Bicentenary celebration in Borrisoleigh

June 19 will mark a significant event in the parish of Borrisoleigh. On that Friday evening at 7.30pm, Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly will be main celebrant at a Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Ileigh. This celebration will mark 200 years of worship and service in this sacred building that lies among the heathered hills that overlook the village of Borrisoleigh.

In days of Penal Law, two previous chapels stood on the site where stands the present church of Ileigh. The then Parish Priest of Borrisoleigh, the Rev Michael Slattery, laid the foundation stone and the church was completed in 1826, three years prior to the granting of Catholic emancipation. Rev Slattery was appointed to Borrisoleigh in 1817 and would go on to be appointed President of Maynooth College in 1832. A year later he was appointed Archbishop Cashel and Emly and it was he who would later found Saint Patrick’s College in Thurles.

Archbishop Butler visited a previous chapel on this site in 1754, describing it as an L-shaped structure with the main aisle running in an east-west direction and at the altar, a wing running northwards. There were no windows in the north facing wall which is also a feature of the present-day structure. The walls, whitewashed on the interior, measured about six feet in height. This building was reconstructed and extended in 1758 under the direction of Fr. Roger Fogarty. Fr. Fogarty, of the Castlefogarty branch of that family, was at that time Parish Priest of the then parish of Glenkeen and Inch, the last incumbent of that position. The 1758 building, along with its predecessor, were incorporated into the 1826 structure.

Traditionally, it is believed that during the construction of the church in 1826 an extreme drought prevailed with the Clodagh River, on occasions, running dry. This, inevitably, led to major difficulties for the builders of the time. Co-incidentally, the next drought of a similar magnitude to be recorded was in the early 1980s, when the church underwent significant upgrade and renovation.

AMONG THE DEAD

The adjoining graveyard to Ileigh Church has served as a resting place to the local population going back to a time prior to the keeping of records. If one was to choose, what could be described as, monuments of significance, the first worthy of mention would be the Republican plot that is situated to the rear of the church. Here lies the remains of three young men of the parish who were executed by firing squad in Roscrea on January 15 of 1923 in the course of the Irish Civil War.

The men, Martin Shea, Garrengrena, Patrick Russell, Summerhill and Fredrick Burke, Ileigh were arrested at Ross Cottage on December 22, 1922. Being found in possession of firearms and ammunition, under the legislation of the time being a capital offense, they were tried by military court and sentenced to death. Accompanying the names inscribed on the headstone of the three men executed, is that of Michael Small from Gortnacrana who was killed in an engagement with crown forces at Shevry, Upperchurch on July 4 of 1920. The burial plot of the Small family, many of whose members played a prominent role in Ireland’s revolutionary period, lies to the left-hand side adjacent to the entrance gate.

The aforementioned Ross Cottage was also the place where another young man, named Martin Burke, was born. The Burke family moved to Garrangrena sometime shortly after the birth of Martin. While drawing water from a well located beside Garrangrena bridge on March 21, 1921, Martin Burke lost his life.

At about 9am on that fateful morning, as young Burke was filling his water barrel, a Company of Auxiliaries happened to pass by. For no valid or apparent reason, the commander of the unit ordered his machine gunner to open fire on Burke and on his friend Daniel Ryan who was accompanying him at that time. Sixteen-year-old Martin Burke fell mortally wounded while Daniel Ryan escaped unharmed. Martin Burke’s grandfather, John Burke, grandfather of Martin, who is also buried in the Burke family plot, was among those of the prominent farming gentlemen who gave testimony to the Relief Commission that inquired into the Irish Famine in 1848.

Surrounded by an iron railing to the right of the main entrance door is a headstone on which the name of Agnes Mary Coppinger is inscribed. Agnes Mary, formerly Cooke, is recorded as dying at Fortwilliam on April 23, 1898, at the age of 44. Her father, Joseph William Coppinger resided at Farmleigh, Dundrum, Co Dublin and was a member of a well know family of solicitors. A brother of Mary Agnes, Richard William a naval surgeon, naturalist and explorer, was born October 11, 1847. In May 1875 he was appointed surgeon aboard HMS Discovery, which embarked on a voyage of exploration to the Polar Sea.

During the Discovery’s seven-month voyage, in addition to his medical duties Coppinger made hourly tidal observations which helped confirm that Greenland is an island. He participated in the expedition that left Thank God Harbour on May 22, 1876, and rounded Cape Tyson. His various expedition over the course of six years brought to him glowing Royal recognition and today, in northwest Canada, the Coppinger mountain range is so named in his honour and memory - as is a fjord on the Chilean coast.

No dissertation on the church of Ileigh can be made without paying due respect to one Paddy D’Arcy. Paddy was custodian of a small grocery and confectionary shop, part of the floor which is still visible at the upper corner of the graveyard to the left of the entrance gate and nearest to the road. Paddy returned from Scotland and he would, perhaps, be best known as the man who paraded the famous cock at Borrisoleigh hurling matches of the late 1940s and ’50s.

During World War II, Paddy conducted a thriving black-market business from his Ileigh premises. Being clerk of the chapel, Paddy availed of what storage the building could afford to store his stock, both legitimate and otherwise.

All of which shows that both the spiritual and material can happily co-exist side by side.

After the conclusion of Mass in Ileigh Church, by kind permission of Borrisoleigh GAA Club, everyone is invited to a reception at the local GAA Sports Complex, where refreshments will be served.

Event details

Friday, June 19 at 7.30pm: Concelebrated Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Ileigh. Immediately afterwards, by kind permission, a reception in Borrisoleigh GAA Sports Complex.