Bohola’s sandstone church, its memorial to athlete Martin Sheridan and a nearby home founded by Paul O’Dwyer connect local history with the lives of emigrants in America.
Illustration, Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Joseph, Bohola, County Mayo
⊕Recorded locationBohola53.90164° N · 9.05584° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
Both Chomhla· Irish · main form · validated name
Bohola· English · main form
Place & story
The village church
The Church of the Immaculate Conception and Saint Joseph was built in 1858–59, with later alterations shaping its present appearance. Ochre sandstone walls contrast with pale limestone around the Gothic windows and buttresses. Inside, stone arcades divide the nave from its aisles beneath exposed timber roofs. The east window commemorates the Taaffe family and dates from 1859. Stencilled decoration completed in 2006 to a design by Andrew Wilson forms a later chapter in the building’s artistic history.[2]
People & connections
Martin Sheridan’s memorial
Athlete Martin Sheridan was born in the Bohola area in 1881 and emigrated to America in 1899. He became a New York policeman and a champion discus thrower, winning at the 1904 and 1908 Olympic Games. Bohola honoured him with a village memorial unveiled on 22 May 1966. A bronze bust by Paul Fjelde stands on an Irish limestone pedestal made by Seamus Murphy and Bill Jones. Local celebrations included a special Mass and sports in Aitken’s field, linking commemoration with the athletic pursuits that made Sheridan famous.[3]
Paul O’Dwyer’s local legacy
The O’Dwyer Cheshire Home at nearby Lismirrane opened in 1976 on the grounds of Paul O’Dwyer’s family home. The American activist and human-rights campaigner developed the project with support from the Bohola and wider Mayo community. Cheshire Ireland describes it as a residential and respite centre. The home provides a lasting local expression of O’Dwyer’s charitable interests and of the connections maintained between this part of Mayo and its emigrants.[4]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Bohola — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Bohola, Mayo
Published census settlement populations
203people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames