'Hidden Galway' introduces the reader to a totally new history of Galway exploring the quirky stories and fascinating rogues that history has overlooked. There are stories of disasters, such as the KLM flight which brought Galway to a standstill for over a week in 1958, the Christmas morning tragedy of 1842, when thirty-seven people lost their lives while attending mass, and the story of William from Galway, the man who sailed with Christopher Columbus in 1492 on his voyage of discovery.Graphic accounts of execution and murder from the City of the Tribes are told, such as the infamous Bodkin Murders, where eleven people were brutally slain in a house of horrors in one night. Included are famous and infamous bandits, highwaymen, scientists, smugglers and love stories that introduce us to the weird, wonderful, and often downright strange customs and pastimes of the people of Galway.
To find out more about William Henry, click here.
ISBN 9781856357548
Reviews
Tuam Herald: '...brings us on an absorbing tour of the neglected gems of Galway history.'
Connacht Tribune: 'This book will fill an important gap on book shelves...'
Galway City Tribune: 'There are some extremely interesting stories included and some myths dispelled.'
Connacht Sentinel: '.. this is a gem of a book [...] is filled with fascinating accounts of events, monuments and people, all of whom have formed part and parcel of our rich heritage.'
The Irish Catholic: 'It is written with a light and agreeable touch, but it is well sourced.'
Galway Advertiser:' Highly recommended.'
EXTRACT
Hidden Galway
William Henry
Mercier Press, Cork
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
Galway – What’s in a name?
Sunday Boy Blake
The Justice Stone
The Menlo Dolmen
The O’Flaherty Rent
Graves in Merlin Woods
St Augustine’s Well
Mutton Island Lighthouse
The Spanish Armada of 1588
The 1816 Crosses
Siena Tiles
Bollingbrook Fort
Tom Hynes and the Great Marathon of the West
Galway Victoria Cross Winners
Lynch’s Rock
The Fishery Field Lime Kiln
Glean Gort an Airgead - the Duelling Field
Roscam Folly
The Bodkin Murders
The Renmore Races
A Christmas Morning Tragedy
John Bodkin’s Hand
The Dead
Bounds of Virtue
The Kings Head
The Hole in the Wall
The Night of the Big Wind
Mary McManus, Virgin, 1827
The Crimean Cannons
Anach Cuain
The Hag’s Walk
The Hugo de Groot
A Saintly Visit
Jordan’s Island
Tom ‘The Moor’ Molineaux
The Galway Independent Volunteers and Militia
The Railway Children
Prospect Hill Reservoirs
Monster Meeting at the Sliding Rock
Milestones at Roscam
A Scientific Genius
Prince of Preachers
Cooper’s Cave
The Forgotten Land League Campaigner
A Blind Piper
An Infamous Landlord and Miser
William from Galway
Captain Martin Kirwan: Hero of the Franco-Prussian War
Oranmore: A Smugglers’ Haven
Plague, Leprosy and Disease
Fire at Menlo Castle
The Isolation Hospital
The Old County Infirmary
Galway Whiskey
The Galway Watchmen
A Public Hanging
A Galway Coin Hoard
The Knights Templar
Merchants’ Marks
The Daggered Heart
Merlin Park Castle
Italian Madonna of the Rosary
Charles Ffrench Blake-Forster
The Siege of St Augustine’s Fort
Anti-Courting Devices
Mount St Mary
The Empty Picture Frame
The Gashouse
The Roscam Standing Stone
Rory Murtagh
Emily Anderson
Bibliography
Foreword
It gives me great pleasure to contribute this foreword to William Henry’s interesting and valuable book Hidden Galway, which he has so wonderfully subtitled Gallows, Garrisons and Guttersnipes. William has a great love of Galway, and a great understanding of the people of Galway, and it is this which allows him to bring history to readers and to audiences in a most meaningful and accessible way. His writings excel in their conversational and engaging tone. In this book, as in his talks and lectures, William Henry brings joy, generosity and a wonderful spirit, allowing local history to tell us about ourselves. In reading this book you will discover that local history is the very essence of life. The light of humanity at its best is to be found in his expressive descriptions. In celebrating this book it is worth noting what the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa had to say about the writing of books and the compiling of histories when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in November 2010, at about the same time that William Henry was composing this book. Llosa reminded people that heroism and the epic are as possible in the present as in the time when Homer’s The Odyssey and The Iliad were being written. ‘I have always been fascinated,’ Llosa said, ‘to imagine the uncertain circumstances in which our ancestors, with the language that allowed them to communicate having just recently been born … gathered around fires, began to tell stories and compile histories.’ Llosa points out that this was ‘a crucial moment in our destiny, because in those circles civilisation began’.
This book and the other writings of William Henry are in that tradition, part of that never interrupted process from the cave and the open fire to the modern apartment and the skyscraper. In that tradition, William Henry’s skills as a historian and as a communicator, and as a writer and as an educator, are in abundant evidence throughout this book. The Gallows, Garrisons and Guttersnipes of the subtitle aptly describe what we might call the prose poems or vignettes through which William Henry illustrates the many aspects of the history of Galway, from a Christmas morning tragedy of 1842 to the railway children who played out their adventures in the long tunnel of the old Galway to Clifden railway line. The rich heritage of Galway, often lying hidden within disparate archival collections and within the walls of old buildings, has been brought to life in this engaging history, which new audiences, future generations and students, still unfamiliar with the history of their own area, will find compelling. The Irish novelist Colum McCann has written that ‘the past is all around us: the universal is local, brick by stolen brick’. Whether writing about the Hole in the Wall pub in Eyre Street, the Prospect Hill reservoirs, Cooper’s Cave near the Font Roundabout on the Tuam road, Menlo Castle or the Old County Infirmary, William Henry in this book allows us to discover and to see so much of the past which is still all around us.
Pat McMahon,
County Librarian, Galway
Introduction
'Hidden Galway' is a voyage of discovery through the corridors of time where a wealth of material is just waiting to be explored. Captured in its pages is a hidden history of events and people from Galway that introduces the reader to a new concept of the history of the town, hinterland and its people. While Galway was granted city status in 1484, it is continually referred to as both a town and city in many publications, and I have used both terms throughout this book.
One can pick up and read 'Hidden Galway' with ease and interest, exploring the stories which are not well known. There are accounts of disasters, including the Anach Cuain tragedy, in which nineteen people drowned; the loss of a KLM flight, which brought Galway to a standstill for over a week in 1958; and the Christmas morning heartbreak of 1842, when thirty-seven people lost their lives while attending mass. Also explored is the story of ‘William from Galway’, the man who is reputed to have sailed with Christopher Columbus on his voyage of discovery in 1492. Graphic accounts of murder and executions, such as the infamous Bodkin murders, when eleven people were brutally slain in a house of horrors in one night, are included. Bandits, highwaymen and smugglers are also part of this hidden history, as are scientists and men and women of vision. There are stories of romance, which include the passionate interlude between Wolfe Tone and Elizabeth Martin of Dangan. The love story of Michael Bodkin and Nora Barnacle (wife of James Joyce) is told with great affection. One can follow Galwaymen fighting in foreign wars – men like Captain Martin Kirwan, a hero of the Franco-Prussian War. The tale of the O’Flaherty Rent will help bring some understanding to the old Galway saying ‘May God preserve us from the ferocious O’Flahertys.’ The life of an extraordinary blind piper, Martin Reilly, is examined. A brief look at the Knights Templar in Galway takes one back to an age of chivalry and betrayal. The story of the Italian Madonna of the Rosary now housed in the Claddagh church is told, and visitors to Galway, such as Tom ‘The Moor’ Molineaux, an African–American champion boxer who fought his way to freedom, and St Oliver Plunkett are brought to life. Those interested in sports can look forward to reading about the ‘Great Marathon of the West’ and its outstanding champion, Tom Hynes of Newcastle. Daniel O’Connell addressing a monster meeting at the Sliding Rock in Shantalla takes one back to a very difficult period in our history. The Emily Anderson story outlines the life of an exceptional woman who achieved so much abroad, without being well known in her home town of Galway. It is impossible to mention all of the stories in this introduction as there are so many subjects covered. Suffice it to say that while this book contains a serious history, there is also a light-hearted side to it, with something for everyone.
It was a pleasure to write this book as there were such a variety of subjects from which to choose. Over many years Jacqueline O’Brien, my co-researcher, and I had collated a wealth of information on various aspects of Galway. Much of this was collected while researching other books, when it was inevitable that we would find other interesting material. At times we became very distracted from the primary target of the research, so we simply amassed all of the information that we found interesting. Over time a huge file built up; however, we were unsure of how this material would be used. So you can imagine our delight when Mercier Press approached me with the idea of publishing a hidden history of Galway. The only problem in writing this book was not so much which stories to use, but rather which ones to leave out. The stories and accounts of Galway and its people contained in these pages only form a portion of the information we gathered.
The subtitle of the book, Gallows, Garrisons and Guttersnipes, was chosen for the following reasons. Firstly, there were a number of gallows located in Galway, the main one being at Eyre Square in front of the town gates. Public hangings were part of everyday life in old Galway and continued behind jail walls in the late nineteenth century. Secondly, over the years Galway was often referred to as a ‘garrison town’. Many people believe this was due to Renmore Barracks opening in 1880, but there was a military presence in Galway from the earliest times. Finally, the word ‘guttersnipe’ was used during a court case in the nineteenth century by a judge when passing sentence on a number of young individuals who found themselves before him, having been caught causing a nuisance in the town. The word is still used from time to time to describe youngsters causing minor problems.
'Hidden Galway' is also a treasure for collectors as it forms part of a very important series of publications that is opening up Irish history and sharing valuable information with the public. Many of these stories had not been fully investigated before this publication, which makes them extremely important, as they have helped shape the modern city. This journey through the uncharted waters of Galway’s past will be, in many respects, a revelation to the public and indeed to some historians. It is ideal for those who prefer a short history of events and people rather than comprehensive studies of a particular subject. It will also be of great value to Irish communities abroad and indeed those with an interest in Irish history. To quote one historian who read the manuscript, ‘It’s a book for those who wish to know everything about Galway and more.’
William Henry, 2011
