Parish History

As a Christian community, we remember our rich heritage and thank God for our faith and for the steadfast faith of our ancestors through the centuries. The history of our faith goes back to the beginning of the fifth century when St. Patrick brought the Christian message to our shores. Our patron saint left such…

Towards the end of the 1700s many Penal Laws were removed, mainly because Britain’s Colonies in North America revolted against her. Many British troops were taken from Ireland to fight the rebellion there. The government in England was afraid that there might be a rebellion in Ireland too so they dropped many of the Penal…

A visitor to Ireland in the year 1846 wrote a description of the typical house: Written in script The population of Ireland and of Ardee bog increased rapidly in the eighteenth century, facilitated by the growing dependence of the rural population on the potato. However, the great depression which succeeded the Napoleonic Wars made it…

Probably the greatest disaster to befall the Irish people was the Great Famine of 1845-48 which was caused by a blight that failed the potato crop over a number of years. The fact that people were denied the right to ownership of their lands meant that plots of potatoes were sown on thehillsides, the headlands,…

The parish of Drumconrath in County Meath lies in the north of the diocese andshares its boundaries with Kingscourt, Nobber and Lobinstown as well as with parishes in both the diocese of Clogher and the archdiocese of Armagh.When Edward Wakefield was compiling his Survey of Ireland in 1811 a friend gave him the following interesting…

The modern parish of Drumconrath comprises the parishes of Drumconrath and Meath Hill. Parishes are in general old divisions, some divisions may represent foundations from the very beginning of Christianity in Ireland. Over the centuries, actual boundaries may have been changed to suit the circumstances as is evident here in our own parish. (Dean Cogan’s…

• MooneystownIn 1690 Rev. Thomas Fleming was appointed Parish Priest to Drumconrath. Born in 1620 he was ordained by Dr. Oliver Plunket at Ardpatrick, Co. Louth in 1674 and lived at Mooneystown. The house is not marked on any map of that time. A field in the townland is, however, still referred to as ‘the…

Nowadays, it is the custom for priests to live in Parochial Houses close to their churches. However, in times past priests often lived in other houses throughout the parish.The following is a list of Parochial Houses used over the past few centuries: Researched and Compiled by Kathleen McArdle, “Brookville”, Drumconrath. Source: Faith History of Drumconrath…