John Breslin - Old Ireland in Colour

OLD IRELAND
IN COLOUR

John Breslin & Sarah-Anne Buckley

First published in 2020 by

Merrion Press

10 Georges Street

Newbridge

Co. Kildare

Ireland

www.merrionpress.ie

John Breslin & Sarah-Anne Buckley, 2020

9781785373701 (Cloth)

9781785373718 (Kindle)

9781785373725 (Epub)

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro, Garamond and Avenir.

Cover design and typeset by: RIVERDESIGNBOOKS.COM

Front cover image: HAPPY DAYS ; c. 1946, Feothanach, Co. Kerry; Members of the OSullivan, Griffin and Kavanagh families; Photographer: Caoimhn Danachair; Source: National Folklore Collection Ref.: E003.18.00012.

Back cover image: FAIR DAY ; 4 May 1910, Ballybricken, Waterford City; M.J. (Michael J.) Phelans Hotel is seen in the background at no. 14. Poole Photographic Studio scratched out some of the sign behind the van, which reads Liptons Tea 1s/4d. Poole also adjusted the top of the van, so the sign was not obscured. Ballybricken became the centre of the pig and bacon industry in Waterford in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when fairs were a critical part of the agricultural economy and social life; Photographer: Poole Studio; Source: National Library of Ireland Ref.: POOLEWP 2103.

Opening credits:

YOUNG WOMAN IN A PONY TRAP DRAWN BY A DONKEY ; c. 1907; Photographer: Unknown; Source: Library of Congress Ref.: 93504400.

SPINNING ; c. 1930s, Carna, Co. Galway; Photographer: Caoimhn Danachair; Source: National Folklore Collection Ref.: B063.01.00012.

WOMAN BAKING ; c .1910, Galgorm Castle, Ballymena, Co. Antrim; A photograph by Mary Alice Young, inspired by Flemish art. Young was the eldest daughter of the Rt Hon. Sir F.E.W. Macnaghten, and in 1893 she married W.R. Young, the eldest son of the Rt Hon. John Young and the owner of Galgorm Castle near Ballymena. Between 1890 and 1915, she took over a thousand photographs and is therefore one of the periods most prolific female photographers; Photographer: Mary Alice Young; Source: Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Ref.: D3027/8/E.

GRUBBING POTATOES ; 1962, Carnanransy, Co. Tyrone; Prior to mechanisation, a horse and mechanical plough would be used to dig or grub for potatoes to harvest them. Potatoes were introduced to Ireland in the sixteenth century and are still a staple food source; Photographer: Michael J. Murphy; Source: National Folklore Collection Ref.: B021.32.00001.

FOWL AT GALWAY MARKET ; c .1910, Lombard Street, Galway City; This photograph was taken beside St Nicholas Collegiate Church and depicts a market scene in provincial Ireland. Today, Galway market operates in this exact area. In 1911, the population in Co. Galway was declining, having fallen to 182,224 in the ten years after the 1901 census. The population of Galway City was also falling from 13,426 in 1901 to 13,255 in 1911; Photographer: Unknown; Source: National Library of Ireland Ref.: EAS_4051.