Comment by Ryan O'Rourke on October 4, 2014 at 3:22am

Splendid footage ... priceless stuff.  The music definitely doesn't fit as it's mostly Scottish, but it's great if you just watch it on mute. :-)

Thanks for sharing this, Declan.

Gaeilgeoir Comment by Jane Sherry Gardner on October 4, 2014 at 6:29am

Absent the donkey carts and one or two other things, it hasn't changed all that much. "The Gael" is a great piece of music, by the way, and I enjoyed hearing it! Good job and thanks for sharing!

Comment by Brian Nolan on October 5, 2014 at 4:35am

Fabulousfootage...a British angler, visiting Connemara in the early 1950's, no doubt a very welcome injection of money into a very economically deprived region post WW2. The entire video is charming, but there are many unique moments in it. Watching how the donkey was used in so many ways in the daily lives of the people, the shyness of the women and the beauty of the 2 paisley shawls are striking. The turf, evident in so many shots, vital fuel for the houses, the gaggle of geese and the wonderful turkey. The seaweed gathering, an industry that continues today, the boats and the animals, the mountain scenery and the racing rivers. What a treasure of a find. Thank you for sharing. The car is I believe an Austin Twelve, dating from around 1946, which sold for £415...a small fortune back then. www.austin-eight.com/austin8brochure1946.htm (I may be wrong, but it looks like an Austin 12 or 16, with the long front and raked back look). This man and his family were very well off, but whoever they were, they must have been welcomed in the west. Today, the British touring tourist is still welcomed here, though American tourists now outnumber them.

Comment by Brian Nolan on October 5, 2014 at 5:25am

Declan...do you know who the family were? 

Comment by Declan Flattery on October 5, 2014 at 6:18am

Brian, I found the video posted on YouTube by a Michael Rogge. I've linked another one of his "Ireland Dublin 6O Years ago," clearly taken by the same person. Amazing shorts of my old home town. One shot even captures the famous Arthur Fields, who tools photos on O'Connell's bridge for 50 years. Well worth a look. Michael Rogge appears be be Dutch. He also has similars videos, of other places around the world, with a similar feel to them.

Comment by Michael Brogan on October 6, 2014 at 6:51am

I think the Car more likely this Model from 1951,(1951 Riley RMA,) lovely Filum as they say, and the Wild West hasn't changed much in the 60 yrs apart from the Tinkers Caravans, your more than likelt to find a Tourist in the Horsedrawn ones these days.

 

Comment by james lawrence dore on October 10, 2014 at 5:45pm

Thank you for posting this wonderful Video footage of 60 year ago Ireland.I take it that this was the country part of Ireland back then? The footage of the car slowing down as it gingerly crossed the bridge tells us a lot about the state of the Irish infrastructure back then.This was truly like being able to travel back through time to 1950's Ireland.
It reminded me of the stories that my Uncle Johnnie used to tell us about his life in Ireland.He was a recent immigrant from the 5 counties ;our Irish family ,into which he had married,had been in America since 1830.As a child,when he told me that most Irishman went to the bathroom outside their houses,I didn't know what to think.This was 1958 or so and he was probably accurate .He was very happy with his life as a New Jersey municipal employee with decent pay and a pension-but he never forgot Ireland.I used to look at all his books about Ireland curiously whenever I went there to visit.
Today, of course,Ireland is a far more prosperous country.

Comment by Susan O'Dea Boland on January 2, 2016 at 10:23am

I enjoyed this video tremendously. Thanks so much for posting this.  This brought so many memories back to me of my first visit to Ireland in 1965, that I had to write it down. The scarves on the women's heads, traveling  and working with the donkeys, the tinkers' caravans...so many details I had forgotten about.  Thanks so much!

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