The Galway Shawl

I spent much of last weekend doing a photo album for my trip to Ireland in 2016.  I recalled being taken with woven woolen shawls that I just learned are called "Galway Shawl." These were worn all over Ireland but perhaps were called "Galway shawls" as they they were shipped to Galway for finishing and distribution...the boat journey from Paisley, Scotland to Dublin would have been shorter...

I watched "The Quiet Man" in preparation for this trip. I was pretty appalled at John Wayne's character's treatment of Maureen O'Hara's character, but that notwithstanding, I did notice the shawl that O'Hara was wearing throughout the film

 I know that the filmmakers worked to clothe the actors with locally sourced garments for authenticity. While the shawls were worn all over Ireland (and long before the movie), many of the costumes for The Quiet Man were sourced in Galway. O'Hara kept her shawl in her home after filming the movie. 

According to wikipedia, these shawls were heavy weight garments for cold weather and became popular in the late 19th century and, according to this article, were worn until the 1950's.  I think that it's important to remember that for many cultures, a warm wool shawl was the only existing "outerwear" for working class women in northern climates for generations!

These shawls were produced on hand jacquard looms in Paisley, Scotland, with a cotton warp and a botany wool weft.  (Yes, Paisley, Scotland is where they wove paisley wool shawls but that's another story!) Botany wool is merino and may at the time have been sourced from Australia. Wikipedia says that they were sometimes called "velvet" or "fur" shawls because they had a soft nap. Some shawls were shipped from the Paisley Mills to the Galway Woolen Mills where fringe was finished.  They look to be square in shape and worn folded over. The colors appear to be mostly natural wool color which makes sense given the time period and the fact that dying, whether natural or chemical (available in the late 1800's) added to labor and cost.

While at the National Museum of Ireland-Country Life in Castlebar I saw some samples, through the glass of course...

Where would our material history be if it weren't for museums like this?

Wikimedia Commons provides some available old photos of these garments 

Below is a wonderful photo from the Galway City Museum that contrasts class differences in outerwear for women in the 19th or early 20th century.   During my Ireland trip I reread Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes.  In the book McCourt recounts that no matter how poor they were, his mother Angela always wore a coat rather than a shawl as it signified working class poverty. I find the look in this photo on the wealthier woman's face to be quite telling.

The link here provides more class contrast in shawl use and some lovely photos.

The incredibly difficult life of working class women has been romanticized in the old Irish ballad "Galway Shawl."  Here's a version by Philip Noone