Tag Archives: Fr John Murphy

A stone sculpture commissioned by Cumann Staire is Dúchais Chora Finne and  created by Kilnamona sculptor Michael McTigue has recently been erecdted in Corofin. It is in memory of the famous march of the local forty shilling freeholders, led by Fr John Murphy PP of Kilnaboy Rath and Corofin,  into Ennis in July 1828, in support of Daniel O’ Connell’s election. With the famous Burren terrain depicted in the background, the monument shows Fr. Murphy on his horse and gig followed by the local 40 shilling freeholders carrying tree branches in support of O’ Connell. St. Bridget’s Church, the first architect designed Catholic Church in the Killaloe Diocese since the reformation, built by Murphy in 1822, features in the background. It was here that Murphy made his famous speech in the Irish language to his parishioners seeking their support for O’Connell and Catholic Emancipation. This speech was widely reported both locally and well beyond the area and was witnessed by …

A CAMPAIGN is underway in Corofin to erect a permanent memorial marking the famous march of the 40 shilling freeholders from the village to Ennis to vote for Daniel O’Connell in the 1828 Clare Election. The freeholders were led by the parish priest of Corofin, 39-year-old Fr John Murphy, a native of Newmarket-on-Fergus, who became a central figure in the election of Daniel O’Connell as MP for Clare, an event which subsequently led to Catholic Emancipation in 1829. In Corofin Community Hall recently, a special night was devoted to the memory of Fr John Murphy by Cumann Staire is Dúchais Chora Finne. The night included a lecture on Fr Murphy, who was parish priest in Corofin from 1818 to 1831, by the association’s chairperson Declan Kelleher and a talk on his biographer, Fr Denis Spellissy, by its president Dr Maccon MacNamara. “The Clare election of 1828 was in itself a statement of defiance from a downtrodden people, who put their necks on …