Deelarchief 67 - Durrow Convent Papers

In 1913 Bishop Abraham Brownrigg proposed that a convent be established in Durrow in order to fill teaching vacancies in the town and provide instruction in specialised areas. This proposal was accepted by Mother Evangelist Moore of Presentation Convent, Co. Kilkenny. Clonageera House was thus acquired to become the new Convent and was ideal for this purpose apart from being a mile distance from girl’s school. This would require the Sisters to break the rules of enclosure in order to attend the school. Bishop Brownrigg gave a dispensation for the Sisters to walk to the school each day and plans were finalised in Kilkenny. The four Sisters chosen from Kilkenny for the new foundation were Sisters Regis Maher, Clare Bourke, Francis Power and Gerard Carey. On 14 May 1914 Bishop Brownrigg visited Clonageera and inspected the house. He offered an opening mass and then presented the Sisters with a gold chalice, vestments and a donation of £25. A new foundation of the Presentation Congregation in Durrow now began.
Bishop Brownrigg was never happy that the Sisters were going outside the enclosure and later provided a closed carriage for them to travel in. The question of getting a school built on the grounds of Clonageera had been a burning one since the Sisters first arrived there. A field to the West of the convent was considered a suitable site and negotiations with the owner Mr. Delaney were entered into. Mr. Delaney sold the field to the convent at a very reasonable price but the building of the school was put on the long finger due to the unsettled nature of the country during 1923. Discussions were held again in 1925 about the possibility of building the school at Clonageera but the Parish Priest was having reservations about the project due to the distance of Clonageera from the centre of population in the town.
Bishop Brownrigg passed away in 1928 and was succeeded by Canon R. Aylward. In 1929 Castle Durrow came on the market with a low price tag of £1,800. The Ashbrook family had vacated the building in 1922 and it had subsequently been used by the Irish Army. Canon Aylward saw that the castle would solve the issue of enclosure as it was large enough to house a convent and school. He therefore purchased the property and land attached and August 1929 saw the teachers and pupils settle in to their castle school.
In 1938 the Silver Jubilee of the coming of the Presentation Sisters to Durrow was celebrated while in 1943 a Novitiate was opened the town and blessed by Bishop Collier. The year 1954 saw the first Durrow born member, Mary Bowe, enter the Congregation for Kilkenny. The foundation at Durrow never became fully independent of the Mother House in Kilkenny. In 1950 a “Secondary Top” was added to the Primary School meaning that from then until 1966 pupils were prepared for the Council Scholarships, the Intermediate Certificate and Civil Service Examinations. In 1966 a full Secondary School was established which was co-educational and known as St. Fintan’s College.
In 1979 the Sisters celebrated the Golden Jubilee of their coming to Castle Durrow while 1983 saw the opening of their new Primary School. 1990 saw the amalgamation of the four small Secondary Schools in the area, St. Fintans’s College Durrow, V.E.C. Abbeyleix, Salesian College Ballinakill and Brigidine Convent Abbeyleix. The new school was known as Heywood Community School in Ballinakill.
Before St. Fintan’s College closed its doors on 23 Jun 1990, a re-union of past pupils was held while in 1993 St. Fintan’s was sold to Mr. Denis English and the Sisters moved to rented accommodation within the town. In 1997 the boy’s school near the Chapel Gate amalgamated with “Our Lady’s Meadow” girl’s school and on 27 Dec 1997 the Sisters withdrew from Durrow after 84 years in the Parish.