St Patrick's
Dromahair County Leitrim

Welcome to the historic parish of Drumlease - Killargue, a parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kilmore. The parish, situated in County Leitrim, Ireland, encompasses three church areas: St. Patrick's Church, Dromahair, St. Brigid's Church, Killargue, and the Church of Mary the Mother of God, Newtownmanor.

The Parish Priest - Fr. Paul Casey, along with the Parish Pastoral Council extend a warm welcome to all who have moved into our parish in recent times and to all who visit this web site. We extend a special welcome to our emigrants and those who can trace their ancestry to this locality. Please feel free to visit our Links page for information on services which may be of interest to you. Enjoy your visit.

 

http://drumlease-killargue.com/dromahair.htm  

 

Dromahair is situated near the shore of Lough Gill in the ancient parish of Drumlease. We know from the book of Armagh that the church of Drumlease was one on considerable importance in north Connacht in the late seventh and early eight century. Tirechan claims, in the Book of Armagh, that St Patrick founded a church there. Certainly by the late seventh century the cult of Patrick was very strong in Drumlease.

The Franciscan Friary at Creevalea, just outside the town. was founded in 1508 by Margaret O'Brien of Thomond, the wife of the local chieftain Owen O'Rourke who had his castle in Dromahair. The Friary finally closed c. 1650. It is likely that there was a Mass house in the area in the second half of the eighteenth century. Unusually though, the town had no permanent church as late as 1888. In that year the parish priest, Fr Cormac McSharry, wrote to the Sligo Champion stating that 'for more than fifteen years Mass has been celebrated in various houses [in Dromahair] - most of the faithful have to kneel outside. For some time we have the use of a small school house in which is a little moveable altar'.

He was drawing attention to their plight and beginning to fund raise. The foundation stone for a new church was laid the following year, on St Patrick's Day, 1889. St Patrick's Church was built in less than a year. The contractor was Patrick Scott from Navan. His brother Anthony was the architect. The church was dedicated on 9th March 1890 by Bishop Edward McGeinnis. It cost £3,000 to build. The landlord George Lane Fox donated £50. His agent Francis La Touche gave £20. Extensive work was carried out on the church in 1990 and it was rededicated with a centenary Mass on 9th March 1990. ' From: 'Churches of the Diocese of Kilmore' by Fr Liam Kelly - Published 2005. Parish Priests from 1822:

Name Appointed Transferred/Died

Thomas Forde 1822 1835(tr.) Patrick O'Reilly 1835 1836(d.) Thomas MacKeon 1836 1854(d.) Philip Fay 1854 1859(d.) Michael Clancy 1859 1866(tr.) James Connolly 1866 1880(d.) Cormac MacSharry 1880 1904(d.) Peter Galligan 1904 1926(d.) Charles Comey 1926 1933(tr.) John F. MacKeon 1933 1949(d.) Patrick O'Reilly 1950 1953(tr.) Owen F. Traynor 1953 1969(tr.) Hugh MacGrail 1969 1988(d.) Patrick F. Young 1988 1995(tr.) Michael Cooke 1995 1998(tr.) John P. MacTiernan 1998 2015(tr.) Anthony J. Fagan 2015 2019 (tr.) Paul Casey 2019

From 'Diocese of Kilmore - Bishops and Priests' by Francis J. McKiernan, Bishop of Kilmore. Published in 1989.