Athenry News & Views Spring 2026

Athenry News & Views

“I addressed a few parting words to assembled crowd, telling them to be of good cheer, that my treatment was, the variable course pursued by the authorities in power and requesting the people not to be led away into any acts of lawlessness on my account as I was fully prepared to suffer for the cause I advocated. My words appeared to have the desired efect. “The hour was now at hand for my departure. Oh, that march to the railway station. What a memory! An immense cordon of armed Constabulary followed by an excited, cheering and yelling crowd and I the object of all. Were not the cause for which I suffered almost sacred I would blush at my position.” At Athenry railway station there was unforeseen delay and after repeated leave-taking. the engine whistled. “The cheers were deafening and as the first move was made my exclamation of ‘God Save Ireland’ was re-echoed by a thousand voices,” wrote Peter Broderick. On arrival at Galway terminus here was another surprise-a large crowd of cheering well-wishers. After a leave-taking with them, Peter Broderick was hurried away accompanied by a strong force of the Constabulary to Galway Gaol. On November 19, 1881, the Board of Guardians of

the Loughrea Union at its meeting unanimously passed this resolution: “That we desire to express our regret at the recent arbitrary arrest and imprisonment under the Coercion Act of a respected member of this Board - Mr. P. Broderick of Athenry, and that we tender to him in his prison call out wannest sympathy and the expression of our earnest hope for his speedy restoration to liberty, so that we may soon again have the pleasure of his presence amongst us at this Board of which since his election to it he has proved himself a useful, active and intelligent member.” Early on the morning of Thursday, December 8, Peter Broderick “cast a thought to Old Athenry, whose inhabitants were then snugly ensconced in their virtuous beds”. On Sunday, 11th December he wrote: “This day fortnight is Xmas Day, a time of cheer throughout the world and we in all probability will be the inmates of a prison by that time”. Early on the morning of Thursday, December 8, Peter Broderick “cast a thought to Old Athenry, whose inhabitants were then snugly ensconced in their virtuous beds”. On Sunday, 11th December he wrote: “This day fortnight is Xmas Day, a time of cheer throughout the world and we in all probability will be the inmates of a prison by that time.”

Galway Gaol: A Forgotten Prison at the Heart of the City Standing quietly on Nun’s Island, Galway Gaol, often called the Old City Jail, is one of Galway’s lesser-known historic sites. Yet for more than a century it played a central role in the city’s social and political life. Built in the early nineteenth century, the gaol replaced earlier, inadequate detention facilities and reflected contemporary thinking on prison reform. In reality, conditions were severe. Men, women, and children were confined in cold, overcrowded cells, frequently for minor offences rooted in poverty rather than serious criminality. During the Great Famine, the prison filled with people charged with stealing food or failing to pay debts. For some, incarceration offered a grim form of security, providing regular meals that were unavailable outside its walls. The gaol was also a place of execution, and its reputation for harsh punishment left a lasting imprint on the city’s collective memory. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Galway Gaol held political prisoners linked to land agitation—including Peter Broderick—and to the wider struggle for Irish independence. In this way, it became a symbol not only of law and order, but of British authority and resistance to it. The gaol closed in the early twentieth century, and much of the building was later demolished to make way for Galway Cathedral in the 1960s. Today, only fragments remain. These quiet ruins serve as a powerful reminder of hardship, injustice, and resilience—hidden in plain sight at the heart of Galway City.

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