Terenure, Maynooth, Mullingar, Drogheda
By 1825 the George’s Hill convent had sown the seeds of five additional convents. In 1807, the Sisters in George’s Hill were donated a property in James’ Street, Dublin where they lived for some years before moving, finally settling in 1866 in Terenure, in the south-west of the city.
In 1811, the Archbishop of Armagh was approached by local residents who requested a convent in Drogheda. Co. Louth. A collection organized by the locals, raised enough money to secure a seven-year lease on a cold and draughty house in Fair Street. Teresa Lynch from Drogheda entered the convent at George’s Hill and completed her training before returning to Drogheda as Sr. Catherine Lynch in 1813.
Two convents
In the early 1820s two convents were founded from Terenure. The sisters were invited to Maynooth, Co. Kildare by Abbé Anglade who taught Theology at St Patrick’s College. He was concerned that there was no school for girls in the town and in 1823 three nuns moved from Terenure to Maynooth where they lived for a time in ‘a poor hut’ before a purpose-built convent was completed. In 1826 the Duke of Leinster laid the foundation stone for a new school while his wife contributed to the school’s breakfast fund as well as regularly purchasing the straw hats and embroidered clothing made by the pupils. In 1825, a convent was founded in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. The first nuns there travelled from Dublin on a canal boat.
‘Sure enough, I’ll get my death of cold in the winter and be sure to go to heaven like a sky-rocket.’
Sr Aloysius Doran did not catch her death of cold in the convent in Drogheda. Rather she became Mother Superior and in 1820 she oversaw the move of the Sisters to a warmer, less draughty, convent.
In the early 1820s two convents were founded from Terenure. The Sisters were invited to Maynooth, Co. Kildare by Abbé Anglade who taught Theology at St Patrick’s College. He was concerned that there was no school for girls in the town and in 1823 three nuns moved from Terenure to Maynooth where they lived for a time in ‘a poor hut’ before a purpose-built convent was completed. In 1826 the Duke of Leinster laid the foundation stone for a new school while his wife contributed to the school’s breakfast fund as well as regularly purchasing the straw hats and embroidered clothing made by the pupils. In 1825, a convent was founded in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. The first nuns there travelled from Dublin on canal boat.
