As you leave the Nora Barnacle Museum, turn right and you will now be facing St. Nicholas' Church (6). If the history of Galway was to be captured in one building, this would be it. Built in 1320 it is the oldest surviving structure in the city, and one that still fulfills its original purpose as a place of worship. Passing through the front gate, you will be facing its unique triple-nave structure. The central aisle is the oldest (something you can gather from the different surfaces of the stone as you look across the wall). The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas - originally St. Nicholas of Myra (now in Turkey). St. Nicholas is the original Santa Claus as the patron saint of children, but he is also the patron saint of sailors. Thus it is no surprise to find a church to him in an old sea-faring city like Galway.

It is recomended that you spend some time in St. Nicholas' Church. In particular, see the tombstones and altar-tombs on view in the Lynch Aisle, which was once the private chapel of the Lynch family. Keep you eyes open for the wonderful little pieces of sculprure in the Church - like the angel, the hound and hare, and the mermaids on two of the exterior windows. Notice also the defacing of some of the church monuments, which occurred after the Cromwellian capture of the city in 1652. Here also are some grave monuments of the Eyre family, after which Eyre Square is named.

Continue on to the bridge over the Corrib, turn right at O'Brien's Bridge (7) and walk some distance up the Corrib until you have a clear view of the Cathedral. The Corrib is a very short river - only about two miles in length, but the lake, Lough Corrib, is the second largest in Ireland. This means that a large volume of water rushes down through the city and this was put to good use in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to supply water power for local industries. Galway's industrial base was concentrated mainly in the food sector - brewing, distilling and flour milling were the main industries. Across the river, the large building is an old distillery owned by the Persse family. You will see the exit point of many old mill-races entering the river along here. The large building at the bridge, with flagpoles, is known as the Bridge Mills. It (and the large building beside it) were both flour mills.

All of these industries suffered from the growing competition brought in by the railway. Free trade, the import of cheap grain from the United States and whisky from Scotland made it difficult for small local factories to compete. By the turn of the century all the mills of Galway were idle. The railway also undermined the shipping trade as it facilitated the transport of heavy goods, such as live cattle, and passengers to Dublin and Britain. There was a brave attempt in the 1860s to run a line of steamers to the United States from Galway but the company went bankrupt in 1864. Thus Galway never developed as a major port. However, there were weekly calls of ships from other ports bound for the United States until the First World War.

After reflecting on the might-have-been's of Galway's industrial past, you may like to stroll along the fishery walk to the Salmon Weir Bridge (8), and the Catholic Cathedral, completed in 1965. You will pass the salmon fishery in the river. Under the bridge is a scaffolding used to catch eels in the winter. On the right of the bridge is Galway Courthouse, built in 1817 - at the same time as the bridge. In summer, keep an eye out for salmon asceding the river to the spawning grounds. Opposite the courthouse is the new Town Hall Theatre, and in the distance you can see the tower of University College Galway, founded in 1845.

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