Tawnagh – 2016
Author: The Burren and Beyond
B.A., M.A.(Archaeology); Regional Tour Guide; Dip. Radio Media Tech; H.Dip. Computer Science.
Galway Harbour reef – 1938
Catholic Press, 13 January 1938, page 25
Wikimedia Commons
It is well-known that Galway Harbour would be one of the finest in the world but for a reef that prevented large ships from entering. Several catastrophes have been connected with this barrier. The historic rock is now being smashed to smithereens by an 18 ton torpedo-type battering ram, which has a point made of the hardest steel known to scientists. The removal of this obstacle just outside Dun Aengus Harbour forms part of the, gigantic plan to modernise facilities for handling increased traffic at all stages of the tide, and for bringing in much larger ships.
Australians will recall a similar work at Fremantle by the famous Irish engineer, C. Y. O’Connor. The submerged rock barrier rendered navigation not only difficult but at times dangerous, and, more than once, ships have been laid up in the harbour for days, and others have had to stand by in the bay during inclement weather. Out in the harbour men are working to put an end to all that. Day and night, during October and November, the harbour was the scene of intense activity. The improvement scheme is estimated to cost £200,000, and within two years it is hoped to bring Galway into line with the other leading harbours, capable of accommodating seagoing vessels up to 8000 or 9000 tons.
French and Dutch experts, aided by local workmen, are well advanced with the job of removing the reef. A huge dredger first carries away the mud and sand from the reef 3 surface, preparing the ground for the rock breaker.Worked from a specially constructed barge, this battering-ram is dropped through a steel tube on the rock, smashing its way through it like a pneumatic drill breaking concrete. By the middle of this year it is expected that it will have completed its work, and the construction work proper, with an average of 200 men in employment, can begin on the harbour.
It is proposed to deepen and widen the approach channel to the dock to such an extent as to allow vessels to turn before entering or leaving the docks. The Dun Aengus Dock will be replaced by a concrete pier, 450 feet in length, on the south-west side and 320 feet on the north-east side. Passengers alighting from or embarking on the Atlantic tenders, especially during the winter months, must have carried away unfavourable impressions of the pier, bleak and without shelter from the Atlantic gales. It is to facilitate them, the travellers from the Aran Islands, and the Customs officers and other officials, that a concrete shed, 250 feet long, will be built along the pier. It will be equipped with offices and waiting-rooms. On both sides of the new pier it is intended to provide a railway line connected to the main line of the G.S.R. These branch lines will be equipped with travelling cranes capable of dealing with cars, baggage and merchandise. Adequate quays, roads, a car park, and additional space for storage will be made by filling in the disused dock to the east of the Dun Aengus Dock. This portion of the work is also in hand, and two caterpillar excavators are preparing the site. Till now the use of the harbour has been restricted to vessels with a draught of about 12 feet, entering or leaving one hour before or after high water, but when the scheme has been completed it will be possible for vessels up to 350 feet m length, and with a draught of more than 21 feet, to clear the passage with ease. Galway people see in the harbour scheme a new era of prosperity. Its completion, they say, will lead to many more ships making use of the harbour, with a consequent increase in exports and imports, and much-needed employment both at the docks and in the city.
A startling development – 1932
Advocate, Melbourne 8 December 1932, page 6
A startling development of the Drumm battery is expected—it is to be put on ‘buses and lorries! This is the latest report. Early in the new year, the first Drumm battery driven vehicles are expected on the Dublin street’s. An expert mad.e the following statement:— “They will change the present transport system in the city in such a short time that everyone will be astonished. It is true that the Dramm-driven motor vehicles cannot go more than thirty miles an hour, but that will be quite enough. I know that there will he no difficulty about charging the batteries. .That was the big trouble in the past, but Dr. – Drumm has changed all that.
“I estimate that the cost of equipping the first Drumm motor vehicles, will be fairly high—nearly £200. But it will be a bargain at that. “There will be no intricate parts, and the saving in that direction alone will be enormous. There will be no oil consumption. One charge of the batteries will drive them about seventy miles. ‘ You might say that once the batteries are installed, the only cost to the owners of the vehicles will be that of tyres and of charging the batteries. The charging will be cheap and easy, and tyre costs will not be so high as at present because the petrol driven vehicles are pushed; the Drumm vehicles will be pulled, and there wilt be less strain. Incidentally there will be less wear and tear upon the roads.” If these promises are fulfilled, Dr. Drumm’s invention will perform the evolution in transport which I made bold to predict two years ago.
The Countess – 1918
The Argus, 30th December, 1918 p.5
Amongst the Sinn Feiners elected in Ireland is the Countess Markievitch, who took a leading part in the Dublin rebellion at Easter, 1916.
In spite of her name, the Countess Markievitch is an Irishwoman, being the eldest daughter of the late Sir Henry Gore-Booth, Bart., of Sligo. A sister is Miss Eva Gore-Booth, the poetess. In 1900 she married the Polish count Casimir Dunin de Markievich. The two, the wife being the leader, were in the forefront of the most “advanced” party in the intellectual circles of Dublin. But it was when authority had to be defied that the Countess surpassed herself. Then what denunciations of England came from this gaunt, excited figure! What belabourings of Man! For she was a Suffragette as well as a Sinn-Feiner and was a leader in the suffrage disorders in Dublin. One of her chief swoops into notoriety was in the great strike of 1918, when she was one of the most active supporters of Larkin. For her share in the Easter Rising at Dublin in 1916 she was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted, and she was subsequently amnestied. Similar treatment was meted out to Professor John MacNeill, the nominal head, or “Chief of staff,” as he styled himself, of the Sinn Fein volunteers, who has also been returned to Parliament, having defeated the Nationalist candidate for the National University of Ireland.
To, General Sir J.G.Maxwell – 1916
The Catholic Press, 4th January, 1917 p.22
Ashford, Charleville, May 17, 1916.
Sir,
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 12th inst., which has been forwarded to me here. I have read carefully your allegations against Rev….. .and Rev……., but do not see in them any justification for disciplinary action on my part. They are both excellent priests who hold strong national views; but I do not know that they have violated any law, civil or ecclesiastical. In your letter of 6th inst you appealed to me to help you in the furtherance of your work as military dictator of Ireland. Even if action of that kind was not outside my province, the events of the past few weeks would make it impossible for me to have any part in proceedings which I regard as wantonly cruel and oppressive.
You remember the Jameson Raid, when a number of buccaneers invaded a friendly State, and fought the forces of the lawful Government. If ever men deserved the supreme punishment it was they. But officially and unofficially, the influence of the British Government was used to save them, and it succeeded. You took care that no plea for mercy should interpose on behalf of the poor young fellows who surrendered to you in Dublin. The first information which we got of their fate was the announcement that they had been shot in cold blood.
Personally, I regard your action with horror, and I believe that it has outraged the conscience of the country. Then, the deporting in hundreds, and even thousands, of poor fellows without a trial of any kind seems to me an abuse of power, as fatuous as it is arbitrary; and altogether your regime has been one of the worst and blackest chapters in the history of the misgovernment of the country.
I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant.
Edward Thomas,
Bishop of Limerick.
To General Sir. J.G. Maxwell, Commander in Chief, the Forces in Ireland.
Rising – 1917
Watchman 1st November, 1917 p.7
Wikimedia Commons
A cable from New York, dated Sunday last, states that the Secret Service has frustrated a second Sinn Fein rebellion which was planned to occur next Easter, on the anniversary of last year’s bloody Dublin riots. German gold was scheduled to play a part. The preliminaries were mapped out, and ready to be put in operation, when the Secret Service men stepped in and arrested “General” Liam Merlewes (sic.) one of the leaders of the 1916 outbreak. Baron von Reculinghausen (sic.) was apparently Count von Bernstorff’s designee to watch Germany’s interests in Ireland after Bernstorff was ousted from the United States.
The Canadian authorities, acting upon the information received from the Secret Service, arrested Dr. Patrick McCarton, upon his arrival at Halifax. He was travelling on a fraudulent seaman’s passport. McCarton enjoyed the title “Ambassador of the Irish Republic to the United States.” It is commonly reported that German agents are busy in Ireland, attempting to stir up a second outbreak. A German cargo, which submarines carried, comprising machine guns and ammunition, was landed in lonely inlets in the Irish Sea.
It is understood that the United States possesses the official Sinn Fein report of the 1916 riots and other valuable data in connection therewith. Merlewes (Mellows), prior to the Easter Monday rebellion, spent three months in an English prison. Later he proceeded to Galway, and organised 700 volunteers for the United States, following the failure of the revolt.
McCarton arrived in the United States early in 1917, a fugitive from justice. Both decided to return to Ireland. McCarton sailed on October 17.
Galway Harbour – 1840
Connaught Journal – 26th March, 1840
Photo: National Archives
YORK v the Galway Harbour Commissioners
This was an action instituted by the plaintiff against the defendants in their corporate capacity, to recover compensation for the value of his sloop and boats, which he alleged were damaged during the night of the memorable storm in January 1839, by the falling portions of the old quay walls. The
plaintiff endeavoured to sustain the action on the ground that the injury arose from the dilapidated state of those walls and it was the duty of the Commissioners to keep same in proper repair. After the plaintiff’s case had closed the defendant’s counsel called for a non-suit that, on the ground that the action could not under the act incorporating the Commissioners be maintained against them, and secondly, admitting that it was otherwise maintainable, that it should have been proved that there was a sufficient fund in the hands of the commissioners to enable them to keep the old quays in a substantial state of repair.
After a lengthened argument on the subject, ably supported by Counsel on each side, the court ruled in favour of the defendants objections, and accordingly non-suited the Plaintiff.
Counsel for the Plaintiff, John Beatty WEST, Q.C., Gerald Fitzbibbon, and Murrin Burke, Esqrs.; Agent, John M. O’Hara, Esq.-Counsel for the Commissioners, Richard Keating, Q.C., James H. Blake, Q.C., James H. Monaghan, Q.C., and Allan Shoue, Esqrs.-Agents, Messrs. J and J. Blakeney.
Muriel – Thomas MacDonagh’s widow – 1916
The Catholic Press 28th December, 1916 (abridged)
National Library of Ireland
by Eileen Moore
One of the first three men executed on May 3rd by the English Government as leaders in the Irish Revolution was Thomas MacDonagh, M.A. His young widow is a sister of the prison bride of Joseph M. Plunkett, who was executed on May 4. Another of the same family, Miss Nellie Gifford, suffered six weeks’ imprisonment as a rebel.
Mrs MacDonagh presented a pathetic appearance in her deep mourning, with her three and a half-year old son, Donagh, clinging to her skirt. She is transparently pale, with copper coloured hair and blue eyes. Her eyes have an appealing look. Perhaps that is the reason why General Maxwell is said to have sent her a command to appear in public as little as possible, fearing that her appearance might excite public sentiment. This command was directed particularly to Requiem Masses which were being celebrated all over the city for the souls of the dead patriots.
Mrs MacDonagh is the mother of two children – the boy mentioned, little Donagh, and a baby girl called Barbara, 18 months old. There is a dazed look in her eyes as if she had not yet recovered the shock of her husband’s death. Her story was the most pathetic of any I had listened to from the women of the Revolution. She was the only one who had not the consolation of seeing her husband for even the brief 20 minutes allotted by the Government to the relatives and friends of the Revolutionists. Mrs Pearse did not see her sons, but Mrs MacDonagh was the only wife who did not see her husband. She did not know of his imprisonment or death until the news was flashed to her in an evening paper.
“It was cruel,” Mrs MacDonagh said, with tearless eyes, “that I should be denied the consolation of a last interview with my husband. I did not see him after he left the house on Easter Monday. News that the Proclamation of Independence had been read by James Connolly reached me. I had a copy and placed it over the mantelpiece. I brought my little son to look at it.”
“When the days passed and I heard no word from Thomas, I could stay in the house no longer. I went out. All the week I had been listening to the roar of the machine guns, and all the week I had been praying for my husband’s safety. I heard the “Stop Press” calling. I bought a paper – the first thing I saw in big headlines was the execution of my husband. I don’t remember how I got back to the house. The authorities never sent me any official notice of my husband’s death. I wish the whole world to know of this fact. It was cruelly unjust to me. Someone told my little son that the soldiers killed his father – that was very unwise. Now the child screams at the sight of a soldier and hides his face. He worshipped his daddy. I shall tell him the true story when he grows up. We have no home now.”
“Our lease of Cullingswood, our home, expired many months ago. Mrs Harvey O’Kelly, the owner, the first woman to be imprisoned in Ireland for suffrage, wouldn’t accept the extra rent due. She was very kind to the children and myself. Cullingswood was opposite the first St. Enda’s College. It was an historic old house with memories of ’98.”
“I was very ill,” continued Mrs MacDonagh, “from the shock of my husband’s death. I was with him in the work for the freedom of Ireland. Before Easter Week, when things were taking shape, he had to be away a great deal from home, but there was scarcely a night but he managed to spend a few minutes with us. He always like to kiss the children good night. I am proud that he died for Ireland. He was a good father, a good son, and a good husband. ”
“His two brothers stuck to him. His brother Jack was taken prisoner. The soldiers did not know that he was a brother of Thomas. When they found it out they abused him shamefully.
I am not strong like other women, but I am strong enough to feel proud of my husband. A humble neighbour came in to sympathise with me the other day. She burst into tears when she saw me in my black dress. I told her not to cry, for Thomas died a noble death in a great cause – the freedom of Ireland.”
“Did you visit the slums?” she asked suddenly. “If the machine guns had only managed to destroy them instead of some of the other buildings they ruined it would have been a blessing – they are a disgrace to civilisation.”
In my walk through the city I had noticed the run down looking tenements near Liberty Hall and had wondered how they had escaped the general devastation.
Duras – 1908
Irish Examiner 28th December, 1908
On Friday evening, at a place called Duras Demesne, near Kinvara, the patrol of police from Kinvara had a severe encounter with some civilians. They succeeded in arresting two men who were brought before Mr. Persse, J.P. and remanded without bail for three days, when there will be an inquiry into the matter.
Galway – 2016
Photo: EO’D
The Burren and Beyond 