steam – Killaloe-Ballina

July Lecture Is Early In July!

Killaloe-Ballina Local History Society — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 13:32:34 +0000

We are delighted to announce that we are working with the excellent Féile Brian Boru to produce a brilliant lecture on the 4th of July. You read that right! The FIRST Wednesday of July will host our lecture instead of the last. AND it will be at the new later starting time of 7.30pm. So this is a heads-up, and don’t forget to write it down somewhere so you don’t miss out! Because this looks like being a cracker of a talk.

The Killaloe train station in Ballina is long gone now, but you can still see the outline of the tracks, the sidings, the station itself, the signal box, and of course the washerwoman bridge. This lecture will cover the building of the railway lines in the Limerick area, and will also look at the people involved, and the times in which they lived. Although only four miles in length with its connection to the main line at Birdhill, the long closed Killaloe branch will be well featured in the presentation, which promises to be both informing and entertaining.

Joe Coleman has published histories on the old cinemas of Limerick (House Full), and on her railways (Falling Gradient). You can read a fabulous interview with Joe on the Limerick Post at this link, which will give a flavour of the talk to come in July.

We will see you on the evening of Wednesday 4th July at 7.30pm (new later starting time!) in the back room of our venue at Wood and Bell café. Wood and Bell continue to provide our Society with this venue for free, and we thank them for this sponsorship. Please go in and have your lunch there if you want to thank them!

Entry to our July lecture is FREE as usual, and everyone of all ages and levels of interest is welcome. Help us promote this event by clicking ‘Going’ on the Facebook event here, or sharing this blogpost, or even by putting up a poster for us – you can print out one from this link. See you at the lecture – don’t forget the later starting time of 7.30pm!

Thank You Brian!

Killaloe-Ballina Local History Society — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 13:30:51 +0000

Thank you to our February speaker, Brian J. Goggin, who delivered a really incredible lecture last night on the departure of the steamer fleet from Killaloe, and how some ended up in very far flung and unexpected places. Our own Lady Lansdowne was mentioned, as well as the RMS Leinster. Brian detailed the building and maintenance of the roads by the Bourne family in the eighteenth-century, and showed us how many of the spots we are familiar with along the old N7 were actually mail stops, turnpikes, or stables for changing horses. He went through the competition the railway offered the canal system, and what role the steamer vessels and Irish waterways played during the Famine in transporting Irish people abroad.

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!

February Lecture: Why Killaloe Lost Its Steamer Fleet by Brian J. Goggin

Killaloe-Ballina Local History Society — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 16:00:42 +0000

We are so delighted to announce that the speaker for February will be Brian J. Goggin. Brian is an accomplished historian of Ireland’s historic waterways; you can browse his encyclopaedic blog here. This is the second lecture that Brian has generously shared with the Society – his November lecture on the establishment of the Killaloe steamer fleet was packed with over 60 people, all of whom demanded a ‘part two’ to see what happened next. Well here it is!

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!