Galway Archaeological and Historical Society

21/10/2026

This edited volume presents some 30 chapters by a team of international scholars reviewing the Irish military experience throughout the world over the past 1000 years with each chapter seeking to address the question of whether or not there was anything distinctive about ‘The Irish soldier’.


Thomas Bartlett MRIA, professor emeritus of Irish history at the University of Aberdeen, has published widely on Irish history and most recently was the general editor for the 4-volume Cambridge History of Ireland (Cambridge, 2018).

20/10/2026

On Culture Night, the Galway City Museum's annual 'history walkabout', supported by our Society, was on the topic, 'Life in Galway's Institutions'. The photo gives an indication of conditions on the night.

All eight talks - average length eight minutes - are now online on the Recording Galway site, here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1819632/episodes

The speakers and topics were as follows: Sarah-Anne Buckley on Salthill Industrial School; Conall Ó Fatharta on St Anne’s Industrial School, Lenaboy; Brendan McGowan on ‘Institutions in the writings of Pádraic Ó Conaire’; Mary Cunningham on the ‘Orphans’ Breakfast Institutes’; Lorraine Grimes on the first Magdalen Asylum; John Cunningham on the Galway Mendicity Institute; Geraldine Curtin Children in Galway Gaol, and Sorcha Clarke on The Galway Workhouse.

30/09/2026

GALWAY IN THE 1926 CENSUS - NEXT MONDAY
The next lecture in the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society autumn series deals with the recently-released 1926 census. It takes place in the Harbour Hotel on Monday 5th October at 8 pm. The speaker is Dr John Gibney.

On 18 April 1926 the first census of an independent Irish state was undertaken. Across the 26 counties over 700,000 census forms were completed by, or on behalf of, the 2,971,992 people living in the state. Using the statistical information collated by the census along with some of the details to be found on the individual returns, the lecturer will explore some of the textures of everyday life in Galway City, as revealed in April 1926.

Dr Gibney produced The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census with Orlaith McBride. He co-curated the major national and international exhibition developed by the National Archives to mark the release of the 1926 census. He is the author of A Short History of Ireland (Yale University Press).

17/09/2026

Prof. Nicholas Canny responding to questions after his lecture to the GAHS tonight

15/09/2026

This week's lecture in the History Research Seminar Series at the University of Galway (Hardiman Research Building by the library; Wednesday 16 Sept. 4 pm). Connal Parr's topic is: 'Irish Strike or International Struggle? The Dunnes Stores Strike Revisited'

Dr Parr is author of the acclaimed Solidarity and Pressure: The Story of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (Oxford University Press, 2025)

Admission free; all welcome

14/09/2026

The connections between Ireland and revolutionary America will be explored in the first lecture in the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society autumn series. The speaker is one of Ireland’s most eminent historians, Nicholas Canny, and the lecture will take place in the Harbour Hotel, on Thursday 17th September at 8 pm,

Professor Canny is a former president of the Royal Irish Academy, who was Professor of History at the University of Galway (1979-2009) and served on the Scientific Council of the European Research Council. His major books include Making Ireland British(2001) and Imagining Ireland’s Pasts (2021).

In this lecture Professor Canny will consider the Irish nationalist grand narrative, as formulated by Young Ireland authors of the 1840s, that a ‘colonial nationalism’ formulated by Irish Protestant ‘patriots’ in the eighteenth century influenced the thinking of American ‘patriots’ who challenged the authority of the British government after 1763. He will also examine the proposition that the revolutionary stance taken by America’s ‘patriots’ in 1776 inspired the creation of the Irish Volunteers who, acting in consort with some members of Grattan’s parliament, supposedly wrested The Constitution of 1782 from a reluctant British government.

Admission to the lecture is free, but attendees are advised to arrive in good time in order to secure a seat.

14/07/2026

Free lecture at the university tomorrow, 12 noon. Promises to be interesting.

17/05/2026

Monday night, 8 pm

The late Peadar O'Dowd, a prolific historian who worked tirelessly to preserve Galway’s archaeological and architectural heritage, was also a long-time secretary of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society.

17/05/2026

Monday night

Lecture in honour of late Galway historian Peadar O'Dowd

12/05/2026

PEADAR O'DOWD MEMORIAL LECTURE, Monday 18 May

The late Peadar O'Dowd, a prolific historian who worked tirelessly to preserve Galway’s archaeological and architectural heritage, was also a long-time secretary of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. As a tribute to his work and his memory, the Society is holding a special commemorative lecture on Monday 18th May, at 8 pm, in the Harbour Hotel. The speaker is Jackie Uí Chionna, and her topic is ‘The History of the Galway Salmon Fishery under the ownership of the Ashworth Family, 1852–1954.’ Dr Uí Chionna will examine the stewardship of the Galway Fishery under three generations of the Lancashire family who were instrumental in the development of aquaculture in Ireland, but in the process came into conflict local anglers and landlords – as well as poachers – when they enforced their exclusive fishing rights to the Corrib in the courts.

The speaker Dr Jackie Uí Chionna, who collaborated with Peadar O’Dowd in several projects, teaches History at the University of Galway. Her many publications on include a biography of Galway merchant and industrialist ‘Máirtín Mór’ McDonogh (2016), and most recently 'The Queen of Codes: the secret life of Emily Anderson: Britain’s greatest female code breaker' (2023), which was shortlisted for the prestigious Elizabeth Longford Prize.