The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

The St. Joseph
Convent of Mercy in
Ballinrobe was
located behind the
fields of the
Gallaghers'
Cornaroya property.
It provided
employment for
many of the
Gallagher brothers
and schooling for
their sisters. The
convent was founded
in 1851.
family when other employment was scarce and comfort to
others, including Uncle Owen in his later years. He left a
portion of his estate to the Sisters of Mercy when he died in
1999.
The convent was founded from Westport in 1851.
Its mission included the education of children, visitation
and care of the sick, and helping the poor.
The following account comes from the 1970
Convent of Mercy School Magazine by way of the website
HistoricalBallinrobe.com:
On Feb. 19, 1851, Mother Gertrude O’Brien, Sr.
M. de Pazzi, Sr. M. de Sales and Sr. M. Veronica came
from Westport to Ballinrobe to start a new foundation. The
Rev. Tom Hardiman, of Ballinrobe, and Mother M. Paul
Cullen, superior in Westport, accompanied them.
The Catholics of Ballinrobe were very poor at the
time and unable to adequately provide for the foundation.
The Rev. Dr. McHale gave considerable financial aid, and a
solicitor, Mr. Blake, vacated his house on Main Street,
opposite the main gates to St. Mary’s Church, to provide
the sisters a temporary convent dedicated to St. Joseph. In
1853, steps were taken to secure a site for a permanent
convent. A field was rented from Col. Knox and
construction began. The sisters took up residence in their
new home in 1854. Classes were organized more fully and
a Sunday School for adults was started. In 1861 the funds
of the convent were very low, and the superior, Mother M.
Gertrude, opened a boarding school for young girls.
Bazaars became a yearly event, raising the then-substantial
sum of as much as £130.
In 1862, civil authorities requested that the sisters
assist in the Workhouse Hospital and four of them took up
duty there. In the following year, the schools were
connected with the National Board and the building of a
new National School was commenced in 1899.
In 1918, a Secondary School was opened at the
request of Canon Edward Alfred D’Alton, who had become
pastor in Ballinrobe in 1911. Within a short time, there
were 60 pupils enrolled. Later, a Commercial School was
opened and pupils were prepared for secretarial and other
posts. The centenary of the foundation of the convent was
celebrated during Easter Week 1951. On April 22, 1956, the
Rev. T. Gunnigan formally opened and blessed a new
Secondary School. In 1970, the building was being
extended and a new Primary School was also under
construction.
By 2008, however, the Convent of Mercy had run
its course. The 12 aging nuns who remained at the 34-
bedroom building were relocated to the order’s home in
Castlebar. But before they left, more than 500 people
attended a ceremony on the convent grounds to thank the
sisters for their 16 decades of ministry to the people of
Ballinrobe. According to an account in The Mayo News,
Monsignor Tom Shannon told the gathering: “The pupils
who passed through these schools will, to this day, testify to
the worth of the education they received at the hands of the
Sisters of Mercy.”
In 2015, a story in The Mayo News reported the
old convent was opening its doors to children once again. A
portion of the building was restored by new, private owners
to provide pre-school and after-school services.
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