Mayo county town church still left without a spire

by Auld Stock

The Church of the Holy Rosary, Castlebar, is one of the finest buildings of its kind in the country and is well known and loved by the local parishioners as well as by Castlebar people scattered all over the world.

Canon Patrick Lyons was parish priest of Castlebar from 1889 to 1911.

Work on the building of the present church was begun in March 1897.

However, another church was partially built on the opposite side of the road, but the plans were changed after a great deal of local controversy and the church was demolished.

The only remains of the church is a small pillar which stands at the entrance to the parish priest’s residence.

After a year’s work on the present church a severe storm damaged the building.

However, work again got underway on the new church and the building was completed in 1901.

The building of the church spire never went ahead, probably because of the lack of funds.

Some years ago an effort was made to build a spire but the attempt petered out because of the economic state of the country at the time.

I personally feel it is a pity work on the spire didn’t go ahead; it would be a an impressive feature of the church and would be seen for miles around.

The church’s architect was Walter Doolin of Dublin and the contractor who built the church was the firm of Healys, Tralee, County Kerry.

The cost of building the church was £18,000. The high altar, Our Lady’s statue and the altar rails were installed by James Pearse, father of Pádraig Pearse, leader of the 1916 Rising.