‘Friends of Bianconi’ launch excellent exhibition at chapel in Boherlahan

The crowds converged in Boherlahan last Saturday afternoon as part of Heritage Week to take a guided walk from the Moate at Ardmayle along the Mass Path to Bianconi Chapel.

There was a sense of history and fun in the air as people walked and talked through the beautiful countryside. Along the way Jimmy Duggan, the tour guide, recalled Charles Bianconi, the penal times, medieval Ireland and told the story in a wonderful way.

“It was a great day,” he says. “We began at the Moate and we were really pointing out the treasure that Ardmayle is and we are very fortunate that over the years Paddy Dwyer, Tom Ryan, Marian Ryan and Pat Maher at the moment of the Ardmayle Heritage Society and others have done such wonderful work producing a booklet every year over many years on the history of their own place,” he says.

The crowds enjoyed the trek and were both informed and entertained along the way. At the Chapel Fr Joe Egan spoke of the importance of the day and how our heritage is part of who we are.

He led the way for parishioners and visitors and opened the exhibition. Chairperson Seamus Maher spoke about the chapel and the hopes that revenue can be raised to ensure it stands the test of time for all in the community.

Then there was a blast from the past as locals reenacted the conversations Charles Bianconi would have had with family members, local tenants and Daniel O’Connell who is known as the Liberator.

Jimmy Duggan explained that the past is part of the present in many ways: “It’s a matter of coordinating it with a day like this so we moved on from the medieval to Bianconi’s story at Longfield House and then as we moved from the fields and the penal pathway - the Mass Path - and here the drama echoed a lot of what we were speaking about and that drama was very well presented.

“To move on to the architecture of the building and have a top-class architect tell us so well about the past and hopes for the future, it was very much a community day,” Jimmy says.

One of the key organisers was Liam O’Dwyer, Chair of the Friends of Bianconi. He said: “Next year is 150 years since the death of Charles Bianconi. We felt we should do something to commemorate that event and look after the chapel which is in serious need of loving care and attention.

“The Bianconi Mortuary Chapel here is a unique building. I think I have the date right and it was opened in 1857 by Charles Bianconi as a resting place for him and his family, particularly for his daughter Catherine who tragically died very young.

“He opened a soup kitchen during the great famine. His daughter Catherine Henrietta, they called her Kate, was working in that soup kitchen and unfortunately she caught TB.

“Overall Charles Bianconi is remembered well and he was a very benevolent landlord just across the fields here in Longfield,” Liam said.

There has been a huge amount of time and work put into the restoration in Boherlahan and hopes are high that this new project will grow and become even bigger in years to come.