Archive News
February 17, 2011
Date Published: {J}
1911
Ghastly deed
What has been justly described as one of the most cruel and callous murders that ever stained the annals of Co. Galway took place at Killeenamunterlane, a little way beyond Kilcolgan on the road to Ballinderreen, shortly after half-past six o’clock on the night of February 9.
Patrick Sheehan, farmer and bachelor, aged sixty-four, living alone in a small thatched cottage at Drumacoo, and holding something over 60 acres of land, left Kilcolgan just as night fell on the evening of the tragedy with a parcel of bread, and within a qurter mile of his home, two shots were fired in rapid succession from behind the Tyrone demesne wall, the first, it is supposed, entered the right temple, causing a terrible wound and instantly killing Sheehan, who fell dead amongst the briars on the left side of the road.
The only motive that can be assigned for the terrible crime is that sixteen years ago, under a written but unstamped agreement, Sheehan took from Mrs Bridget Glynn, a widow, of Newtown, Kilcolgan – who was then threatened with eviction by the agent of the St. George estate owing £32 arrears of rent – five acres of land at Newtown and four at Killeenamunterlane, paying her £3 and promising to “give back possession of said lands whenever Mrs Glynn is in a position to redeem them”.
Some years afterward, Mrs. Glynn demanded possession of the lands, but owing to the difficulties that arose, this was not conceded. The Sheehans had been partly boycotted since, and on three distinct occasions, “Patsy” was fired at.
Four sensational arrests were effected by the Kilcolgan police, and the following men were remanded: George Graham, farmer and publican, Kilcolgan; Martin Moran, farmer, Killeenamunterlane; Michael Glynn, farmer, Newtown and John Coen, caretaker’s son, Tyrone. So far, no evidence has been produced against these men connecting them with the crime.
1936
Care of insane
Rapid progress has been made with the new auxiliary mental hospital buildings at Ballinasloe, the sewerage work for which is now in progress. To date, £117,900 has been paid towards the hospital and the auxiliary at Castlerea from the Hospitals Sweepstakes Fund. It is expected that part of the buildings will be completed this year.
There is no hope of there being a reduction in the annual admissions lists; this shows an increase from year to year. Extra expenditure in connection with the running of the new hospital auxiliary is also anticipated; the segregation of the patients when the new buildings are opened in twelve or eighteen months’ time will entail additional expenses and probably an increased staff.
Terrible blizzard
Midday on Monday saw the commencement of a blizzard that will go down in Connemara as the fiercest ever experienced in the area. Driven on an eighty-mile-an-hour easterly gale, snow had fallen to a depth of several inches before sunset. The force of the wind was such as to make standing out of doors an impossibility. Throughout Monday evening, it was impossible to stir out of doors at all. Later in the night, the terrible wind was accompanied by a frost which froze the snow where it fell.
Until Tuesday morning, the storm continued to rage with unabated fury. Many people in the area who have experienced great snowstorms in America said that outside of the United States or Canada, they had never experienced anything approaching the ferocity.
Spring wheat
It is quite likely that owing to the wet autumn and winter that the acreage of winter wheat in the Irish Free State may have to be supplemented with sowings of spring sown varieties. It is important for the farmer to bear in mind that winter varieties will not ripen if sown during the season when spring wheats are normally sown.
Potato demand
Five shillings to 5s. 6d. per cwt. was the price quoted for good quality potatoes in the Dublin market during the week. In Connemara, prices have risen and remain firm. Bad weather conditions have resulted in a slight shortage of supplies, but this is said to be only temporary. Meanwhile, Connemara potatoes are fetching remarkably good prices in Galway. This is attributed to the increased demand for Irish potatoes in the British markets. There is still a serious shortage of potatoes in Britain.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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