Celebrating Cootehill's ‘extraordinary’ religious history

An ecumenical gathering will take place in Cootehill this Saturday, April 26, to celebrate the town's diverse religious history.

Representatives from six churches- both past and present in the town- will attend the event, while Local Historian Patrick Cassidy will hold a talk outlining the differing faiths and their respective impacts.

“It's really a reunion of all the churches that were in Cootehill in the 18th century,” he says, adding that the tercentenary posed the ideal opportunity to host such a reunion. “There were six different churches represented in the town which was quite unusual, quite extraordinary for the time.”

He explains that the main reason for the presence of six churches was the linen industry that once dominated Cootehill’s industrial output.

“The founder of the town Thomas Coote actually started this colony of protestant linen manufacturers in the town so that's why there was such a rich diversity of religious groups.”

On the day, each church will be represented: the Church of Ireland by Revd Ian Horner, the Presbyterian Church by Revd Daryl Edwards; the Methodist Church by Margaret Finn who is Senior Lay Leader at Monaghan Methodist Church and her husband Tom; the Moravian church by leader of the Moravian church in Ireland Mark Kernohan; the Religious Society of Friends of the Quakers by AnneMarie Woods; and the Catholic Church by local parish priest, Father John Cooney.

Each will have an opportunity to speak also, which will be followed by a tree planting ceremony in the grounds of St Aidan’s Comprehensive School.

Patrick explains that there were two Presbyterian churches in Cootehill, which were split into Seceder Presbyterian and the Presbyterian church. These later “reunited”.

“It's now one,” he explains. “Presbyterian settlers came over form Scotland in the last 17th century and then towards the start of the 18th century they established a church in Cootehill, a meeting house.”

Meanwhile, there were two Methodist Churches, one on Bridge Street and another on Cavan Street, which also “reunited” before closing “in the early twentieth century, in the 1940s or 50s.”

Patrick says the Quakers were present in the historic market town “from a very early period”.

“Even before Cootehill got its patent for fairs and markets in 1725, there were Quakers there before that. They were operating in the town up until 1900.”

With a masters in local history, focusing on Cootehill, Patricks says “it's such an interesting town to have so many churches.”

“I think it's important because a lot of the people who live in Cootehill nowadays wouldn't really remember that it was such an important place in the past and that it has such an interesting history.

“It's nice to just mark it as part of Cootehill 300, that religion was an important part of the town when it was founded.

“All the people who came to work and live in the town, they weren't all from the same church but they got on as best they could. What united them was commerce I suppose, they came to trade and create a life for themselves in Cootehill.”

The gathering will take place in a “neutral venue” of St Aidan’s Comprehensive School, with some students and staff taking part.

The event takes place this Saturday (April 26) at 3pm. ]

Those wishing to attend can RSVP by calling 0862604163, or by emailing Cootehill300@gmail.com.