Monday, October 15, 2012

Athenry Roman Catholic Church on Old Church Street by Ronan Killeen

I have been corrected this is actuallly Athenry Roman Catholic Church when on Church Street NOT  on Old Church Street. Photograph courtesy of Brian Quinn 'Athenry Historic - Google Maps'

On Old Church Street, one time was the Roman Catholic church when it was built in 1852/53 by Fr. Austin O'Dwyer (1851-1855) and Fr. Peter Curran (1848-1858). It was built on a site by the old Pre-Famine church that was small and thatched and erected around 1760.  The stones of the church were used in the construction of the building. The church itself was dedicated to 'Our Lady of the Assumption' in 1852 by the then Archbishop of Tuam, John McHale, and Fr. Peter Curran.
If you go to the present day Roman Catholic church in Athenry, you will see at the bottom of the baptismal font 1760.

References and Further Reading: Ahern, Gerry, The Presentation Sisters, Scoil Chroi Naofa, the Presentation College Athenry 1908 - 2008, page 21, and Fr. Kieran Waldron's book The Archdioceseof Tuam: An Illustrated History.




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