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About September, 1943, John O'Leary,
Rossmore, asked Dermot Kelleher to paint
in colour, an 18'' white statue of Our
Lady, which he had. (Dermot had
previously painted the statues in the
church yard in colour).
While Dermot
was painting the statue, John told him
that his daughter, Lena, had said on a
number of occasions that the stream, and
waterfall, at Rossmore, would be a nice
place for a statue of the Blessed
Virgin.
On a
fine Sunday evening, at the end of May,
1944, Dermot and Connie O'Leary went for
a walk out the Macroom Road. When they
reached the stream at Rossmore
Dermot told Connie what John O'Leary had
said the previous year, and they agreed
it was a suitable place for a 'Lourdes
Grotto'.
Connie said "Come on up, and
we will ask John Oldham for permission
When asked, John Oldham said "Take as
much land as you want there".
They then called to John O'Leary,
and told him they would erect the Grotto
at the stream. He gave them the first
£2.00 towards the cost, and the next
door neighbour, Jeremiah O'Leary, gave
£2.00 also.
The Parish Priest and Curate had no
objection, though the Curate, Fr.
O'Driscoll, suggested they should put
the Grotto at Keimeens.
Contributions of £1 .00 each were
receivied from 25 persons, including
Donnchadh O Leary, N.T., J.
O'Sullivan,(Hotel), Cors. Creedon,
(Hotel),
William Kelleher, Denis J. O'Leary,
Agnes Mcsweeney, N.T., May Twohig, N.T.,
Finbar O'Leary, Paddy Casey, Seamus
O'Leary, N.T., John Creedon, Dan Cotter,
Sergeant Smyth, Mrs.Ronan(Ballingeary),
Dan Jack O'Sulliuan, Andrew Brophy,
Eugene Corcoran, and a number of others.
Dermot and Connie
purchased the statues from Mr. Bernardi,
Paul St.,Cork,for £27-1O-O (£27.50), and
Timmy Johnny (O'Sullivan) brought them
out in his lorry, on top of a load of
pollard, with Dermot sitting up on the
pollard also.
Danny Sullivan, the
mason, was engaged to erect them, to lay
out the ground plant some trees and
shrubs, and erect a wooden paling and
gate in front. The final cost was
£37.00, with Connie and Dermot putting
in the balance.
Two years later, they
asked the C.Y.M.S. committee to take on
the care of Grotto, and it was the
C.Y.M.S. who got the concrete railings,
and iron gate erected and a box put
there for contributions towards the
upkeep.
In 1954, the new
P.P., Fr O'Neill, requested, and took
possession OF the Key, saying
" That Grotto out in Rossmore, was
blessed by the Bishop, and any money put
into the box there, should go into
parish funds."
Down the years, the Grotto has
become a place of devotion to Our Lady,
and in the late 1980s a number of
apparitions were reported there.
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