Introduction
Village in County Galway, Ireland
Village in Connacht, IrelandLetterfrack
Irish: Leitir FraicVillageView of Letterfrack and Ballinakill harbour, 2008LetterfrackLocation in IrelandCoordinates: 53°33′N 9°57′W / 53.55°N 9.95°W / 53.55; -9.95CountryIrelandProvinceConnachtCountyCounty GalwayIrish Grid ReferenceL697591
Letterfrack or Letterfrac (Irish: Leitir Fraic or Leiter Bhreac, meaning 'speckled hill-side or sloping field') is a small village in the Connemara area of County Galway, Ireland. It was founded by Quakers in the mid-19th century. The village is south-east of Renvyle peninsula and 15 kilometres (9 miles) north-east of Clifden on Barnaderg Bay and lies at the head of Ballinakill harbour. Letterfrack contains the visitors centre for Connemara National Park.
History
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James and Mary Ellis, a Quaker couple from Bradford in England, moved to Letterfrack, during the Great Famine. Ellis became the resident landlord in Letterfrack in 1849. As Quakers, the Ellises wanted to help with the post-famine relief effort. They leased nearly 1,000 acres (405 ha) of rough land and set about farming it and planting it with woodland. They built a schoolhouse, housing for tradesmen, a shop, a dispensary, and a temperance hotel. In 1857 the property was sold to John Hall, a staunch Protestant, and supporter of the Irish Church Mission to Roman Catholics. The ICM used the building with the aim of converting Catholics to Protestantism. After 25 years without much success, Hall sold it in 1882 to the Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, John McEvilly, who used a false name to give Hall the impression that the buyer was a Protestant, for £3000 for 1,000 acres (405 ha). In 1885, he established St Joseph's Industrial School, Letterfrack which opened in 1887. Like many other institutions run by the Christian Brothers, Letterfrack Industrial School has since become notorious for excessive use of corporal punishment, neglect, and child molestation of the boys in its charge, and was closed down in 1974.
Marconi wireless station
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Marconi selected St. Joseph's Industrial School in Letterfrack as the location for the transatlantic wireless receiver station for his new duplex transatlantic wireless service.[citation needed] It is one of the earliest Marconi stations still standing in the world.[citation needed] The duplex operation was initially developed by Marconi's engineers at Letterfrack using a balanced Carborundum detector connected to a drop wire from an aerial suspended between Diamond Hill and Mweelin.[citation needed] Duplex communication soon became standard practice for commercial and military radiotelegraphy communication worldwide.[citation needed]
Beginning in April 1911, eastbound messages were sent from Marconi Towers, a high power wireless station in Nova Scotia, to Letterfrack; while westbound messages were sent simultaneously from the Clifden high power wireless station to Louisbourg in 1913. The Letterfrack station was moved to Currywongaun and closed in April 1917.[citation needed] Some experimental work on shortwave and other work, by Marconi engineers Franklin and Witt, was carried out into the early 1920s.[citation needed]
