History of Chapel Hill

The convent grounds on Chapel Hill was donated to the Order of the Sisters of Mercy by Mary Ann McSweeney.

The Bishop of Cloyne and Ross, Most Reverend Doctor Keane, assisted by the Very Rev. Cannon Thomas Lee, on August 24, 1857 laid  the foundation stone of the convent building on Chapel Hill.

The Annals say:

The work proceeding swiftly, was completed in 1865, and the building ready for occupation. It  was  a  day  to  remember  in  Macroom.   ‘A crowd  estimated at more than 7,000 crowded into and around the Church for the celebration of mass and the opening ceremonies’..

In 1865 the Mercy Sisters began their involvement in serving the community of Macroom and surrounding areas through education on Chapel Hill. A larger National School was needed on the site by 1868. Announcements were read from the altar in the Church seeking ‘a supply of stones from local quarries, sand from the nearby pits and horses, carts and men on certain days to assist with the work’ (Annals).

The people of the parish worked together and by the end of 1868 a  new  National  School  building  was  added to the property on Chapel Hill and  accepted  its  first pupils. One of the country's first Intermediate Schools was introduced in 1878, which was followed by a Secondary School which opened in 1935.

Much of the programme in the Primary School was directed at students learning by rote, having first being presented on the blackboard.

‘For little ones at the time it was pretty tough going as most of the work was done on the blackboard and learned off to be well and  duly  remembered’  (Annals).  Tables  were  learned  from  ‘Ladders  and  Clocks’ sketched  on  the  board  and  the  alphabet  was  discovered  from  cards  that  hung  neatly around  the  wall  of  the  classroom  at  the  student’s  eye  level.  The  skill  of  writing commenced in the earlier years using wooden framed slates and later blank jotters. This directed the student eventually to a single-lined copybook where a pen and ink formed the first really creative letters and numbers for a generation of students; ‘the day came when the writing for each standard was mastered’ (Sr. Francesca, 2006)

The Mercy sisters had a strong influence on education in Macroom. They were the teachers who taught generations how to read and write, knit and sew.

Noreen Moynihan, attended St Joseph’s and St Mary’s in the 1970s and early 1980s shared her memories at the 150 celebration of Mercy Sisters in Macroom.

‘She has a lot of memories — playing French skipping in the school yard; having the freedom to walk “up the hill” and see the convent gardens, the beehives and the sun house; wearing a tie for the first time as part of the secondary school uniform;’.

In 2012 the Mercy Sisters were re assigned to other Convents and the building closed after 150 years serving the community.

In 2016 Joe Neeson and John Mc Cormack acquired the property and embarked on their ambitious plan to create Chapel Hill School of Art. The first phase of this plan begins in September of 2021 with the relaunch Art Classes in the former stained glass Prayer room and Chapel on the property.