Collection of objects which belonged to Nan (Anne) O’Toole and her husband Michael O’Toole, a Claddagh fisherman, who lived with their family in a cottage at Rope Walk, Claddagh, Galway. The collection includes Nan’s prayer book, ceramic jugs and a birdcage.
The Claddagh was a small village of thatched houses located outside the medieval town walls, which was occupied by Irish-speaking fishermen and their families and headed by an elected king. In 1927, the village was declared ‘unhealthy’ due to overcrowded conditions and a lack of ‘sanitary accommodation or water supply’. The Town Commissioners decided to demolish and rebuild the Claddagh. The British journalist and travel writer H. V. Morton (1892-1979), who visited the village on the eve of its demise, declared: “The Claddagh of Galway is one of the most remarkable sights in Europe”. Nonetheless, the thatched homes were gradually razed to the ground and replaced by rows of two-storied houses.
Anne (Nan) Conneely was born in Rope Walk, Claddagh in 1877 and married local fisherman, Michael O’Toole in 1897. They had six daughters, one son and twins who died in infancy. Together, they reared their family at Rope Walk, with Nan selling the fish brought in by Michael at the corner of Eglington St., directly across from where Brown Thomas stands today.
In her life, Nan was renowned by the Claddagh people as having cures for many ailments. For infants suffering with bowel problems Nan prescribed the dust from burnt turf and holy water to be added to their bottle at feeding time. Babies who were born prematurely were often hung in a fishing net over a basin of warm water which was said to replicate the womb, providing the greatest comfort for the child. Nan was also renowned for her cure of eye infections which involved licking the eye.
Michael O’Toole died in 1934 in the thatched cottage, and it’s understood that Nan moved to Grattan Road around 1935 or 1936. The cottage contents went with her. Nan O’Toole died in 1952.
