Down by the Claddagh

Galway Advertiser, December 31 1998

"At first sight, the village appears to consist of but a few houses, or rather thatched cabins, but on entering any of the numerous openings laneways, the place. is found to be much more extensive,; the cabins being built in irregular squares and circles surrounding pretty little greens where the young children play, and where the women spread out their husbands fishing—nets for mending or drying on round cairns or circles of stone, one of which is on every green, The houses are very small, and many show sad tokens of great poverty; yet, wherever the means will at all allow of the smallest comfort, they are neat and clean, Owing to the numerous open spaces, the air is pure and free, and the whole place commands as lovely a prospect as the heart could desire.

The king's house is no larger than those of his neighbours. A thatched cabin, poor both without and within, but, at least when we saw it, very snug inside, and very neat too, in spite of the narrow space and the quantity of household and other articles to be stowed away on every side; for, along with the ordinary furniture, a fisherman's cottage contains a curious medley of articles — fishing—nets, and tackle and spare oars and sea—going odds and ends of every kind, as well as an assortment of chests in which to store up any extra valuables the owners may possess. Indeed it was a matter of great wonder to me how, with all this miscellaneous collection, such order and neatness could be preserved in the little kitchen."

This quotation comes from thewriter Mary Banim, and gives us an idea of what the Claddagh houses were like, and how they were arranged in a very haphazard way.

The photograph, which was taken from a tiny old snapshot, shows a typical Claddagh street, leading down to the Quay Street. The woman in the photograph appears to be feeding chickens, or maybe geese. The electricity pole looks a bit incongruous among all the thatch cottages.

The above information comes from Peadar O'Dowd's book, Down by the Claddagh.

Recently published is an important new book entitled The Memorial Inscriptions and Related History of Killtullagh, Killimordaley and Esker Graveyards. The book, which is beautifully produced, and edited by Con Mulvey, has a vast amount of genealogical information, and is an important addition to the research being done by the Galway Family History Society.

Finally, on being asked to recommend some Galway books for Christmas in this newspaper, I made one glaring omission in forgetting to suggest Peadar O'Dowd's wonderful Galway City to you. So may I suggest that if you wish to buy any of your friends a present for the new year, you would find it hard to better this lavishly illustrated production, which outlines the history of Galway, its trade and industry, and its culture.

Finally, may I wish you all a Happy New Year, and thank you for your continued support for this column.