countygalway

The plynth is now at Castlegar outside Galway City. It is now a war of Independence memorial. maps.app.goo.gl/6yKWUAoEKYARb6kb8 The statue above was sculpted by John Henry Foley and it disappeared after being pulled down and thrown into the Corrib during a town tenants rent revolt in 1922. Legend has it the Patrician Brass Band played "I'm forever blowing bubbles" as Dunkellan was being dragged down town. flic.kr/p/2j3TuRH

Ulick Canning de Burgh (1827–67), Lord Dunkellin

From - galwaycitymuseum.ie/blog/lord-dunkellin-disappears-from-e...
Good story!

O Mac I really hope the "I'm forever blowing bubbles" bit is true! Perfection.

From the Skibbereen Eagle, 3 June 1922:

STATUE DESTROYED A scene, unique in the history of Galway, was witnessed at Eyre square on Thursday night, 25th inst., when Messrs. Stephen J. Cremin, Secretary of the Local Transport Workers, and W. J. Larkin, Dublin, headed some hundreds of town tenants, with a fife and drum band, who tore the bronze statue of Lord Dunkellin from its pedestal, and marched in triumph with it to Nimmos Pier, a mile distant. Here, amidst the shouts of the crowd, it was thrown into the sea. On Friday, apparently to prevent its recovery, it was taken up on the beach and the arms and legs sawn off. This action followed the threat of the Labour leaders, when they seized the Urban Council Chamber on Thursday and told the members of the Council, that, as the Chairman had not turned up to formulate their own scheme, and wipe out landlordism in Galway, and smash the symbol of it in the square. An effort to saw the bronze statue was first made, but this proved unavailing, and a wire rope was brought forward in a cart and fifty men dragged it from its pedestal. Subsequently Mr. Cremin mounted the pedestal and addressed the people. It is stated that if a signed requisition had been made to the Dail troops, who occupy the Railway Hotel, opposite the scene, and the County Club, which is less than fifty yards across the square, they would ahve protected the property of the Council, but no such requisition was made. ... Lord Dunkellin, who was one of the Clanricarde family, and a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was born in 1827, and died in 1873. He was M.P. for Galway City and County, and the bronze statue, one of Foley's works, was erected in 1873 by public subscription. Flowers and the railings in the square were injured during the removal of the statue. At meetings, which were held subsequently, Messrs. Cremin and Larkin declared that they were determined to wipe out the slums of Galway, to wipe out every vestige of landlordism, to secure that no rents should be paid until this question was settled, to take charge of the Urban Council, and to see that the poor of Galway should be put into industries and given employment. If it was not, they would see about taking charge of those large establishments, and securing that others should not have silver spoons and every luxury whilst the workers starved.

💡There is a Stereo Pair version with no 'Hoop Boy' (as seen on the galway city museum link above). Must mean that today's photo is way back in the early 1880s, and/or soon after 1873 unveiling. catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000565236

Hmm - there is a church steeple missing, seen in a later ("c. 1910") photo -
From - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifden_railway_station

St Joseph's Church - "In 1898 the Church Spire was completed standing at a height of 150 feet." - www.clifdenparish.com/clifden-history/ Station opened 1/1/1895 (see wiki above). So 1895 - 1898, so far ...

beachcomber australia Re the Wiki pix, post 1925 as it now sports a GSR number

Loco is no. 26, which I can’t just trace at the moment. Station operated 1895 - 1935

Galway to Clifden railway opened in 1895. Everything looks very fresh here, I'd say we are not too far from the opening.

Galway - the building on the right is now the Town Hall Theatre and the bridge in the background is the old railway bridge which connected the mainline station (now Ceannt Station) to the Clifden line. www.google.ie/maps/@53.2760264,-9.054345,3a,75y,6.51h,95....

Rory Sherlock Ooooh, bualadh bos!

The line closed April 1935.

Neither the courthouse nor the railway viaduct narrow the dates from 1900-1920.

We were nearby (a month ago) in January 1901, when there were renovations going on behind the central pillars - The new windows and doors are looking a little worn in the top photo, so probably a while after 1901 ? I thought this might be before the 1901 renovations, but no; the original facade was more handsome - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000335983