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History of Galway City
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Galway City
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Pre-12th Century
It is generally agreed that the town was named after the
river, which was known until recently as the Galway River
rather than the Corrib. The Irish name for river is 'Gaillimh',
but the precise meaning of this is disputed. One version has
it that Gaillimh was the name of the daughter of an Iron-age
chieftain who was drowned in the river. Recent finds of
stone implements suggest that there has been human
habitation at the site since neolithic (New Stone Age)
times. A dun (or fort) was built at some time, and there was
probably a settlement of fishermen at what is known as
The Claddagh from early times. The Vikings visited the area in
927A.D. and ravaged the local monasteries, but, curiously,
failed to found a town as they did in other places. This is
odd, given that the river and lake gave access by water well
into Connaucht.
12th Century
The O'Connors built a dun with wooden fortifications near
the mouth of the river in 1124. In 1132 O'Brien (King of
Munster) sent a force which destroyed it. This kind of
warfare between the clans was a feature of Irish life since
early times.
It is recorded that in 1154 ships sailed from beside the
dun, which had been rebuilt. This establishes Galway as a
port for the first time.
13th Century
The Anglo-Normans under
Richard de Burgo invaded Connacht
and captured the dun in 1235 from the
O'Flahertys, and
established a castle there. Despite frequent attacks by the
dispossessed O'Flahertys, De Burgo held firm.
1270: Richard de Burgo started to build the wall, turning
Galway into a walled town protected by a castle. Eventually
approximately 25 acres were enclosed.
14th Century
1312: extra walls were constructed as Galway town became
progressively more isolated from the Anglo-Norman
settlements due to the revival of native Irish power. 1320:
the church of St. Nicholas of Myra was erected as parish
church for the town. (The Franciscans had a friary outside
the town since 1296.)
A series of charters were granted to Galway on petition by
Richard II (1361-1400) and Henry IV (1367-1413). The walls
were extended and improved, and coins were minted.
15th Century
By 1450 the well-known town houses began to appear, as the
famous 14 Families (incorrectly known as the '14
Tribes'),
began to establish themselves at the top of civic life.
Later, a charter from Richard III (1452-1485) emancipated
Galway from the control of the descendants of the de Burgos,
who had more or less gone native. This charter allowed the
election of a mayor and two bailiffs. This effectively gave
Galway considerable self-government.
The town's church,
St. Nicholas of Myra, was governed by the
diocese of Tuam. The city notables disliked this, and
contrived to have the Pope Innocent VIII (reign 1484-1492)
issue a Bull (Papal declaration) that the church in Galway
would be free of diocesan control and instead would be ruled
by a Warden assisted by eight vicars. The Warden was to be
elected by the 14 families, and continued under the reformed
church until 1840. Thus by 1484 Galway had both civil and
ecclesiastical independence, and its remote location
guaranteed it the status of a city state.
Most medieval cities, whose buildings were constructed of
wood and thatch, had a Great Fire. Galway had two, in 1473
and 1500, and as a result the city was rebuilt in stone.
16th Century
For the next hundred years Galway traded extensively with
the continent, especially Spain, exporting local produce
such as fish, wool and leather, and importing fruit, oil and
most importantly wine. Under the rule of a series of Mayors
drawn from the 14 families, the city became extremely
wealthy and prospered, as a city hospital (St. Brigid's) was
built, and Elizabeth I (1533-1603) granted a charter for a
town gaol in 1578, and a garrison was set to defend the
town.
1588: The year of the Spanish Armada. Two hundred Spaniards
who came ashore after a shipwreck in Galway Bay were
butchered by order of the Lord Deputy.
1599: Red Hugh O'Donnell, engaged in a lengthy war with the
Queen, passed by and burned a convent, but Galway itself was
unharmed. By 1602 the town was fully fortified, and a patent
for a fair was granted in 1613.
17th Century
The famous Free School had been established in 1580, and had
prospered to such a degree (despite being temporarily
suppressed by James I (1566-1625)) that the enrolment is
said to have reached 10,000, and the numbers of scholars
attending became a nuisance to the town, so that in 1627 it
was ordered that all foreigners and beggars were to be
whipped out of the town. Sadly, this great educational
establishment closed in 1652 as part of the general post-Cromwellian
decline.
The success of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) in his struggle
with the King was bad news for Galway. In 1651 Sir Charles
Coote invested the town by land and sea, and in 1652
starvation forced a surrender on apparently favourable terms
which were not adhered to. All Catholics were expelled from
the town, and the great town houses of the 14 families were
confiscated and given to soldiers of the occupying forces in
lieu of pay. They quickly fell into ruin as the prosperity
of the town declined.
18th Century
After the Restoration, Galway looked to recover its former
position of wealth, but the War of William and James brought
this recovery to an end. Under the Penal Laws, which at
first were rigorously enforced, Catholics suffered severe
disabilities in relation to education, ownership of property
and civil rights. After about 1750 religious tolerance
returned as the inhabitants returned to their primary
concern of making money through trade and industry, which
had been Galway's great preoccupation since the Middle Ages.
This time the new growth in prosperity was water-based, as
the river's force was harnessed to power a number of mills,
breweries and distilleries. At the same time most of the
inhabitants lived in squalor and filth.
19th Century
This short-lived period of recovery lasted until the Great
Famine 1846 - 1848. There have been several famines in Irish
history, but this famine was nationwide and exceeded them
all in severity and duration. The pre-famine population of
Ireland is estimated to have been in the region of 8
million. By 1850 this number was reduced to less than 6
million, and this decline continued throughout the rest of
the century as people emigrated in droves principally to
England, Scotland, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
During the famine years, great numbers of poor people
flocked to Galway port to travel to the United States. There
were however some signs of better times. Queen's College
Galway opened in 1849, and the first railway connection to
Galway opened in 1851. However the town remained in general
decline, and the population reached an all-time low of 13000
in 1911.
20th Century
In the 20th century Galway staged a slow recovery; Salthill,
once a distant and small resort became a suburb as the town
began to spread and economic recovery speeded up, greatly
helped by the presence of tourists in summer and college
students in winter. One casualty of progress was the old
Claddagh Village. The Claddagh, a tightly-knit fishing
community that kept itself aloof from the rest of the town
had survived all the ups and downs of history with its own
culture and customs largely intact, a maze of small thatched
cabins clustered behind the Dominican church. In 1934 Galway
Corporation took an interest on grounds of health and
hygiene; the little houses were demolished, the streets were
tarred (in place of the traditional cobbles) and
local-authority houses were built to house the inhabitants.
At a stroke, hundreds of years of local history and autonomy
were wiped out of existence. Today the Claddagh is just
another suburb, a historically uninteresting cluster of
streets, and no trace of its colourful past remain.
21st Century
Galway Today: Today Galway is reputed to be the
fastest growing city in Europe. Prosperity has returned with
a vengeance. During the summer months traffic congestion is
virtually unbearable in the city; there is a week-long
festival race-meeting at the end of July that attracts
thousands to the suburb of Ballybrit, where vast sums are
wagered over six days racing. A variety of other festivals
keep the city busy all through the summer, as Galway has
gone back to its historic pre-occupation with trade,
commerce and the making of money.
The 14
Tribes of Galway: All were originally Anglo-Norman
who came to positions of authority after c.1450. The most
prominent family was
Lynch, who provided 84 mayors to the
city, and whose town house still stands in Shop Street.
Sadly, it was 'renovated' in the sixties by its present
owners, the Allied Irish Bank, whose principal interest was
in efficient and profitable banking rather than
conservation, and so only the shell of the building is
intact. These town houses were known as 'castles', and the
bank is still known as
Lynch's Castle. The other families
were (in alphabetical order): Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne,
D'arcy, Deane, Ffont, Ffrench, Joyce, Martin, Morris and
Skerritt. Many of these names came to prominence later in
the history of the county.
The Claddagh: 'Cladach' means a stony foreshore, and a
settlement of fishermen seems to have existed here since the
earliest times. The city walls never enclosed the Claddagh,
which retained its own customs, a large degree of
self-government and its own 'King'. |
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