Cappanahanagh

Murroe and Boher is a Roman Catholic parish in East Limerick. Murroe is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Canon Hayes, founder of Muintir na Tíre, and as the location of Glenstal Abbey where many a well known Irishman went to school.

My interest is in the townland of Cappanahanagh where some of my ancestors come from. So far I have traced them back to the time of the French Revolution and am not sure I'm going to get any further in that direction. But never mind, the family is replete with interesting characters as it is.

I visited there some time ago, at the invitation of a relation, Nora Meehan (née Fogarty), who is assiduously following up both her own and my family history in the area. The result of my visit can be seen here. Nora suggested that I might contribute a piece to the parish annual, which I was only too glad to do. It is an excellent publication with a very high standard of presentation. But the meat is in the content. Murroe has a great community spirit and has developed a vast range of community activities and interests. You can get a flavour of these from the annual and also from the website which has been going from strength to strength since its inception a few years ago.

The cover of the current annual is reproduced above and you can click on it for a larger image. The year 2011 saw the visits of President Mary McAleese, JP McManus and Archbishop Dermot Clifford, and, of course, the annual Mary from Murroe festival - all themes taken up on the cover of the annual.

You can read my piece in the annual here or a purely text version here.