The Augustinians have been associated with Galway since the year 1500. Their first convent, or priory, was built on Fort Hill between 1506 and 1508. Its patroness was Margaret Athy who was the wife of the then mayor, Stephen Lynch. He sailed for Spain in search of a cargo of rich wines, and when he returned, he was astonished to see the graceful outline of a new church, with tower and tapering spire, on the elevated promontory that was Fort Hill. Not one stone of it had been laid when he left the city.

In 1551 the churches and cemeteries of the Dominican, the Franciscan, and the Augustinian orders were handed over to the Reformed Collegiate Church by Edward VI, but nevertheless Catholics continued to use Fort Hill until the end of the century. In 1596 Red Hugh O’Donnell attacked the city from St Augustine’s Hill and caused a great deal of damage. The townspeople realised the strategic importance of this high hill, and as the Lord Deputy, Lord Mountjoy, contemplated a possible invasion by the Spanish, he saw the need for fortifying the hill on which the church stood. Thus, over the next couple of years, walls were built around the church and outside them a deep ditch was dug.

The outer wall was 16 and a half feet high and was built of stone. Inside was a higher wall, also of stone. There was a drawbridge entrance to a strong gatehouse, and here and there were sallyports through the defences. Inside, the spine of the church rose high above it all, looking down on the bulwarks extending out at each corner. The church itself was altered by the addition to one wall of it of a shelter for the soldiers of the garrison. The commander and the officers were provided with headquarters in a separate building.

The earliest reference to ‘moving pictures’ in Galway that I have come across dates from 1909, when The Enterprise Animated Picture Company came to the Court Theatre in Middle Street with its cinematography performances and variety entertainments. “Rarely has such an opportunity been given to the people of Galway of viewing in animated pictures the most sensational events of real life and drama. Those from real life included Boxing Champions and Logging in Sweden, while other titles included Nocturnal Thieves, A Constable Please, The Pony Express, and Fairy Presents. The pictures come in ever-changing variety and there are no exasperating delays.” The Court Theatre had 500 seats and was also known as The Racquet Court.

In November 1912 the original Irish Animated Picture Company announced a one-week programme in the Town Hall showing “entirely new and interesting pictures, the hall will be heated and we expect crowded houses”. The Town Hall was originally built as the Town Courthouse (opposite the County Courthouse), and when it became superfluous it changed into a variety theatre about 1895. The Hardiman family ran it from 1916 to 1967. ‘Galway’s Cosiest Cinema’ closed in 1993.

These early films were silent, so the theatres would have live musical accompaniment. The New Galway Cinema Theatre was beside the GPO with an entrance from William Street and it advertised not only the best and latest in pictures, but also the “best provincial orchestra of seven musicians and the latest music”. This theatre (seating accommodation 1,050) was later known as The Gaiety and later still as The Empire. In 1937 it was changed back to a skating rink.

In 1883, a sub-committee of the town commissioners reported on the sanitary conditions of the houses in this area. Some were occupied in tenements, others were held by single families. “In none of these houses is there any provision as to water closets, privies or drains which in itself is deplorable; but your committee feel it would be but ill discharging their duty if they stopped short at such an exposition and remain silent as to the absence of every feature which would recommend them as habitations for human beings. The poor can only hope for impoverished dwellings, but when a gentleman enters into commercial relations with them, and on a well intended profitable scale to himself .... he should not be exempted from the obligation of providing them with accommodation somewhat better than Indian wigwams.”

Throughout the report, which discusses poverty and deprivation in many other parts of Galway as well, the words that stand out are “miserable”, “omnipresent ordure”, “dung heap”, and so on.

At the beginning of the last century, Thomas S Clarke ran a company called The Bowling Green Mills that made celebrated homespuns and specialised in tweeds, blankets, and rugs. At that time also, Michael Lydon and Son were fishing tackle manufacturers in Bowling Green. The street has always been, and remains, almost exclusively residential. While the facades remain the same, the interiors bear no resemblance to the 1883 report. The numbering system on the houses was a mess (at one stage there were four No 5s in Bowling Green) but has now been regularised.