Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland in 1890 and 1998

Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland   Then and Now.

 

By Kevin J. O’Brien

 

These two pictures were taken from near the same point over one hundred years apart.  I was startled to see how the little village of my ancestor has not changed in over the one hundred years.   The picture was taken looking North up the Main Street of Miltown Malbay.  At the far end of the street, it looks as if there is a building in the middle of the road.  This is St. Joseph’s RC Church that was built in 1839 shortly after Catholic emancipation.   My great grandparents, Tom Moroney and Katie Conole lived on the left side of the road just down from the St. Josephs on what was then called Church Street.   They were married at St Joseph’s in 1878 and all eleven of their children were baptized at this church.

 

 The early picture is from the 1890’s and is from the Lawrence Collection.  There are about 40,000 glass plate negatives in this collection taken from 1880 to 1914. They are held by the National Library of Ireland.  The images were produced commercially, the majority of them being taken by Robert French.

 

The later picture taken with the automobiles was photographed by a friend, Chris Carl of Michigan a grandson of another Moroney family from the parish.  Chris’s picture was taken on holiday circa 1998. 

 

My grandmother, Mary Margaret Moroney left Ireland from Queenstown, Cork on 13^th October 1898 bound for America.  The Lawrence picture is the picture my grandmother would have described to me of the streets she lived and played on as a child.  If she was alive today wouldn’t she be happy to see how well her native land looks.