/*! elementor - v3.20.0 - 11-03-2024 */<br />.elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px}

St. Colum Cille's Catholic Church, Durrow

/*! elementor - v3.20.0 - 11-03-2024 */<br />.elementor-column .elementor-spacer-inner{height:var(--spacer-size)}.e-con{--container-widget-width:100%}.e-con-inner>.elementor-widget-spacer,.e-con>.elementor-widget-spacer{width:var(--container-widget-width,var(--spacer-size));--align-self:var(--container-widget-align-self,initial);--flex-shrink:0}.e-con-inner>.elementor-widget-spacer>.elementor-widget-container,.e-con>.elementor-widget-spacer>.elementor-widget-container{height:100%;width:100%}.e-con-inner>.elementor-widget-spacer>.elementor-widget-container>.elementor-spacer,.e-con>.elementor-widget-spacer>.elementor-widget-container>.elementor-spacer{height:100%}.e-con-inner>.elementor-widget-spacer>.elementor-widget-container>.elementor-spacer>.elementor-spacer-inner,.e-con>.elementor-widget-spacer>.elementor-widget-container>.elementor-spacer>.elementor-spacer-inner{height:var(--container-widget-height,var(--spacer-size))}.e-con-inner>.elementor-widget-spacer.elementor-widget-empty,.e-con>.elementor-widget-spacer.elementor-widget-empty{position:relative;min-height:22px;min-width:22px}.e-con-inner>.elementor-widget-spacer.elementor-widget-empty .elementor-widget-empty-icon,.e-con>.elementor-widget-spacer.elementor-widget-empty .elementor-widget-empty-icon{position:absolute;top:0;bottom:0;left:0;right:0;margin:auto;padding:0;width:22px;height:22px}

1. Its History - Michael Byrne

The catholic church now in use at Durrow dates back to 1831. Earlier churches in use were, first of all, that at the old abbey until the Reformation in the 1540s, when it became the property of the established Church of Ireland. It was not to be used for catholic services again until 1690 when catholics expecting James II to restore the churches to them proceeded in many places including Durrow and Lynally to repossess the old buildings. In a letter dated 15th May 1690, a Captain Oliver Lambert (of the Kilbeggan landowning family) informed the protestant bishop of Meath, Dopping, that 'last Friday Father Geoghegan priest of this parish broake open the church door of Durrow and .... there said mass'. The catholic revival was shortlived and after James' defeat at the Boyne and the Treaty of Limerick the protestant ascendancy was secure until catholic emancipation in 1829.

The pre-emancipation catholic churches tended to reflect that difficult and insecure period for catholic worship. The churches were small, devoid of decoration and located in remote parts of the parish. That for Tullamore was situated at Ballyduff and dates from 1775 (where its ruins can still be seen). The old church at Durrow is marked on the 1838 Ordnance map and was also in the townland of Ballybought. 'In the district of Durrow', wrote Cogan, 'mass was celebrated in the early days of the last century [post-1700] in various infrequented places, and among others, in a garden in the townland of Kildangan A chapel was erected in the parish which in course of time was replaced by another, and this again by the present handsome chapel of Durrow'.

Of the religious life at the end of the eighteenth century a useful account will be found in the surviving accounts of Bishop Plunkett's visitations over the forty year period from the 1780s to the 1820s, spanning the period from the 'secret' church to the institutional church on the eve of catholic emancipation. Bishop Plunkett's reference to Durrow, in his Tullamore parish visitations are very slight. In 1796 the subject of his sermon in Tullamore was: 'Quarrelling on St. Columbkille's day reprobated'. He referred also to the 'delay of the Paschal duty' and saw to the establishing of a Congregation of the Christian Doctrine - to involve the laity in catholic instruction. On some occasions the old bishop stayed with Dr. Naghten of Rostella, who is credited with providing substantial donations for the new church.

Work on the new church at Durrow commenced in 1831 and was completed that year. The daily papers for 27th February 1831 contain an address of thanks from the catholic inhabitants of Durrow to Lord Glandine (Norbury) who had given two acres of ground as a site for a chapel and a new burial ground. The site for the church was given in the lifetime of the first earl (the 'Hanging Judge'). He was created Baron Norbury in 1800 and Viscount Glandine and Earl of Norbury in 1827. He died on 27th July 1831. Lewis (1837) noted the new church was 'a very handsome edifice, in the later English style' (see Appendix One). The cemetery was consecrated by the then bishop, Dr. Cantwell, on 24th September 1832.

In an unpublished report on the houses and churches of County Offaly prepared for the Offaly Historical Society in 1985, William Garner wrote:

'Take the parish church of Durrow, Co. Offaly, north of Tullamore. This is a district with a sad recent history, not just for the tragic destruction of the cathedral late last year, /sic, Tullamore parish church burned 31st October 1983], but for the loss of the three rural parish churches of early date at Rahan, Mucklagh and Killeigh, two cruciform with galleries and one an octagen extended into nave, transepts and choir. Durrow church dates from 1830 As Saggart [Co. Dublin] is typical of early Victorian work, Durrow is a perfect expression of the late Georgian age. Through more than a century and a half it has come down to us unaltered, a battlemented tower and a pinnacled church with pretty windows that are cusped and mullioned and filled with little panes [The original windows were removed in 1984], It would be hard to find a more typical church for its date or one that more accurately conveyed the sense of enthusiasm and pride that the parish took in its completion. The interior makes this immediately clear for Durrow boasts a delicate plaster vaulted ceiling, Gothic statue niches, ogee arches at the altar end, and perpendicular panelling to the window recesses. Noted in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland of 1837 as "a very handsome edifice" it is irreplaceable today.

Have we not then a duty to see that our old churches, those at Saggart, Durrow and in countless other parishes, are handed on intact for future generations to enjoy? In a sense the churches are not ours to change. Some of the men who built them, and their families, died a little later in the great famine. The churches are their monument and surely we would concede that they have still a right to them. What they laboured for, their sense of achievement, the expression of their religious feeling, or whatever else they hoped to perpetuate in the structures that they built, we have no right now to destroy. We ought instead to take a proper pride in the historic monuments that remain to the church and in all the contemporary quest for renewal give back to restoration its proper emphasis.'

Some of the early refurbishment works on the church are recounted in a surviving manuscript accounts book from 1857 to 1889. This volume dates from the appointment of Dr. McAlroy as parish priest in succession to the parish priest responsible for the erection of Durrow church, Revd. Dr. James O'Rafferty, (parish priest 1820-57). Dr. O'Rafferty originally buried in a crypt in the church (his remains now lie in the adjoining cemetry) and is commemorated with a mural tablet in the church and, significantly, the construction of the bell tower at the western end in 1866.

/*! elementor - v3.20.0 - 11-03-2024 */<br />.elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=".svg"]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block}

New Stations of the Cross were purchased in April 1950 and the statues purchased in 1889 have lately been cleaned and re-erected in the church. The Stations of the Cross now hanging in the church were donated by the Society of Jesus and originally hung in Rahan Jesuit Church - Tullabeg College. They were made in the 1940s for the Star of the Sea church in Sandymount, Dublin.

Considerable repair works were carried out on the church over the hundred years 1890 to 1990. The most significant, until recently, being that in 1984 under the direction of Edward Smith, architect and the Tullamore building firm of John Flanagan. At the time a prime objective was to cure a persistent proble of dampness.The stonework was cleaned the plaster removed and the stonework painted and sealed. The old windows were replaced in teak to a similar design. Some years earlier, in 1970, Rev. Laurence Bannon, had carried renovations to the sanctuary in Durrow church. It was at this time that large wooden crucifix was brought from Tullamore church to Durrow. The crucifix was, it is believed, made in Oberammagu.

The Cemetery

The cemetery was consecrated by Bishop Cantwell in September 1832. Until 1893 when Clonminch was opened it served the needs of the entire parish. The cemetery was extended in 1917 following a promise of Otway Toler's of some four years earlier to provide additional land. This seems to have been part of a package whereby the agreement of the parish priest, Fr. Callary, was secured for the closing of the old abbey cemetery. The elaborate Calvary monument was erected at the expense of the Quinn family in 1930. The tombstones in this cemetery have not been recorded. Among those buried here are members of leading Tullamore families of the last century.

2. The Renovation Of Durrow Church

Towards the end of the 1980s it became apparent that all was not well with Durrow church. Large patches of dampness were appearing, especially in the wall near the graveyard. A major investigation of the church commissioned by the parish and carried out by Robinson, O'Keeffe and Devane showed that the church required major attention in the very near future. A number of public meetings were held to discuss the problem and the ways it could be solved. A number of options were open to the meetings, including building a new church either on the same site or on a different site, probably nearer to Tullamore to augment the Church of the Assumption. The second option and the one finally chosen would be to renovate the church and restore it to as close as possible to what it was. At the third public meeting a group of twenty-six people were chosen to form a working committee. Their brief was to renovate the church and were given full responsibility for all fundraising and all decisions relating to the programme of work. The meeting was told that £125,000 would come from the Parish Finance Committee. The first meeting of the Renovation Committee was held on 9th December, 1991. The following officers were elected: Chairman, Gerry Walsh, Secretary, Frances Berry, Joint Treasurers, Owen Wyer and Brendan Ward and P R O., Louis O'Dwyer. The Committee were informed of an anonymous donation of £7,000 to start off fundraising. The initial fundraising by the committee was a major draw launched in March 1992 and held in July. This draw raised over £55,000.

A second opinion on the condition of the church was obtained and the committee also discussed the building of a new church on the same site. The second opinion confirmed the poor condition of the building. The committee decided to continue with their brief of renovation and Dermot O'Keeffe Associates were appointed Consulting Engineers and Stephen Ahern as Quantity Surveyor.

The Durrow Golf Society under Captain Dermot Coen organised a golf classic in Tullamore Golf Club on June 15th. An event that was to raise a fantastic £30,000 for the building fund. Chris Ryan, liturgical artist was asked at Fr. Cleary's request to give his ideas on the reordering of the interior to church requirements. After a series of discussions with the building committee, Chris Ryan was appointed to do the reordering in May 1993. In September and October 1992 a bill of quantities was prepared and seven contractors, four of them local, were invited to tender. Sean O'Farrell of Rosemount was the successful bidder and he was later appointed main contractor.

A public meeting was called by the committee and was held in Durrow hall with a very large attendance on February 22nd, 1993. At this meeting the committee presented their plans, their budget and plans for raising the shortfall. In a document circulated to the meeting the chairman outlined the recommendations of the renovation committee. Option number one at a cost of almost £300,000 was put forward, this would include, a new roof, new ceiling, replace mouldings, new inner leaf, dash finish outside, new electrical system and improved heating , as well as all site works.

The figure for reordering the sanctuary was £28,000 and professional fees and seating would bring the total budget to £383,126. The Tullamore Parish Council allocated a further £50,000 in addition to the £125,000 already agreed and a sum of £20,000 was allocated from a diocesan trust fund. The committee at that meeting had £100,000 in the bank plus the money pledged from the parish and diocese and this brought the total to £295,000, leaving a shortfall of £88,000. To start the job and ensure that the contractors would be paid the committee borrowed £100,000 from the diocese in the form of low interest loans. The plans were overwhelmingly approved and a weekly envelope collection levying £3.00 per family was given the go- ahead. This collection would be collected house to house weekly by a team of collectors, many being members of the committee.

The contract was signed in the Parochial House on Thursday, 8th July, 1993 by Sean O'Farrell on behalf of Sean O'Farrell and Sons Ltd the main contractor, and by Fr. Willie Cleary P.P., on behalf of the parish and building committee. The signing was witnessed by Dermot O'Keeffe, the supervising engineer for the project. The final mass was celebrated in the church on Sunday, 11th of July and work commenced on Monday, 12th July, 1993. Sunday and Holy day masses were celebrated in the local hall while work was in progress. The length of time proposed for the job was six months, with completion in mid-January, 1994. Due to the mouldings taking longer than expected and the winter of'93-'94 being the wettest on record, this slowed down the site work and the drying out period of the reconstructed building. Chris Ryan presented his plans on the reordering of the interior to the committee on the 22nd of September. The plans were accepted , but the baptismal font was moved from the centre aisle to the right-hand side of the sanctuary. Mr. Ryan was also asked by Fr. Cleary to give his views on the colour schemes. The new liturgical elements were delivered in March '94 and immediately put in place. The renovation was completed in the last week of April. The restored seating was returned and the churchyard finished in tarmacadam.

The first ceremony in the completed church was the marriage of Siobhan O'Connor from Kildangan and John Conroy from Tullamore. In the week prior to the official rededication a number of preparation ceremonies were celebrated. The church was re-dedicated on 22nd May, 1994 by his Lordship Dr. Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath. The homily was given by Fr. Nicholas Walsh of Beaufort, Co. Kerry, a native of Coniker. A huge crowd ensured that the re-opening of St. Colum Cille's Church would be remembered as a very special day in Durrow for many years.

Committee Elected

The committee would like to thank its large group of collectors; the captain and members of The Durrow Golf Society; the members of the Durrow Pattern committee and Durrow/Kilbeggan Vintage Club for their support.