heritage_project-_bi.. - Laois education Centre

Church BuildingDr. Delany also carried out a programme of churchbuilding and despite opposition from Orangemen inTullow and Mountrath he secured sites and churcheswere eventually built in both parishes due to his efforts.Bishop Delany had difficulty securing a site for thechurch in Mountrath as most of the land at that time wasowned by Protestants. The Coote family owned most ofthe land in Mountrath and refused to give a site for acatholic church. However he obtained a site for a churchfrom a generous Protestant lady named Mrs.Hawkesworth who owned a site by the river. Mrs.Hawkesworth by her own request was received into theCatholic Church on her deathbed. The original churchwas built on a poor foundation and was dismantled. Areplacement church was built later and stills stands theretoday as one of the finest churches in the diocese ofKildare and Leighlin.Church which now stands on site acquired by Bishop Daniel Delany