We were thrilled and amazed at the turnout on such a freezing night! Killaloe might have been blanketed with snow, and Main Street closed to traffic, but inside Wood and Bell café were nearly fifty committed local history aficionados! The engagement in the questions after the talk was mighty, and continued well into the night as we enjoyed the delicious snacks, beer, wine, and hot drinks that Wood and Bell provided. Thank you to Wood and Bell for sponsoring our venue, and thank you to Brian J. Goggin for delivering such a brilliant lecture.

Brian’s book is available to purchase here. His blog on everything to do with Irish waterways history is here. You can read about the building that Wood and Bell Café currently occupies in our last blogpost here – including the photograph of the Cunard Steam Line ticket.

Details of the March lecture coming soon!

From the late 1820s to the late 1840s, Killaloe was the base for a fleet of steamers, and it was an important station on the route from the south west of Ireland to Dublin, Liverpool and London. This talk will move quite far from Killaloe, to Newfoundland, London, Alexandria and even Limerick, but activities there will be shown to be relevant to the departure of the steamers from Killaloe and their eventual return to be tied up and abandoned.

“Scale, Rail, and Mail: Why Killaloe Lost Its Steamer Fleet” promises to be unmissable! So don’t miss out – come on in to Wood and Bell Café, Main St, Killaloe at 7pm on Wednesday the 28th of February. Free entry and everyone is welcome. Tea, coffee, beer, and wine, as well as some delicious food, will be available for purchase on the night from the staff of Wood and Bell, so bring a few bob for that. See you there!

Please help us promote this talk by sharing this post, our website, or the Facebook event. Here is a higher quality version of the poster for printing, if you fancy going that bit further and sticking one up on your office noticeboard! Every little helps. Thanks so much!