Next week is a very important occasion for north County Cork when a large number of descendants of the Peter Robinson Settlers who left our area for Canada under the Peter Robinson Emigrant Schemes in 1823 and 1825 arrive for a week’s events organised by Ballyhoura Develop-ment CLG. Exactly 199 people from Churchtown and Liscarroll emigrated under the Peter Robinson Scheme in 1823 and 1825.
‘This is a huge home-coming event and a great credit to Ballyhoura Development CLG, who have been working on this Irish-Canada Homecoming 2025 for ten years’, Gerry Murphy of Churchtown Heritage Society told the Vale Star. ‘In Churchtown and Liscarroll we are putting out the red carpet for our Canadian visitors who are visiting our two villages on Tuesday 16th September. They will arrive at Liscarroll Castle at 10.15 and all locals are welcome to join in. This would not be happening without the support of Amanda Slattery and Nichola Grufferty in Ballyhoura Development CLG’, he explained.
Over 170 delegates will be attending a week-long Ireland Canada Home-coming 2025 conference in the Ballyhoura and Blackwater area starting on 15th September. A group of attendees will be visiting Churchtown and Liscarroll on Tuesday 16th starting at Liscarroll Castle at 10.15. The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, is scheduled to open the Peter Robinson Settlers Emigration Conference in Mitchels-town on 20th September. The day-long conference event will take place at Saint George’s Arts and Heritage Centre. Chairperson of Saint George’s Arts and Heritage Centre Bill Power states: ‘We are delighted to host this conference which will be the most important event of its kind ever held in this region. Saint George’s Arts and Heritage Centre is a prime example of how community spirit can bring people together, just as the Peter Robinson Settlers came together in the 1820s to create opportunity for themselves and future generations, and a new spirit of hope. We are honoured to welcome descendants, historians and friends from both sides of the Atlantic, to reflect on this unique moment of history that shaped the lives of so many for generations to come. The conference will be stimulating and enjoyable, and will remember as well as reflect on the shared connections between Ireland and Canada’.
The conference in Mitchelstown will also showcase the remarkable restoration of Saint George’s, a Georgian-era church now transformed into a vibrant arts and heritage centre, sym-bolising the resilience and renewal at the heart of the homecoming. The Ireland-Canada Homecoming 2025 culminates with a special ceremony at Griston Bog and Woodland on 21st September and all are welcome.
A week’s activities also took place in early August in Peterborough (125km from Toronto) in Canada to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Robinson emigration. Smaller townships such as Douro, Young’s Point, Asphodel-Norwood, Downeyville and Ennis-more also held their own commemorations. Irish representatives in Canada for the Nine Ships 1825 Bicentenary included Amanda Slattery from Ballyhoura Development, the historical geographer Christy Roche from Fermoy and Gerry and Dorothy Murphy from Churchtown.
In total over 2,500 emigrants sailed from Cobh to Canada on eleven ships in the Peter Robinson planned emigration and there is now a huge number of descendants really interested in their family connection to Ireland. The first two ships – Hebe and Stakesby – sailed to Ottawa in 1823 and a further nine ships sailed to what is now called Peterborough in 1825. These ships were called: Fortitude, Resolution, Albion, Brunswick, Star, Amity, Regulus, Elizabeth and John Barry. Fermoy’s historical geographer Christy Roche, recently published a book entitled ‘From Whence They Came’ and in this book Christy identified all the parishes from where the families left Ireland on this emigration programme.
Churchtown Heritage Society, Bruhenny Heritage CLG and Liscarroll Community Council have prepared a souvenir brochure for the event. The booklet was sponsored by Boss Murphy Community Fund and runs to over 70 pages. It is entitled ‘Churchtown & Liscarroll Peter Robinson Canadian Settlers 1823 and 1825’ and offers details of the places the Canadian delegates will visit on 16th September. This booklet will be made available to all delegates and also distributed to senior classes in Churchtown and Liscarroll Primary Schools in coming weeks.
The booklet contents include articles on Churchtown and Liscarroll and the Peter Robinson Canadian Settlers Connection, A Short History of Churchtown, A Short History of Liscarroll, Liscarroll Castle, Key Liscarroll Dates, Those Who Stayed Behind by Patrick Leahy, the poem The Walls of Liscarroll, The Sheehans of Churchtown and the Franks vendetta also by Patrick Leahy who is a farmer and a history graduate from Douro in Canada.
The booklet also includes the Catholic Population of Churchtown in 1766, Whiteboys and Burning of Churchtown, The Schools’ Folklore Collection, The Knight of the Knife poem by Martin O’Brien, Garragort, articles on the Church of Saint Joseph, Liscarroll and the Church of Saint Nicholas, Church-town, Bruhenny Medieval Church and Graveyard, Liscarroll Medieval Church and Graveyard, William Murphy – The Weight Thrower, Burton Park, A Brave Widow at Burton, a poem by P G Towns entitled ‘Old Boys and Girls Come Home’ written in 1925 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the emigration. The booklet also includes a com-prehensive biblio-graphy and four appendices naming everyone who emigrated from Church-town, Liscarroll and Buttevant.
The tour starts at the William Murphy Obelisk in Liscarroll Fair Green under the Castle Wall. Gerry Murphy will speak there about his great uncle and the famous weight throwing event on St Patrick’s Day 1868. The group will then visit Liscarroll Castle where Pat O’Brien, Knockardbane will guide the visitors. Pat will then bring the visitors to his family pub where he and his son Donal will speak about the historic memorabilia displayed in the pub. This will be followed by a visit to the ancient medieval Church and graveyard in the village where the group will be met by Dónal Ó Cáinte.
After the Liscarroll Tour the bus will depart for Churchtown and on the way stop at the Great Famine plaque at Egmont. After that it will be straight to Burton Park where the group will be met by Jess Angland and visit Burton Oratory. After this the group will visit Saint Nicholas’ Church yard to see the original metal cross from Annagh Church which would have been well known to the emigrants two hundred years ago.
The visitors will then walk to Bruhenny Medieval Church and Graveyard. Gerry Murphy will give a talk there on the Whiteboy era and matters will conclude with two songs by Willie Relihan in the peaceful setting of the graveyard. The Whiteboys were an agrarian secret society originating in County Tipperary in 1761, membership of which quickly spread to other Munster counties. It was named from the white smocks worn as a nocturnal identifying aid. Grievances of the organisation included the price of conacre, tithes, insecurity of tenure, wages and real or perceived grudges against individual landlords, their agents or against the police. ‘Captain Rock’ or ‘Captain Moonlight’ were two of the favoured names used by cell leaders when writing intimidatory notes. If the warning went unheeded, the recipient could expect rough justice; property might be burned, cattle driven off or maimed, or fences levelled. Murder was not unknown.
The visitors will have lunch in Kerry Lane Café before departing for Doneraile. In the later afternoon the group will visit Milford, Shandrum Graveyard and The Ramb-lin House in Colmanswell.
Robinson descendants Mike and Rosemary Towns and their daughter Nancy will be visiting Churchtown on Sunday 14th September 2025 starting with Mass at 11am in St Nicholas’ Church. Patrick Leahy who farms at Douro about 125km from Peterborough will also be visiting Churchtown later in the week. Patrick’s relations emigrated from Convamore, Ballyhooly. Patrick has helped lead local commemorations of the 1825 Emigration in Douro in 2025. He holds a Masters Degree in History from University of Guelph. Both he and his wife Deanna are descended from numerous families who emigrated in 1825. Deanna is a descendant of the Bartholomew and Mary Sullivan family who emigrated from Church-town.