Galway and Gibraltar have quite a lot in common, not the least of which is the connection to the Barbary Ape.
A friend of mine David Niland who owns the Galway Business School in Salthill, recently took this photo of one such ape and her baby and I was immediately struck by the similarity of the pose of his ape and the one on Lynch's castle on Shop Street, Galway. The real ape is grooming, feeding and tending to her baby. The stone ape appears to be doing a similar task, though to listen to the stories, the stone model is actually holding a human baby.
Legend has it that Lynch's Castle went on fire some time in the 16th century (a not uncommon occurrence back then) and everyone fled the building, leaving the Lynch baby behind. The family pet, a Barbary ape, rescued the baby and climbed down the outside with the baby in hand. Whether true or not, it is quite likely that there were monkeys in Galway long before the high jinx of Rag week. Traders (the Galway Tribes were mostly traders) had much interaction with England, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy all throughout the 14th through the 17th centuries, when Galway was a pretty major player in traffic of goods and other commodities (including slaves....and apparently apes!).
Eitherway, seeing David's photos today breathed life and animation into the one of Galway's most intriguing and mysterious carvings. To hear more about Galway's wonderfully colourful past and the characters that made it the 'City of the Tribes', come along on one of my 'Walking Tours of Galway', tell your friends and hey, please LIKE my Facebook Page too, 'Walking Tours of Galway'.
Thanks; Brian Nolan. Galway Walks
(ps the reference to Gibraltar and Galway is taken from James Joyce's Ulysses...bet that will set your juices flowing!)
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