RootsChat.Com
Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: billnkempsey on Thursday 30 June 22 03:24 BST (UK)
-
Attempting to follow my mother's trip around Ireland, I can track most of her movements from her YHA card stamps. This one has me baffled completely.
Does anyone know this stamp? Or, can they decipher what the name is at the top?
My best guess on the route suggests that the YH before this was Mountshannon and the one after Ball Hill.
-
What does the text say above and to the right of the stamp?
It's hard to make out the word above the stamp...begins with S ?
Maybe contact An Óige to see if they can help.
https://anoige.ie/who-we-are/contact-us/
-
Could the letter that looks like 'S' be an old G, and the placename be Gaillimh or Galway, even though the 'h' is not there? It would be a likely stop-off after Mountshannon, Co. Clare too.
-
Good shout, Marcello !
Definitely looks like Gaillim.
And the motif is correct for Galway (Gaillimh)
https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/wiki/Galway
-
Well done, Marcello! :D
-
Good work, people! I, too, like the Galway idea and am checking with An Oige to see if they can confirm that. (Now that I have a specific question.)
Galway would make sense in terms of the trip as well. If not, then there doesn't seem to be enough of the coast on her tour. She was born and grew up hundreds of km from the coast and always loved the sea later in life.
-
Could the letter that looks like 'S' be an old G, and the placename be Gaillimh or Galway, even though the 'h' is not there? It would be a likely stop-off after Mountshannon, Co. Clare too.
Well, of course there is no 'h' there (as such), as in the Gaelic script a dot would be used over the preceding 'm' to represent the letter.
-
Update! Contacted An Oige but none of the (self-confessed young) staff could help and further checks online suggest that none of the older staff would have helped either. I've uncovered an old map of mine of YHs in Ireland in 1982 and then found a much older one online from the 1940s(?). There was no An Oige hostel in Galway city in 1956, I suspect. The closest were Lettermullen in the 40s and Indrebhan in the 80s.
They must have stayed at an independent hostel or other accomodation in Galway. Knowing my mum, she would have demanded a stamp (from someone!).
So this stamp is certainly not an An Oige stamp and I suspect that we might never know where it is from. Except that it is clearly from someone in Galway.
-
From a newspaper report about an An Óige publicity meeting in 1956, they had 'two new hostels' - one at Clybawn, on Taylor's Hill, which while not city centre, is in Galway city, the other at Salrock, Killary Harbour.
From another newspaper, the Clybaun hostel opened June 2nd 1956.
-
I spoke too soon! Excellent work. And that opening date, 2 Jun, fits with my known dates. Mum was still in Europe then (and until 22 Jun, photos developed 25 Jun) so probably didn't get to Ireland until July or August. Presumably to stay in an almost new hostel in Galway.
Thanks!