johnscastle

Is that a Ganlow or a Gondola I see before me?

from National Library of Ireland on The Commons

• 11 older comments, and then…
• oaktree_brian_1976 said:

  over/under.

• Foxglove said:

  John is using the calm fine conditions to hang shirts out on the washing line. I remember this fort from a visit many years ago. very casual leg over for the cox in the gondola ...

• Foxglove said:

  the NLI sleuths must be doing Xmas shopping, hopefully this pretty scene of Limerick won't go into the "less than five comments" folder !

• Carol Maddock said:

  Hello, Morning Mary! If you're still taking questions although it's afternoon, I'm intrigued by the Ganlow. Is that a local name for it?

• National Library of Ireland on The Commons said:

  Carol Maddock I was rushing out to a doctors appointment and did not get a chance to look things up until now! I never saw the name written until today and though all the boat users I know called it a "ganlow" apparently the correct spelling is "Gandalow" There were two boats peculiar to the Limerick waters, the Gandalow and the "Angling Cot". The latter was a narrow flat bottomed boat with a sharp end at bow and stern or even front and back which was mainly used in the calmer waters of the Abbey River and above the tide level. The Ganlow (Gandalow) was a much stronger flat bottomed clinker built wooden boat always with a bottom covered in black pitch. When I was a lass there was always several of them on the beach in front of the Strand Barracks below the Curragower. The fishermen lived mainly in nearby Thomondgate which is on the Clare (near) side of the bridge in today's image. They used nets for their fishing and they would go down river on the ebb tide and return on the flowing tide with their catch. As often as not there was a lot of rowing done and it was a really hard grind. I found this in the stream one of our occasional contributors