Coolagown church is over 150 years old and was built in 1943 under the direction of the then Parish Priest Rev Timothy O’Brien. The church was built on the site of another smaller, thatched building. Forty years later repairs were carried out by Fr. O’Briens succesor, Rev. Thomas Ferris. It was in such a condition that the candles during Mass were blown out by a wind that whistled through doors that were “worse than useless!”
In 1964 in New York a committee, comprised mainly of emigrants from the fermoy area, decided that a suitable memorial should be erected to the Kents of Bawnard. After consulting with the local clergy it was agreed that the most fitting memorial would be a set of Stations of The Cross for the church where they worshipped. They were officially handed over at a ceremony at Coolagown church on Sunday May 3rd 1964, to the late Fr. Thomas Fitzgerald, by Richard Smyth, a member of the New York committee who travelled over especially for the occasion.