Castlecoote (Written some years ago, maybe as a guide for some student’s school project).
The village of Caslecoote lies about five miles west of Roscommon town on the Suck River, which is a tributary of the Shannon. It is a growing village with a long history. While the name Castlecoote comes from the landlord family of Cootes there is reference to the previous name of the area. Over the post office is a sign, which says, in Irish, ‘Baile Mhic Oireachtaigh’. This title goes back to the fourteen hundreds. Translated it means the ‘town of the Mageraghty’. If the Cootes had not come to the area it might be known today as ‘Ballygeraghty’. There are still families of that name in the area.
The Cootes: The native Geraghtys had their lands taken away during the Plantations of the fifteen hundreds and eventually the Coote family came to the area in the early 1600s. The Cootes were soldiers in the ‘9 Years War’ against O’Neill and O’Donnell. For their efforts in defeating the Old Irish Chiefs they got as payment large areas of land in various parts of the country, which can still be seen in place-names such as Cootehill in Cavan, Cootehall in North Roscommon and Castlecoote. The Cootes took over a castle which had been built by a man called Malby and they held positions of power in Connacht for the English King James 1.
The Castle; The castle was built at a bend of the river Suck. There is plenty of evidence of the castle still to be seen, with the remains of three of the corner towers still there. In the Cromwellian Wars of the 1640s’ the Cootes supported Cromwell and the Castle was attacked a number of times. These attacks failed. When the castle was not needed any more a great ‘big house’ was built in the middle of the original castle, using material from ‘the castle’. This big house is still there today. This house was built in the middle 1700s.
The Gunning Sisters; After the Cootes the next family to live there were the Gunnings. The most famous of these were two beautiful sisters, Maria and Elizabeth. Because of their beauty and the efforts of their mother they were introduced to the highest of society, first in Dublin and then in London. The result was that Maria married The Earl of Coventry and Elizabeth married the Duke of Hamilton. They had two sons. The Duke died a few years after their marriage and Elizabeth married again, this time to another Duke the Duke of Argyle. They also had two sons. So Elizabeth Gunning, of Castlecoote, was the mother of four Dukes. She was also held in high regard by the English King of the time George.The Gunning family finished their connection with Castlecoote around the 1830s. The next owners were the Mitchell family. The owned the large mill which is still there. This was mentioned as being a ‘bleach mill’, which seems to say that there was some work being done in the area with flax or linen. The next owners of the ‘big house’ were Chutes and then Strevens. The last of this family died around 1930.
Destruction and Renewal; After the War of Independence the lands attached to Castlecoote House were divided and in 1937 Pat Conboy became the owner. The Conboy family lived there until they sold the house in 1989 to a French couple. These owners began a scheme of renovation. Unfortunately while this was going on there was a great fire, which gutted the building. This happened on June 15th 1989. It seemed as if this would be the end of the Castlecoote house. It was not however as a Galway man who worked in the construction business in Manchester bought it and restored the roof. He then sold it on to Mr. Kevin Finnerty about four years ago. Mr. Finnerty has put an awful lot of work, effort, ideas and money into restoring the house to its past glory and it will soon be open to the public to visit. It is great that this has been done for the house but also for Castlecoote and indeed for county Roscommon where many big houses were pulled down in the past.
Churches and Schools: In Fuerty graveyard is the Church of Saint Ciaran. On the front of this ruin are what are known as grave slabs though their location leaves them open to erosion. They are very old. Outside this graveyard is a lovely Grotto which was erected for Marian year 1954. Not far from Fuerty, in Castlestrange where there is a famous decorated stone from the Iron Age period, known as La Tene. Close by there is a very interesting old bridge. Also opposite Fuerty graveyard there is remains of Kelly’s forge with the remains of an old Megalithic tomb opposite Brendan Kellys down the road towards Roscommon. In the village of Castlecoote is the building which was the old church. This was built around the 1830s. Then in the 1950s the Parish priest, Canon Keane, began building a new church. This was dedicated in the late fifties with great fanfare. It took a great effort by the people with money and free labour to complete this church. The old Church is now a good community centre. Our present parish Priest is Father Leogue while other priests in the past sixty years or so have been Fathers Hannelly, Molloy, Lavin and Fleming.
There were two schools, one in Fuerty and one in Castlecoote. Among the teachers there in the 1940s and fifties were, Mrs. Golden, Miss Noone, Master Moriarty in Castlecoote with Master Frawley and Maeve Dwyer in Fuerty. These two schools came together and a new one was built beside the river bridge in Castlecoote. It opened in 1960. Unlike many country schools the numbers in Castlecoote are increasing and there are efforts now to get money for an extension. The headmaster there now is Master Fallon. For secondary schools most people go to Roscommon town schools.
Sport; Sport, especially Gaelic football and hurling, has always been important in the area. Fuerty won two County Senior football Championships in 1929 and 1934. Some their best players then were Govern, Conboy, Mannion, Warde, Foley, Reddington and Daly. A Fuerty man, Willie (Bill) Heavey, won an All-Ireland senior medal with Roscommon in 1943. They had another very good team in the early fifties with the Brennans, Duke, Gately, Kelly and Golden. A lot of players also played hurling with Athleague of which we are a half-parish. Their best players in the 60s were Devine, Fannon, Cunniffe, Conboy and Kehoe. The Club was revived in the seventies and have won some junior awards since. Only last year the club got land from Mr. Brian Mulhern who was from Buckfield but has been living in New York since the 1960s’. The Club is now starting to work on it and hope to have a good playing ground and facilities for the future. The present Chairman is a neighbour; Seamus Cuddy. This is only a short distance from where I live. Two people from the area are now county Board Officers, Dominick Connolly is Treasurer and Canon Liam Devine is P. R. O. He also writes weekly in The Roscommon Herald. Tony Conboy wrote ‘The History of the GAA in County Roscommon’, which came out in 1990. My area has also been very active in Community Games with people like Noel Farrell and Kevin Delaney as trainers.
Fishing and Tourism; The area has the river Suck running through it for miles. This is a very good fishing river with the small lakes beside it. Many people have been coming from England foe years to fish. They stay in local guest- houses such as Galvin’s and Golden’s. A few years ago, a long walk along the banks of the river Suck, was opened up. This is called The Suck Way. Also in Athleague there is an Angling Centre set up in a restored old Church.
Work; The main occupation of the area has been farming. The land generally is good. Cattle and sheep rearing have been the main incomes. Years ago there were fairs in Fuerty. In the late fifties a creamery collecting depot was set up at Athleague so a good few farmers sold milk to this. Later a meat factory was also set up there so many farmers were able to sell their stock to the factory and this was very handy. The factory also gave much needed employment. The other employers are ‘the Mill’ which is now mainly a farm supply store and Brendan Kelly’s, where such things as iron gates and so on are put together. Most of the people work in nearby towns such as Roscommon or go to Galway or Dublin. In the fifties the only chance of getting work was in leaving the country altogether and hundreds left my area for England, the U.S. and even Australia. Thankfully this is not necessary today. Indeed a good few people have come back from England especially in the recent ‘Celtic tiger’ years.
Social: There was an old Hibernian hall on ‘the New Road’ where concerts and plays were held years ago. There were also Carnivals in Fuerty in the sixties. There are three pubs in the area, Dalton’s in Fuerty, Reilley’s on ‘the new Road’ and Cattigan’s in the village. Cattigan’s was owned, until a few months ago, by Goldens and Ennis, before that by Carton and back further by Hughes. It was a thatched pub then across the road from where it is now. Hughes also had a shop but this changed place and was owned by Delaney and was taken over by Oscar Neilan. This is also where the Post Office is and where my account of the village of Castlecoote began and also ends. It is a good place with good people and I find it a nice place to live.
The village of Caslecoote lies about five miles west of Roscommon town on the Suck River, which is a tributary of the Shannon. It is a growing village with a long history. While the name Castlecoote comes from the landlord family of Cootes there is reference to the previous name of the area. Over the post office is a sign, which says, in Irish, ‘Baile Mhic Oireachtaigh’. This title goes back to the fourteen hundreds. Translated it means the ‘town of the Mageraghty’. If the Cootes had not come to the area it might be known today as ‘Ballygeraghty’. There are still families of that name in the area.
The Cootes: The native Geraghtys had their lands taken away during the Plantations of the fifteen hundreds and eventually the Coote family came to the area in the early 1600s. The Cootes were soldiers in the ‘9 Years War’ against O’Neill and O’Donnell. For their efforts in defeating the Old Irish Chiefs they got as payment large areas of land in various parts of the country, which can still be seen in place-names such as Cootehill in Cavan, Cootehall in North Roscommon and Castlecoote. The Cootes took over a castle which had been built by a man called Malby and they held positions of power in Connacht for the English King James 1.
The Castle; The castle was built at a bend of the river Suck. There is plenty of evidence of the castle still to be seen, with the remains of three of the corner towers still there. In the Cromwellian Wars of the 1640s’ the Cootes supported Cromwell and the Castle was attacked a number of times. These attacks failed. When the castle was not needed any more a great ‘big house’ was built in the middle of the original castle, using material from ‘the castle’. This big house is still there today. This house was built in the middle 1700s.
The Gunning Sisters; After the Cootes the next family to live there were the Gunnings. The most famous of these were two beautiful sisters, Maria and Elizabeth. Because of their beauty and the efforts of their mother they were introduced to the highest of society, first in Dublin and then in London. The result was that Maria married The Earl of Coventry and Elizabeth married the Duke of Hamilton. They had two sons. The Duke died a few years after their marriage and Elizabeth married again, this time to another Duke the Duke of Argyle. They also had two sons. So Elizabeth Gunning, of Castlecoote, was the mother of four Dukes. She was also held in high regard by the English King of the time George.The Gunning family finished their connection with Castlecoote around the 1830s. The next owners were the Mitchell family. The owned the large mill which is still there. This was mentioned as being a ‘bleach mill’, which seems to say that there was some work being done in the area with flax or linen. The next owners of the ‘big house’ were Chutes and then Strevens. The last of this family died around 1930.
Destruction and Renewal; After the War of Independence the lands attached to Castlecoote House were divided and in 1937 Pat Conboy became the owner. The Conboy family lived there until they sold the house in 1989 to a French couple. These owners began a scheme of renovation. Unfortunately while this was going on there was a great fire, which gutted the building. This happened on June 15th 1989. It seemed as if this would be the end of the Castlecoote house. It was not however as a Galway man who worked in the construction business in Manchester bought it and restored the roof. He then sold it on to Mr. Kevin Finnerty about four years ago. Mr. Finnerty has put an awful lot of work, effort, ideas and money into restoring the house to its past glory and it will soon be open to the public to visit. It is great that this has been done for the house but also for Castlecoote and indeed for county Roscommon where many big houses were pulled down in the past.
Churches and Schools: In Fuerty graveyard is the Church of Saint Ciaran. On the front of this ruin are what are known as grave slabs though their location leaves them open to erosion. They are very old. Outside this graveyard is a lovely Grotto which was erected for Marian year 1954. Not far from Fuerty, in Castlestrange where there is a famous decorated stone from the Iron Age period, known as La Tene. Close by there is a very interesting old bridge. Also opposite Fuerty graveyard there is remains of Kelly’s forge with the remains of an old Megalithic tomb opposite Brendan Kellys down the road towards Roscommon. In the village of Castlecoote is the building which was the old church. This was built around the 1830s. Then in the 1950s the Parish priest, Canon Keane, began building a new church. This was dedicated in the late fifties with great fanfare. It took a great effort by the people with money and free labour to complete this church. The old Church is now a good community centre. Our present parish Priest is Father Leogue while other priests in the past sixty years or so have been Fathers Hannelly, Molloy, Lavin and Fleming.
There were two schools, one in Fuerty and one in Castlecoote. Among the teachers there in the 1940s and fifties were, Mrs. Golden, Miss Noone, Master Moriarty in Castlecoote with Master Frawley and Maeve Dwyer in Fuerty. These two schools came together and a new one was built beside the river bridge in Castlecoote. It opened in 1960. Unlike many country schools the numbers in Castlecoote are increasing and there are efforts now to get money for an extension. The headmaster there now is Master Fallon. For secondary schools most people go to Roscommon town schools.
Sport; Sport, especially Gaelic football and hurling, has always been important in the area. Fuerty won two County Senior football Championships in 1929 and 1934. Some their best players then were Govern, Conboy, Mannion, Warde, Foley, Reddington and Daly. A Fuerty man, Willie (Bill) Heavey, won an All-Ireland senior medal with Roscommon in 1943. They had another very good team in the early fifties with the Brennans, Duke, Gately, Kelly and Golden. A lot of players also played hurling with Athleague of which we are a half-parish. Their best players in the 60s were Devine, Fannon, Cunniffe, Conboy and Kehoe. The Club was revived in the seventies and have won some junior awards since. Only last year the club got land from Mr. Brian Mulhern who was from Buckfield but has been living in New York since the 1960s’. The Club is now starting to work on it and hope to have a good playing ground and facilities for the future. The present Chairman is a neighbour; Seamus Cuddy. This is only a short distance from where I live. Two people from the area are now county Board Officers, Dominick Connolly is Treasurer and Canon Liam Devine is P. R. O. He also writes weekly in The Roscommon Herald. Tony Conboy wrote ‘The History of the GAA in County Roscommon’, which came out in 1990. My area has also been very active in Community Games with people like Noel Farrell and Kevin Delaney as trainers.
Fishing and Tourism; The area has the river Suck running through it for miles. This is a very good fishing river with the small lakes beside it. Many people have been coming from England foe years to fish. They stay in local guest- houses such as Galvin’s and Golden’s. A few years ago, a long walk along the banks of the river Suck, was opened up. This is called The Suck Way. Also in Athleague there is an Angling Centre set up in a restored old Church.
Work; The main occupation of the area has been farming. The land generally is good. Cattle and sheep rearing have been the main incomes. Years ago there were fairs in Fuerty. In the late fifties a creamery collecting depot was set up at Athleague so a good few farmers sold milk to this. Later a meat factory was also set up there so many farmers were able to sell their stock to the factory and this was very handy. The factory also gave much needed employment. The other employers are ‘the Mill’ which is now mainly a farm supply store and Brendan Kelly’s, where such things as iron gates and so on are put together. Most of the people work in nearby towns such as Roscommon or go to Galway or Dublin. In the fifties the only chance of getting work was in leaving the country altogether and hundreds left my area for England, the U.S. and even Australia. Thankfully this is not necessary today. Indeed a good few people have come back from England especially in the recent ‘Celtic tiger’ years.
Social: There was an old Hibernian hall on ‘the New Road’ where concerts and plays were held years ago. There were also Carnivals in Fuerty in the sixties. There are three pubs in the area, Dalton’s in Fuerty, Reilley’s on ‘the new Road’ and Cattigan’s in the village. Cattigan’s was owned, until a few months ago, by Goldens and Ennis, before that by Carton and back further by Hughes. It was a thatched pub then across the road from where it is now. Hughes also had a shop but this changed place and was owned by Delaney and was taken over by Oscar Neilan. This is also where the Post Office is and where my account of the village of Castlecoote began and also ends. It is a good place with good people and I find it a nice place to live.
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