimental effects as well as good effects. The story ends with Galway becoming less peripheral and forging a strong identity as a go-ahead, progressive city of culture since Irish Independence and membership of the European Union.
Galway's early history
The city of Galway stands on a natural cross-roads. A broad river runs north and south, but it is also fordable so that travellers can move east-west and avoid the lake to the north, Lough Corrib, the second largest in Ireland. Once there was only the sea, the land and the sky. The land was covered with thick ice-sheets. After the glaciers withdrew about 10000 years ago, a lake and a river formed. The river meandered slowly through the reeds from the lake and cascaded over stones into the wide, deep bay. On each side, there were forests full of game, wild fowl lived on the river and the waters of the bay and lake teemed with fish.
The Arrival of Man
Men and women made their way here. Ireland's first inhabitants, nomadic hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic, 7000 years ago. The only traces of these people are the eating sites left from their encampments, like this one at Gentian Hill. Next came the first farmers of the Neolithic, 6000 years. These settled in permanent habitations like the huts that once stood on this site.
The Iron Age
Later, the Celts arrived at the start of the Iron Age, about 1000 BC This period has left its traces in the form of ring forts like this one at Ballybane. These could consist of an earthen bank surrounding a farmhouse, or a large enclosure protected by a deep ditch and steep embankment, or dry stone wall. Many of the larger structures are on hills, promontories or islands. Pits were dug for storage, perhaps for refuge? Later generations imbued these forts, even the small ones, with a superstitious awe. They were called fairy forts, the homes of the little people, preserving folk memories of previous inhabitants. Perhaps this is why there are so many of these structures survive today.
Christian Era
In the Christian era, about 500 AD we do have firm evidence of a fishing village here, probably near the site of the modern Claddagh. It was called Baile-na-Sruthain, the town of the streams. The "streams" now form part of the canal system on the west side of the river. From this era also, we have the ancient monastery of Roscam, here with the butt of its Round Tower and the ruins of a church. The Vikings sacked Roscam in the 10th century, and passed up the river to attack monasteries in Lough Corrib. In the 11th century, a powerful King of Connacht, Turlough O'Connor, High King of Ireland, ordered a fort to be built here, by the mouth of the river, to prevent incursions into his kingdom. In the annals the fort is called "Dun Bhun na Gaillaimhe", the fort at the mouth of the Galway, telling us at that time, the river was known as the Galway.
The Arrival of the Normans
It took men who were descended from the Northmen to found a city - the Normans. In the 12th century, these men were Europe's most accomplished warriors and statesmen. Coming first as mercenaries, their large horses, heavy armour and the longbow gave these professional soldiers an enormous advantage over the lightly-armed Irish. The King of Connacht and High-King of Ireland, Rory O'Connor, was forced eventually to submit to their King, Henry II of England, who now styled himself "Lord Of Ireland". One of their number, Richard de Burgo, was granted land in Connacht by the King. In 1232, this medieval conquistador came west with an army and captured the fort at the mouth of the Galway. Here he built his castle and it became the centre of his domain. Around it, the medieval city of Galway grew, its winding streets still visible in the modern street plan. In the wake of the Normans came settlers, English, Welsh and Flemish. Their names testify to their origin: Blake, Browne, Penrice, Joyce. The city became known as Galway and the river as the Corrib. The inhabitants were not soldiers any longer, but merchants. Over the years the richer families grew in wealth and status until they were able to take power into their own hands and away from the de Burgos. In 1484, the King of England granted a charter to allow them elect their own Mayor and Burgesses. The Norman conquest of Ireland had weakened and receded by the 14th Century. Many Norman families intermarried with the Irish and adopted Irish ways. Galway was left isolated, a western English outpost after the tide of conquest had ebbed.
Trade in Medieval Times
But the city prospered in trade. While the citizens forbade the native Irish to become freemen of the city, business was another matter. The first export product was salted fish, as told in the copy of the "Annals of Galway" in Trinity College, Dublin, which states that the early inhabitants of Galway "... got their livleyhood by cods and other sea fishes, drying them in the sun." Later, the export trade grew to include hides and wool. Wine and manufactured goods were the main imports. Casks of wine were shipped on up the river to places like the castle at Aughnanure, near Oughterard, or taken on pack horses to other inland destinations. Land communications were very poor - there were few bridges over the rivers and in winter the country roads became boggy and impassable. Galway merchants traded with Bristol and they are mentioned as trading with the Hanseatic towns of North Germany. Maybe as an echo of an earlier relationship, the townsmen paid money to the chieftain of Aran to "protect" their ships from pirates. Their ships were made of wood, and the commonest medieval ship type was the "cog", a squat and sturdy tub of a ship of about 20 tons. The city grew into the second city of Ireland, at its maximum extent 4000 people approximately, small by our standards. It was walled, with a murage tax charged by the town corporation for the wall's upkeep. The Burgesses of the corporation elected a Mayor who held office for a year. In particular, the wine trade with France and the Iberian peninsula made the town's fortune. At different times Cork, Limerick or Dublin vied for leadership in importation of wine, but Galway always remained a steady second in a growing trade. Galway's wealth, combined with its isolation from the sources of English power, made it a virtual city-state comparable with those of Northern Italy.
St.Nicholas Church and Lynchs' Castle
St Nicholas Church was the focal point of the medieval city, and it was here the Market Cross stood and the market was held, where also a market is still held every Saturday The Church itself was first built in 1320 but much extended over the following two centuries, in particular by the powerful Lynch family who extended this side of the church as their private chapel. The main branch of the Lynch family lived here in what is known as Lynch's Castle, with its beautifully carved windows. Behind St Nicholas' is the Lynch Memorial Window, reconstructed by the town commissioners in 1854 to commemorate the legend of Mayor James Lynch Fitzstephen who is said to have hanged his own son out of a window in defiance of public opinion. His son had murdered a Spaniard and the father did this, the analyst says, "...to show good example to posterity so tender were the townsmen of their credit"
Norman Influence
The town maintained a tense balancing act in the shifting alliances of chieftains and clans outside its walls. To the west were the much-feared O'Flaherties, to the east the de Burgos, now Irish in outlook and known as the Burkes. Some of the city ordinances give evidence of the attitude of the wealthy burgesses to these proud and warlike people: "If any man bring an Irishman to brag or boast upon the town to forfeit 12d." "That no person of the towne shall lend or sell galley, boat or barque to an Irishman" "That no Irish judge nor lawyer shall plede in no man's cause or matter with this towne..." "That no person shall give ne sell to no Irish any munition, as hand povins, calivres, poulder, leade nor salt petter..." Other ordinances forbade Irish games and funeral customs like public wailing, or "keening". However, there is physical evidence that by the 16th century, these laws were falling into disuse. This graveslab from St Nicholas' Church has the names of three people: two brothers named "O'Tierney" and the wife of one, named "O'Donoghue". The slab tells us they were coopers, or barrelmakers, an important craft in a medieval city. This slab is that of a shoemaker with the English name "Moraford" but his wife's name is "O'Loughlin". This suggests that intermarriage was occurring and probably a mingling of cultures. This is supported by the written evidence, which shows Irish street names like "Sraid idir an da bothar" for Middle Street, and Irish nicknames for leading citizens like "Sean a tSalainn" or John of the Salt for a merchant who imported that commodity.
Christopher Columbus
At the end of the medieval period, a famous seaman visited Galway - Christopher Columbus, then a merchant seaman and cartographer, working out of Lisbon in Portugal. No doubt Columbus gathered information to support his theory that China lay some day's sailing out in the Atlantic. He may have heard of the legendary voyage of St Brendan who had founded the monastery at Annaghdown on Lough Corrib, and who was believed to have visited islands in the Atlantic. A Latin book the "Voyage of St Brendan" was published in the 15th century so that is probable that a contemporary geographer like Columbus knew of the legend. In his own notes, Columbus mentions a couple of oriental-looking men who were washed ashore near Galway. To Columbus these exotic men, perhaps Eskimos, were proof of his theory.
The Reformation
Galway was the height of its prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, the Reformation had driven a wedge between the government in London and the English in Ireland, the Old English as they became known. England was now a Protestant country but the Old English remained Catholic. To make things worse, Ireland now constituted a strategic problem for England as the Catholic powers of Europe like Spain and France threatened invasion. Despite this, Galway remained loyal during Hugh O'Neill's rebellion in the 1590's
The Spanish Arch
Earlier, in the 1580's, Galway had also demonstrated its loyalty to the crown by building the fortifications of the medieval harbour - now called the Spanish Arch. This bastion was a defence against an attack from the sea. The expected Spanish Armada did reach Ireland, but in flight from its defeat in the English Channel. Over twenty ships were wrecked off the Irish coast. One galleon struck this reef off Renvyle in Connemara, and the crew were handed over to the English by the O'Flaherties. So much did the English fear a Spanish presence in Ireland, even shipwrecked sailors, that they were all executed in Galway, including two Dutchmen who had been press-ganged into the Armada. It is ironic therefore that one of Galway's most famous monuments should afterwards acquire the name "Spanish Arch". Its original name was "Kanavalla", from the Irish "Ceann an Bhalla", the Head of the Wall. As we can see, it originally had four arches, and was crowned with battlements. The "Spanish" name came later, from a supposed resemblance between Galway's medieval architecture and Spanish architecture, a resemblance that was probably more fanciful than real.
The Siege of Galway
One of the crisis points of Galway's history came in the 1640's. The Old English and the Irish made common cause in the body known as the Confederation of Kilkenny, formed to try to win religious toleration from the English King Charles I. But Charles was defeated and beheaded by Cromwell, and Cromwell's army arrived in Ireland in 1650. It began a victorious advance through Ireland. Eventually a force arrived outside Galway led by the Cromwellian, Sir Charles Coote. The situation in Galway grew desperate. Plague raged in the city and many died. The political leader in the town was the King's Lord Deputy in Ireland: Ulick Burke, Marquis of Clanricarde, descendant of Richard de Burgo. Burke had this map of Galway made in hopes of using Galway as security for a loan to raise an army of mercenaries in France. Alas, French assistance was too little and too late for Galway which had to surrender in April, 1652. The analyst who recorded the surrender wrote: "Three scourges than reigning, famine, plague and sword....." The English conquerors looted and wrecked many of the fine houses. 2000 people from Galway and the surrounding country were sent to Barbados and sold as slaves.
The Tribes of Galway
The ruling elite were contemptuously called the "Tribes" by the new conquerors and were banished. But the leading families took the name of "Tribes" with some pride so that Galway is still known as the "City of the Tribes". Most of them went to live on their country estates and await more favourable times. While most families did survive with some wealth and influence, the days of the "Tribes" were over.
Protestant Ascendancy
New names of the Anglo-Irish gentry began to figure in the ranks of the corporation and the Mayor's office. The town surrendered again to the English after the Williamite Wars in the 1690's. Catholics were forbidden to sit in Parliament, and many of the professions were barred to them. Members of Galway families joined the Wild Geese, the famous emigrants from Ireland to the Continent in the 18th Century who became merchants, politicians, lawyers and soldiers in France, Spain and other European countries. Galway's trade with these countries remained steady, and also trade with the West Indies was added. But in relative terms, its position as an important port in Ireland was in decline. Transport of heavy goods to Galway was still easier by sea than by land. Even in the middle of the 18th century, the last stage of the journey to the city overland had to be made on horseback. Later, the coach was introduced, but travel across land to Galway remained laborious and difficult, particularly in winter. Perhaps for this reason, the city retained a particularly old-fashioned flavour. Its traditional reputation as the most Irish of Ireland's cities dates from this time. Its isolation meant that local landlords could still be enormously influential.
Humanity Dick Martin
Richard Martin was the outstanding Galwayman of his generation. From an old tribal family, he was raised as an English Protestant gentleman by going to Harrow and Cambridge, but in later life he attended Parliament and agitated for Catholic Emancipation. He was known as "Humanity Dick" on account of his struggle for animal rights and his townhouse still stands here in Cross Street. These years were prosperous times for Galway. In 1816 a new bridge was added over the Corrib, and the courthouse was built beside it. Across the river, where the cathedral now stands was built, with some symmetry, a gaol. The city and its surroundings had grown to about 40,000 inhabitants and the urban core had begun to extend well beyond its medieval walls. River fishing was also an important source of food as this old map shows. Salmon, trout and eels abounded in the river. Here are eel traps, near where eel traps still stand today. Other men fish from boats and on the bridge, two men with tridents try to spear fish - a method which would earn them a fine in court today, if they were caught!
Alexander Nimmo
The early industrial revolution brought to Galway new water-powered industry. In fact, water milling in Galway dates back many centuries as the old 1651 map shows. By the mid 19th century there was a major canal complex on the west of the river with 24 water wheels powering mills, breweries, distilleries and paper mills. Farther to the west, where there had been a total absence of good roads, a Scottish Engineer, Alexander Nimmo, built many roads that finally opened up some of the west to all-year traffic. Nimmo also improved the coastal trade by building many piers and harbours along the west coast. He also built this pier in Galway, near the Claddagh, still called Nimmo's Pier.
The Claddagh
The Claddagh remained a thriving fishing community alongside the city. The men fished from their distinctive fishing craft: hookers (or bad mor), gleotogs, or pucans. The women sold fish at the fishmarket outside the Spanish Arch. The village formed its own distinctive community, with its "King" or headman. But as the century wore on, the old customs went into irretrievable decline. Deep-sea fishing undermined the Claddagh way of life. Young men from the area were much in demand for their seamanship, and many left to join the Royal Navy, or the Merchant Marine. By the turn of the century the old fishmarket was also gone. The Claddagh had formed a bustling entrepôt in the commerce up and down river. Downriver came boats with turf and farm produce for sale in Galway and the Aran Islands. From the sea came fish and seaweed, exported or transported up river and much prized as a fertilizer. To facilitate this commerce, the Eglinton Canal was completed in 1851 and formed a bypass to the city on the West for the small boats plying between the lake and the sea. In many ways, the history of Galway itself, and the west in general mirrored the story of the Claddagh. From a high point at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, about 1815, agricultural and industrial prices declined.
The Fammine
Emigration from the west began. Then came the terrible Great Famine of the 1840's. Potato blight destroyed the staple diet of the poor, followed by epidemics of cholera, typhus and typhoid which carried off thousands already weakened by hunger. The city itself and the Claddagh did not suffer overmuch from the Famine but the Galway Poorhouse became crowded by the desperate people fleeing form the countryside. Government assistance was inefficient and ineffective. Poor road communications hampered relief in the interior. About a million people took refuge in flight from the land that seemed to have turned against them.
The Arrival of Railway
A revolution of a different sort came to Galway in 1852. The invention of the railway, the marine steam engine and the electric telegraph had made the world dramatically smaller. The railway finally connected Galway securely into the world's first global communications network. You could now travel to Dublin in a day, instead of three to five days as formerly. Thus was finally was ended Galway's isolation, a feature of its history since the foundation of the city in 1232. At this time, the Great Southern Hotel, then called the Railway Hotel was built at the south side of Eyre Square. In its day, it was the largest in Ireland.
Galway Line Steam Packet Company
The invention of the steam engine produced another innovation - the steamship. An effort was made to exploit the improved communication by taking advantage of Galway's relative proximity to the United States. The Atlantic Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, popularly known as the Galway Line, was founded in the city. It was the brainchild of a local priest and entrepreneur, Father Peter Daly. The Galway Line for a while won mail contracts from the British Government to carry the post across to Canada. Mail from the New World could be quickly transferred to trains at Galway station for trans-shipment to England. The Galway Line's ships were the most advanced of its time, and two of them held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic. But alas, technology could not keep pace with the company's ambitions. Its ships suffered a series of mishaps at sea, and the company lost the mail contracts. In 1863 it finally ceased to operate. In the end, this communications revolution seemed to take more from Galway than it contributed. It brought in cheap, mass-produced goods from Britain, Europe and the United States which undermined local industry. It carried away tens of thousands of emigrants who took their ship in Liverpool. The local Irish culture and language accelerated their decline. Rail costs were cheaper than shipping costs so that the volume of shipping in the port dwindled away. Gradually the mill wheels stopped turning one by one, until by the end of the century none was left. The population of the city and the surrounding borough declined from 40,000 in 1820 to 17,000 by 1901. In the 1880's, the Allen Shipping line began direct passenger sailings to the United States for emigrants. The port had never been developed for larger ships and the liners anchored in the bay. An intermittent service continued until the 1960's with various companies. The improved road and rail communication into Connemara also ended the lake and coastal trades, which today only continues to the Aran Islands.
Return to Prosperity
It was not until one hundred years after the closing of the Galway Shipping Line that circumstances began to turn again in the city's favour. The recovery somehow coincided with the visit of the young and vital American President, John F. Kennedy, in 1963. Enlightened industrial policies, and Ireland's entrance to the European Community led to the foundation of new, modern industries in electronics, healthcare and light engineering. In the sixties and seventies, Galway became the fastest-growing city in Europe. The promise of the Railway Hotel has been fulfilled and Galway is now one of the most exciting tourist destinations in Ireland. Its University, founded in 1849, and its Regional Technical College founded in 1973, ensure that artistic, cultural and intellectual life are of a high standard. The Galway Arts Festival, held every July, is a major event in the country's Arts Calendar. Road, rail, air services and telecommunications links now ensure that what was once an isolated city is now fully integrated into a network connecting it to all the cities of the world. In 1984, the city celebrated its quincentennial - the 500th anniversary of the granting of its charter to elect its own Mayor and Burgesses. For Galway is a city that looks back on its chequered past with pride and looks to the future with confidence. It retains its flavour as the most Irish of cities: relaxed, yet modern; possessing all the services of a city, but preserving the intimacy of a small town; people who are always ready to greet you with a smile and help you on your way. Galway has had a long history, often glorious, often tragic, but the tradition of welcome for the traveller is one that will never die in this proud and ancient City of the Tribes.
