Situated
in the middle of the town, St. Mary's has been the site
of a church since at least the fourteenth century. In
1622 Oliver St. John, Lord Grandison President of Connacht,
built a new church whose bell tower, although altered,
still stands today.
The ground floor of the tower retains its early seventeenth
century barrel vaulted ceiling.
The tower when originally built was half its present height,
twenty foot was added in 1762 and another twenty five
foot added in 1790. |
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The bells
in the steeple are of great interest. The larger one has an
inscription "this is for the church of St. Mary's in Athlone,
T.C. 1683 (the T.C. stands for Tobias Covey, a bell founder
who also cast a bell for St. Nicholas's Collegiate church in
Galway, as well as bells for other parts of the country. Tradition
has it that this bell came from Clonmacnoise and was brought
here when the English garrison of Athlone plundered and ransacked
Clonmacnoise. The bell in the belfry was reputedly used by General
Ginkel to signal the final assault during the siege of 1691.
After the church was demolished in 1824 and a new one built
close by. When this church was completed in 1827 many of the
memorials from the old church were re-erected around the walls.
The cost of the building was £2,300, part funded by a
grand from the Board of First Fruits.
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