A letter from Dermot MacIntyre to Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap. referring to the history of the former Stewart-Bam residence in Ards. An extract from the letter reads: 'In regard to Ards and Ards House, I have just found an old notebook of my father’s. He used to jot down bits and pieces on anything to hand and in this old notebook he has an entry dated, Friday, December 30, 1910. He writes: "Was at a dance in Ards House last night given by Sir Pieter Bam. Charlie Coll and I played for them. Bam came in about 9 o’clock. I did not like it all but would rather be in the poorest thatch house in Doe, with the Gaelic sounding round me, than in the midst of it all. Bam does his best to unbend, but it is plainly an effort and he seems to know himself that it won’t be successful. His wife is outrageously proud. She sat all the time like an incarnate goddess and noticed no one. Such pride is a sin against Heaven. You would think the ordinary people were less than dogs to her. Her sister is not one whit better"'. Further extracts from his father’s journal refer to the landlord’s relationships with the workers and tenants on the Ards estate, to the histories of various local churches, to a Feis at Doe Castle in 1910, and to the building of the Lough Swilly railway in Donegal.
Letter from Colette Gallagher to Fr. Eustace McSweeney OFM Cap., guardian, Ard Mhuire Friary, conveying a local tradition re the existence of a ‘half-way house between Ards Friary and Rossnowlagh’.
Copy of the Lenten Pastoral Letter (with Lenten Regulations) from the Most Rev. William MacNeely (1888-1963), Bishop of Raphoe, for 1932. The file also includes printed Lenten Regulations for the diocese for 1964 and 1967.
A vocations’ flier for the House of Theological Studies at Ard Mhuire Capuchin Friary. It is noted that ‘since 1932 Ard Mhuire has produced well over a hundred priests. They are now labouring on the Irish Capuchin foreign mission in Africa, in the United States of America, and at home in Ireland’. The flier also has a photographic print of the exterior of the old Ard Mhuire Friary (formerly Ards House).
Clipping of an article from the 'Derry Journal' referring to the ordinations by the Most Rev. Bernard O’Kane, Bishop of Derry, of Capuchin friars in St. Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny. The clipping is super-imposed onto an article titled ‘Doe Castle / Historic Donegal Landmark / Lecture by Mr. E. Durning’. The text of the lecture is in Irish.
A complete copy of 'The Tatler and Bystander', 18 Feb. 1948, which includes an article (and photographic print) re the wedding in London of Pieter Stewart Bam (1914-2001) and Margaret Agnes Kitson. A manuscript annotation notes that ‘Pieter Stewart Bam is the son of the former owner of Ards House’.
Clippings (from the 'Derry Journal') re the installation of a Holy Year Cross atop Muckish Mountain (Derryveagh Mountain Range, County Donegal) on the Feast of the Assumption. Includes a photographic print showing Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap. and Fr. Ephrem O’Sullivan OFM Cap. (1904-1958) who blessed the Cross. In 2000, a large metal cross was placed on the summit, replacing the wooden one (erected in 1951) which had been destroyed in a storm. See also CA DL/5/24.
Clippings of articles referring to the building (and funding) of the new House of Studies and Ard Mhuire Capuchin Friary, Creeslough, County Donegal. The file includes: • ‘New Capuchin Friary for Ard Mhuire / to replace former landlord mansion’. 'The Derry People', 9 May 1964. The article has an extensive photograph of the building site with the old Ard Mhuire Friary in the background. • ‘New Capuchin Friary’. 'The People’s Press', 9 May 1964. Includes photographs of the old Ard Mhuire Friary and of an architectural model of the new building. • ‘The visitor to Ards is mystified’ by John Moore, referring to the history of the Capuchins in Donegal and to the new Ard Mhuire Friary. • ‘First Silver Circle Draw for Ard Mhuire’. 'The Derry People', 12 Feb. 1966. Includes a photograph of Fr. Godfrey Mannion OFM Cap., Fr. Nicholas O’Brien OFM Cap. and others at the aforementioned draw in aid of the Friary building fund. See also CA DL/2/3/7.
‘New Capuchin Friary’. 'The People’s Press', 9 May 1964. The article includes a photograph of an architectural model of the new Ard Mhuire Friary in County Donegal.
