File relating to the purchase of Ards House and a portion of the former Stewart-Bam estate by the Irish Land Commission to the Capuchin friars. The purchase (for £5,500) was finalized in April 1930. The file includes valuation reports, receipts (from the Irish Catholic Church Property Insurance Ltd.) and correspondence with the Land Registry Office, solicitors and the National Bank Ltd. Letters from the Forestry Department refer to the proposed acquisition of a portion (33 acres) of the lands adjoining Ards House for £330.
Letters from James P. Sweeney & Co., Falcarragh, Letterkenny, County Donegal, solicitors, and Seán Ó hUadhaigh & Son, 20 Eden Quay, Dublin, solicitors, re negotiations for the sale of cottage and plots of lands at Ards, Creeslough, to Anne Green and Monica Cassidy. The correspondence refers to the need for consent forms from the Commissioner of Charitable Donations and Bequests, information re title from the Land Registry, and a memorandum and articles re the vesting of certain lands at Ards with named trustees of the FMC Trust (enclosed).
Specifications for a local government land improvement scheme for the Ards estate. Includes sketch maps of the old friary residence and adjoining farmyard with a legend indicating the scrub-land to be removed and the existing drainage system. The specification and map were sent to the guardian of Ard Mhuire Capuchin Friary.
Photographic prints of the visit by Fr. Virgilio da Valstagna OFM Cap., Capuchin Minister General, to Ard Mhuire Friary. The file includes a group photograph of Irish friars with Fr. Virgilio. A manuscript annotation on the reverse of one of the prints reads: ‘Ard Mhuire, 1937, Front, left to right, Frs. Andrew, Cassian, Colman (Provincial Minister), Sylvester Mulligan, Fr. Minister General, Frs. Killian Flynn (Prefect Apostolic of Victoria Falls), unknown, Felix and Columban’.
File containing photographic prints of the old Ard Mhuire Friary (formerly Ards House), Creeslough, County Donegal. A small number of these prints were reproduced in 'A history of Ards' (1991) by Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap. The file includes: • A view of corn harvesting in August 1940. The photograph is captioned: Left to right: Paddy McGinley, Paddy Ward, Br. Ronan McCabe OFM Cap., Willie Barr and Anton McBride in the fields around Ard Mhuire Friary. • A large crowd assembled at the front of Ard Mhuire Friary for a religious ceremony. • The gates to the demesne of the Ards estate. • ‘Rear view of Ards House’. • ‘Ards House from the Flagpole’. • Exterior (front) views of the gardens and the old Ard Mhuire Friary building. • The statute of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the front lawn of the old Ard Mhuire Friary. • Br. Louis O’Meara OFM Cap. turning the pages of the psalter in the choir (formerly Ards House dining room) in the old Ard Mhuire Friary. • A Capuchin friar perusing the bookshelves in the library of the old Ard Mhuire Friary. • A Capuchin friar talking to a lay individual at the portico entrance to the old Ard Mhuire Friary. • Aerial view of the old Ard Mhuire Friary. • Fr. Columban McGarry OFM Cap. (1901-1987) picking apples in the orchard in the old Ard Mhuire Friary. • A view of the Friary from across Sheephaven Bay. The file also includes a photoengraving plate (mounted on a wooden block) for a photographic image of the old Ard Mhuire Friary. One of the prints has a Christmas greeting from Br. Benedict Cullen OFM Cap. and Br. De Sales Cullen OFM Cap.
A view of corn harvesting in the fields around Ard Mhuire Capuchin Friary in August 1940. The photograph is captioned (left to right) Paddy McGinley, Paddy Ward, Br. Ronan McCabe OFM Cap., Willie Barr and Anton McBride.
Copy extract from the Register of Freeholders re ‘a right to pass and repass on foot and with horses or other animals … over parts of the lands of Cashelmore and Doocashel Glebe’ in County Donegal. It is noted that the Capuchin friars are the owners of these lands by a deed registered on 14 Jan. 1931.
Correspondence of Fr. Berchmans McCarthy OFM Cap., guardian, Ard Mhuire Friary, with Bord Fáilte Éireann, re an application for a grant to widen the road above the Friary as it would be ‘immense benefit to tourism in the area’.
