An article on the history of Doe Castle on the shores of Sheephaven Bay near Creeslough, County Donegal. The article was compiled by Sheila MacMahon. A note from the author to Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap. is extant on the reverse of the last page. The file includes a colour postcard print of a painting of Doe Castle and a short note re the restoration by a local branch of the Legion of Mary of broken or neglected Penal-era Mass Rocks in the area around Doe.
A copy of 'Uproar in Dungloe' by Naoi nGiallach. The text refers to the famous personages from Dungloe including the 1916 Rising and War of Independence veteran, Joseph Sweeney (1897-1980).
Notes compiled by Fr. Angelus Healy OFM Cap. and Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. on the history of Ards House and its acquisition by the Capuchin friars in 1930. Extensive reference is made to the previous occupiers of the estate: 'The Sampsons, the Wrays, the Stewarts, one of whom was married to Lady Isabella Toler, granddaughter of the notorious Lord Norbury are gone, and the Capuchin Fathers are in their ancient home. In the graveyard at Clondahorky, can be seen the grave of the second wife of the first Wray of Ards, and in the grounds of Ards, some trees recall the birthdays of members of the Stewart family. To the Capuchins however, a stronger appeal is made by a lonely tomb in the graveyard around Doe Castle, the last resting place of a Franciscan Friar, Rev. Father Dominick Curden “who departed this life August ye 17th. 1809, aged 85 yrs”'. The file includes a newspaper cutting of a poem titled ‘On the return of the Brown-Robed Friars to Donegal’ by Bernard A. Furey.
Personal recollections, family history and local folklore in Donegal collected by Peadar MacMahon and submitted to Fr. David Kelleher OFM Cap. The memoir includes a short chapter titled ‘Anahire or Aultcrum / Ards House / Creeslough’.
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’.
Scale: 6 inches to 1 mile Sheet No.: Donegal, Sheet No. 26 Copy ordnance survey map (Dublin, 2nd ed., 1905) showing the Ards Estate and surrounding townlands and localities. Notable features include Ards House and demesne, Ards farm, the largely forested estate, St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Cashelmore, Doe Castle, Sheephaven Bay, and Creeslough.
Note by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. re the existence of an apartment in the Ards House called ‘the Friar’s Room’. It reads: 'The morning after the building and property were taken over from the Land Commission Holy Mass was celebrated in the portion of the building assigned an oratory. In the course of the day one of the fathers remarked to the steward “I expect this is the first time Mass was said here”. The steward was doubtful and mentioned a tradition prevalent … [that] one of the apartments is called “The Friar’s Room”. The explanation given is that about 100 or 150 years ago a friar was accustomed to visit the family and inhabited that room. The steward presumed that when he came, he said Mass in the building'.
