Claddagh’s familiar ring
QUESTION I’ve heard that a Claddagh was once used as a traditional wedding ring here. Where did it originate from and why is it no longer commonly used?
CLADDAGH rings are associated with the old fishing village of the same name, once on the outskirts of Galway city, now much redeveloped and an integral part of the western metropolis.
These rings are part of a group of European finger rings called fede rings, after the Italian phrase for ‘hands joined in faith’.
Claddagh rings began to be made around 1700 and they were made with two hands holding a heart surmounted by a crown. The design is closely connected with one of the Tribes of Galway, the Joyces.
Two separate explanations of the origins of the ring both come from the Joyce clan.
Margaret Joyce of Galway had become very wealthy in the 16th century by marrying a wealthy Spaniard, Domingo de Rona. When he died, he left her his substantial fortune. She then married her second husband, Oliver Ffrench, who became a mayor of Galway. Margaret was known for her charitable works in Galway and it’s said that she was rewarded by an eagle that dropped a gold ring in her lap.
Another story attributes Claddagh rings to another Joyce, Richard Joyce, who was captured by pirates from Algeria and sold as a slave to a Moorish goldsmith who trained him in the art of ring-making. Richard was released from slavery in 1689 and returned to his native Galway, where he set up as a goldsmith. Many attribute the beginning of the Claddagh ring tradition to him.
But until the mid-19th century, the Claddagh ring remained a very localised custom. All that changed when Queen Victoria decided to wear one, the only Irish-made ring she wore. Other members of the British royal family continued the tradition, including King Edward VII.
Gradually, the custom of making Claddagh rings in Galway spread and after Richard Joyce started with ring-making, another Galway goldsmith, a contemporary of his called Bartholomew Fallon, also started making the rings. Today, many jewellers make versions of the Claddagh ring but one firm, Dillons of Galway, claims to have been making original-style Claddagh rings for the longest time, say- ing that it has been making the rings at its premises in William Street, Galway, since 1750.
But the original Claddagh fishing village, which consisted of many thatched cottages, beside the River Corrib, and after which the ring was name, ceased to exist in the 1930s. Then, the local council in Galway tore down all those historic cottages and replaced them with council houses that, for the first time, provided people living in the area with modern amenities such as indoor toilets. The end result is that the present-day Claddagh bears no resemblance to the old fishing village. The last true ‘king’ of the Claddagh, Martin Oliver, died in 1972 although the title is still used for ceremonial occasions. The present ‘king’ is Michael Lynskey.
However, the present-day Claddagh bears little or no resemblance to the old village.
As for Claddagh rings, a so-called ‘Fenian’ version is made without the crown on the heart, but it has still to gain the popularity of the traditional Claddagh ring, complete with a crown on the heart. The rings themselves are sometimes given as friendship rings but they are most popular as engagement and wedding rings.
Often, the rings are handed down from one generation to the next as family heirlooms. They remain quite popular with members of the diaspora in such countries as Australia, Canada and the US, but it’s sometimes said that they are not as popular with present day couples in Ireland, who often prefer more modern type rings.
Some present day personalities, such as Dermot O’Leary, the TV and radio presenter in Britain, and Kim Kardashian have shown their liking for the Claddagh ring and these endorsements have helped preserve its popularity.
Walt Disney was also an admirer; the statue of him in Disneyland shows him wearing a Claddagh ring on his outstretched hand. There’s only one snag: the heart is pointing the wrong way!
Despite many current changes in the design of rings, in some quarters the Claddagh ring retains its popularity, preserving a tradition going back over three centuries in Galway.
Marie Nolan, via email.
QUESTION As the sun burns gas, is it getting smaller?
STRICTLY speaking, the sun doesn’t burn gas, it fuses hydrogen plasma to make helium. Like other stars, the sun is in balance between the force of gravity trying to pull it in and the outward force of what is effectively an ongoing giant nuclear explosion.
Over time this balance changes. The sun loses 700million tons of mass per second as matter is converted to energy, but this is a minuscule loss of one-14th of a millionth of a millionth of 1% of its huge mass per year. Mass is converted to energy, because the helium fused from two hydrogen atoms has a smaller mass than the original hydrogen atoms. The sun is around 25% helium and 74% hydrogen, with most of the other 1% being oxygen and carbon.
As it eventually begins to run out of hydrogen, in around 5billion years’ time, it will have contracted by a tiny amount and lost mass so the Earth will orbit slightly further out. However it will then become hotter as it starts to fuse helium into heavier elements.
The sun will expand into a red giant, probably engulfing the Earth and certainly baking it to the point where the atmosphere and oceans are boiled away.
It could become so large that its surface extends towards the present orbit of Mars. Fusion will continue until it runs out of fuel so there is no force to combat the inward pull of gravity.
As its outer layers collapse, a sudden surge in pressure at the core will produce a nova explosion, leaving a tiny, intensely hot, white dwarf core, not much bigger than Earth, but with maybe half the mass of the sun, which will slowly cool over billions of years to an extremely dense inert black dwarf, composed mainly of iron.
The sun lacks enough mass to create a neutron star or black hole on collapse. The singed core remnant of Earth, if it hasn’t been entirely boiled away in the red giant phase, orbits this dwarf until the end of time, or until a collision with some other stellar body.
Dr Hillary J. Shaw, Shropshire.