​Dunmore

Dunmore is the name of a barony, a parish and a town. The barony in the sixteenth century included Dunmore, Liskeavy, Kilconly, Kilbannon, Adragoole and Tuam. The fairly extensive parish lies in North Galway. It borders Co. Roscommon and Co. Mayo. Dunmore (Dún Mór) means a large Dún or earth and fort. Traces of this Dún are still to be seen about half a mile from the town itself. The famous O’Connor family who were kings of Connaught around the 10 and 11 centuries resided in a huge castle built near this Dún.

Tradition says that this place took its name from an earthern fort erected by Mór, the daughter of Marannen Mac Lir. The tradition is that Haiste, a famous Welsh warrior, after the Norman invasion, was given the area around Dunmore by De Burgo. Haiste commenced erecting a castle a short distance to the West of where Dunmore castle now stands. Mór did not wish that he should erect his fortress there and so destroyed by night as much as Haiste’s masons had erected by day. Mór was willing to allow Haiste to erect his castle on the site of her own fort. According to local tradition Haiste did as he was advised. A short while later the Birminghams came from the North and drove Haiste out by force and treachery. Haiste was killed in 1272 and is buried near lake Beltra, Burrishoole.

The Birminghams built a stone castle beside the Sinking River here after the conquest of 1235.The ruins of an old Augustinian church founded by Walter Bermingham are on the eastern side of the town. Dunmore is noted for its large number of ringforts, circular earthen enclosures of early farmers.
​​

​​Dunmore Chalice

​In 1570, the friars were evicted from the Augustinian Abbey by the Queen’s forces and the monastery let for 31s. 8d. per annum.

It was in that year 1641 that the Dunmore chalice was made and presented to the prior Thaddeus O’Connell by the Archbishop of Tuam. The chalice got the name “Chalice of the Two Martyrs” because Archbishop, Fr. O‘ Connell and Fr. Higgins were slain by Cromwell‘s forces under Coote during the rising. When the Abbey was sacked by Cromwell the few surviving Friars moved to the Hermitage at Mayfield on the Dublin Road. In 1809, the Augustinians left Dunmore for Athlone. For many years, the chalice was lost until it turned up in a dealer shop in London from where it was taken to St. Monica’s Friary in Poxton Square. It was kept there until 1938 when it was then given to the Augustinians in Ballyhaunis. What a wonderful event for the parish it was when that very chalice was used at the concelebrated mass outside the old Abbey in Dunmore at the opening of the festival in 1976. A replica is now in the Augustinian Abbey, Galway and a smaller replica in Maynooth.

​Dunmore Church

A parish mass house was built in Chapel Street by Fr. Nicolas Lovelock in 1771. Its foundation plaque is still displayed in Dunmore church. Fr. Martin Loftus later began a new church in 1842 to replace this old mass-house. He died in 1847 due to the sickness of famine. Fr. Patrick Duffy, his successor, continuing the work in very difficult days, completed the task and added a tower in 1860. In the 1960’s after 100 years in service the church was considered beyond repair so plans were drawn up for a new church. This church on the Tuam Road, dedicated to St. Nicholas and the Blessed Virgin Mary, was consecrated in September 1967.

The Church of Saint Nicholas and Our Lady was built in 1967 to replace a church built after the famine. The church has red brick on the outside and grey brick on the inside. The church can hold about 800 people. It also has a gallery where a choir regularly sings. Fr. Fergal Cunnane is currently the parish priest in Dunmore.
​​

​The Augustinian Abbey

The Abbey was founded for the Augustinian Friars in 1425 by Walter De Birmingham, Lord Baron of Athenry and Dunmore. According to local tradition, the Augustinians were in Dunmore prior to 1425. The site of their first settlement being at the rear of where Mr. P.J Walsh’s and Dr. McGarry’s premises are in Barracks Street. In many instances throughout the country, barons founded monasteries for different orders, most notably for the Dominicans, Augustinians and Franciscans. Such foundations were regarded as a kind of spiritual insurance in the next world. The community of monks guaranteed constant prayer for its benefactors during life and after death. And they had the prerogative in their declining years, if they so wished, to live and be cared for in the monastery, and perhaps even don the habit. The foundation of the Abbey in 1425 had a profound effect on the town. The site of the Abbey was that of the old Patrician Church of St. Fulartach. According to a 1430 letter from Pope Martin, indulges could be granted to all who assisted in the building of the Abbey or who contributed towards the cost. Life of a monk was one of hard work, prayer and penance. The peaceful life of the monastery persisted for over two centuries. Then came the capture of Dunmore Castle by the Cromwellian general, Gore, the widespread introduction of religious persecution and the suppression of the monasteries. Life for the friars during the Penal times was hard and hazardous. In 1698, the community was compelled to leave the Abbey and settle in “Mayfield”. The friars had to adopt secular garb to avoid detection and take common surnames instead of their real ones. However, some of the friars were deported. In 1809 the friars moved to Athlone.

​Dunmore House

​In the early 18 century Lord Ross inherited the Dunmore estates. In the latter part of the 18 century Lord Ross sold the estates to Sir George Shee.Sir George Shee had just returned from India where he had amassed a small fortune working as secretary to warren Hastings. It was sir George Shee who built Dunmore House. The house was built in the Demesne incorporating another earlier house possibly built by Sir George . The remains of this earlier house are incorporated into the back wall of the present structure. Although referred to in a local history of Dunmore there is no evidence that John De Birmingham ever had a residence on this site. In fact all the available evidence contradicts this. According to Rev. M. Neary’s well referenced article on the parish of Dunmore Lord Louth lived in the building which now comprise the present barracks. Dunmore House passed on to Sir George Shee’s daughter who married Sir Robert Deering.

​​Sundial in Dunmore

​A modern bronze dial in excellent condition located in the Market Square, Dunmore, North County Galway on the N83, 12km north of Tuam, near the borders of Roscommon and Mayo. The dial plate is 750mm in diameter and 15mm thick. The gnomon is 500mm high by 15mm thick with a 40mm wide backing.
​
Deerings son George was the last landlord to own Dunmore House. He was a noted eccentric who rarely visited Dunmore and had no interest in the upkeep of the house. Both Shee and Deering were typical absentee landlords and the house was always occupied by agents, the most notable being Richard Griffith and later Captain Martin.
The remainder of the history relating to Dunmore House concerns evictions. The most notable were The Quarter Evictions which occurred during the Famine in 1847, when the tenants of this entire village were evicted because their miserable cabins spoiled the view from Dunmore House.

A description of the evictions extracted from the “Tuam Herald” 1914:
‘17 cottiers were ruthlessly evicted without any compensation and without resistance except in one instance, the case of the intrepid John Flesk, who stoutly defended his home in reckless despair, was finally overcome and arrested and died in Galway jail. 16 other cottiers had to submit to the crowbar brigade, assisted as usual by the forces of the crown, the Hussars from the military barracks. Many of the victims of the eviction emigrated, and some names like Flesk and Lardner are not known here now. The names of the evicted tenants were: Owen Scahill, Michael McNamara , John Mannion, John Burke, John Bowens, Luke Ward, P.Lardner, P Trassy, Stephen Flattery, Tom Flesk, Michael Mullen, Pat Gannon, Jimmy Gannon, John Byrne, Mick Clonally, John Flesk. So these poor tenants were ruthlessly sacrificed to satisfy the aesthetic whim of the nabob who held sway in Dunmore”.
​
In April 1915, the estate was purchased by the Land Commission. The Demense was given to trustees to be held for the benefit of the people of Dunmore. The Big House which by now was in the early stages of decay was a liability to the trustees and they were anxious to have it occupied. It was given to Bartley O’ Malley Senior by Canon Macken for an annual rent. The house then passes to his son Bartley Junior.

​Dunmore Community School

In 1935, the sisters of Sisters opened Incarnate Word College in the Convent building. In 1967, the new school building was opened. The Incarnate word founded novitiate in Dunmore. In 1963, the Sisters continued to manage the College until 1979 when the order finally withdrew its Sisters from Ireland to San Antonio, Texas, USA. The Mercy sisters, then took over the management of the college.
​
In 1953, Saint Patrick’s Vocational School, the first second level school in Dunmore, was opened. With each decade extensions were added. In 1962, the metalwork room was completed. In 1978, a recreational area and newly equipped Secretarial Room was completed. In 1984, the final phase was added which consisted of three additional classrooms.
Dunmore community school was founded in 1990, when Incarnate Word College and St. Patrick’s Vocational School amalgamated. In February 1998, work commenced on a new extension to Dunmore Community School and the upgrading of the existing building. The new school was officially opened in October 1999.