Representing Glenard ( 29 12 2014)
The name Gleann Árd long pre-dated the creation of the housing estate which was built in Salthill by the Brennan Brothers in the 1960’s and which they named Glenard. The Persse family were hugely influential in County Galway in the 19th century and produced many distinguished members in the fields of the Arts, Politics and business. One of these was Henry Sadleir Persse who had the distillery in Nun’s Island. He built a house up on the hill overlooking Salthill and called it Glenarde House; today, it is known as the Ardilaun Hotel.
He owned extensive lands around the house. The main entrance was from Taylor’s Hill but there was also a pillared entrance from Threadneedle Road directly across from where the gates of Salerno are today. This hedged right-of-way path was known locally as ‘The Chariot’, and was associated with the Boland sisters who lived at the house before the Ryan family took it over. They used to go up and down the lane on a pony and trap which just about squeezed though the hedges and some local smart youngster playfully named the laneway ‘The Chariot’. It was a well known Lover’s Lane’. The entrance pillars were just at the back of Mary O’Connor’s house, which was the showhouse for the estate when Brennans started building.
All of the above information is taken from an article by Paul McGinley in a recently published book entitled “Our Golden Footprints”, a celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the Community of Glenard, D’Alton Drive, D’Alton Place, Dr. Mannix Road and Na Cúilíní. Glenard is an area that regularly features in the Tidy Towns Competition and that wonderful sense of community is evident in this book which is a collection of some 130 articles and twice that number of photographs. It is a valuable social document, an intrinsic record of life and the changes that have occurred in the estate over the years, celebrating as it does the lives and achievements of those associated with the area. The contributions come from people of all ages, and make up a mixture of local history, reminiscences, nostalgia and fun.
One of those photographs is of the Glenard under-13 team of 1967, They are, back row, left to right; Bertie O’Connor, Billy Dunne, Kevin O’Rourke, Ger Hansberry, Pádraic Tierney. In front are Tom Burke, Paul Flannery, Aidan Cosgrove, Brian Coyle and Eugene Tierney. The team was trasined by Joe Coyle. The man in the cap in the background is Gerry Colgan.
The book is available from Peadar Ó hUallacháin at 091 521574, from the Hilltop, Fancy Fare and good bookshops. Highly recommended.
Finally, I would like to thank all those who have helped me with this column throughout the year providing me with photographs, information, stories, an occasional bit of scandal and of course, corrections. Without you, there would be no column. Blian Nua fé shéan is fé mhaise díbh go léir.
