Lord Dunkellin's statue

Del.Monte

I have an interest in memorials from Ireland's colonial past and thus when I came across this postcard online today my appetite was whetted. Having been in Eyre Square many times over the years I couldn't recollect ever having seen the statue.


A quick trawl of the internet informed me that it was a statue of Lord Dunkellin - a scion of the unpopular Burke/Clanricarde dynasty - and that it had met with an unhappy end. According to the information that I've so far found it appears that the citizenery of Galway pulled the statue from it's plinth in May 1922, and then dragged it through the streets before throwing it into the sea. Unsurprisingly, the statue made as it was of bronze, had disappeared the next day never to be seen again.
More here: http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/32477/lord-dunkellins-statue

The base was later remodelled and forms part of an IRA memorial at Castlegar. I believe that the statue of the Irish language writer Padraic O Conaire was located on the site of the Dunkellin monument (?) - either way it also suffered a similar fate and was decapitated in 1999. What is it with Galwegians and statues?


Anyway, I would like to know if anybody has ever heard what happened to the Dunkellin statue -was it melted down, buried in a bog or lying forgotten in some hay barn?

yaledo

Great to see a photo of it.

I've heard that it was thought to have been retrieved from the water by two brothers from Dominic Street - I can't remember their names.

I'd have to guess it would almost certainly have been melted down.

I don't remember Padraic being in the same location - though maybe he was relocated after JFK's visit.

Del.Monte

Here's another pic which shows both statues in more or less the same spot.

MaxFlower

Del.Monte wrote: »

What is it with Galwegians and statues?

From Wikipedia

A statue of Ó Conaire's was unveiled in 1935 by Éamon de Valera in Eyre Square in the heart of Galway City. It was popular with tourists until it was decapitated by four County Armagh men in 1999. It was repaired at a cost of £50,000 and moved to Galway City Museum in 2004. Galway City Council investigated installing a replica at the Eyre Square site.

We Galwegians love Padraic!

seanin4711

50K jaysus better get into statuing!!!