Shantalla lies in the western suburbs of Galway City. The long, narrow townland of Shantallow extends from Taylor’s Hill in the south to the modern estate of Corrib Park in the north. The name derives from the Irish Sean Talamh or Old Ground. Much of the eighteenth and nineteenth century history of Shantalla is connected with the Eyre family, who originally came to Galway from Wiltshire as part of the Cromwellian forces.

Two brothers, Edward and John, arrived in the mid-seventeenth century, with Edward settling in the city and John establishing his estate at Eyrecourt. Edward was very successful in acquiring lands in and around the town of Galway and both he and his brother were active in public life in the city. Succeeding generations of Eyres continued to expand the family wealth, with lands in Shantalla, known as Kirwan’s Park, in the western liberties of the town, acquired in 1728. There was a decline in the Eyre fortunes with the accession of Edward Hedges Eyre to the property in 1787, as he proved a poor financial manager and fled from his debts, to die in London in 1803. His brother Robert Hedges Eyre took over the Eyre estates and, despite residing in Macroom Castle, Co. Cork, managed to reactivate his title to many of the Galway lands and redevelop parts of the town.

At the time of his stewardship of these lands, it is recorded that Fort Eyre was being leased to his nephew, Edward Eyre Maunsell, whose address from 1817 to the time of his death in April 1864, was given as Fort Eyre. Eyre lands in Shantalla were held by 90 tenants in small plots. O’Donovan described Fort Eyre as ‘a beautiful house … with offices and garden in perfect repair. He dates the house to 1822, but Edward Eyre Maunsell is connected with Fort Eyre as early as 1817, through the correspondence of the surveyor Michael Logan, who prepared a survey of the Eyre lands. Edward Eyre Maunsell’s nephew Rev. Robert Hedges Eyre Maunsell inherited the Galway estate of his granduncle following Robert Hedges Eyre’s death in 1840. A large proportion of the Eyre lands were put up for sale in 1852.

The interesting range of buildings fronting onto Shanatalla Road and Maunsell’s Road attest to the developments in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century in Galway. The earliest of the buildings is probably Fort Eyre/Hansberry House, which has been dated by the NIAH to c. 1780 but which may date to the early nineteenth century. At the eastern end of the range is Spire House, which dates to the 1860s. Between both larger buildings is a two-storey terrace comprising of No’s 56, 57, 58 and 59 Shantalla Road. The most interesting building is No. 57, due to its visible architectural attributes. Dating to the early nineteenth century, little is known about its early history but in its form it is a fine example of a small Georgian house, complementing its larger neighbour to the west. This building has been on Galway City Council’s Register of Derelict Buildings since July 1991, with No. 56 being added in 2008.