Barrhaven’s Borrisokane Road is a long way from Tipperary Borrisokane is not a person, it’s a town that is home the families that settled the area

Members of the original families to settle South Nepean laughed when they asked who Borris O’Kane was.

“Borris O’Kane is not a person,” Betty Clarke said. “Borrisokane is a town in Ireland where our families all came from. They all settled in the same area in what is now Barrhaven.”

In October, 2016, members of the Clarke, Houlahan, Moloughney and O’Neill families were at the Royal Oak to celebrate the renaming of what is now Borrisokane Road.

Located in Tipperary County in the province of Munster, Borrisokane is a small farming town of about 1,200 people located along the Ballyfinboy River in central Ireland.

“These families settled the area in the 1840s, and what is amazing is that their descendants are still here, living in the community,” said former Councillor Jan Harder as she joined the members of the families after their trip to Borrisokane nearly seven years ago.

When the city unveiled its Legacy Project to rename parks after local families, the first farming families of South Nepean were included.

“We have Tierney Park, Nesbitt Park, Clarke Fields, Monahan Forest, Moloughney Park, Houlahan Park – these were all the original families that settled this area,” said Harder.

When Cedarview Road’s southern extension from Strandherd to Barnsdale Road needed a new name, Harder called Betty Clarke looking for an idea. The Clarke family farm is on the road.

“It took me a few hours to come up with something,” said Clarke at the 2016 meeting. “I thought about all the names and then I thought about Tipperary Road, but there already was a Tipperary in Ottawa. Then I thought that since all of the families came from Borrisokane, that would be a perfect name to reflect the heritage of the original families here.”

The Clarke family visited Borrisokane in 2006 and it was a trip to the cemetery that really made the connection between the Irish town and Barrhaven hit home.

“We went to the Borrisokane Cemetery, and we were amazed that the names there and the names at the St. Patrick’s Church Cemetery in Fallowfield are almost all the same,” said Glenn Clarke.

While the Clarke farm is still intact, Barrhaven grew around the old Houlahan house, located next to the old Jockvale School.

“I remember when there was nothing around us,” said Pat Houlahan. “From my bedroom, you would just see land. Then, by 1980, I would look out and see rooftops.”

Houlahan shared a story about adjusting to his new life in the suburbs instead of life on the farm, despite his home never changing.

“It was in the late 1970s,” he said. “There was a groundhog in our garden eating everything. I grabbed my gun and shot at it. I missed it so I shot again. There were some French guys working on the roofs of some houses, and they scattered for cover. I realized what had happened so I went over and banged on the door where they were hiding but they wouldn’t answer. So I just yelled at them that I was shooting at a groundhog, not at them. I’m not sure if they understood me, but eventually they started working again. Those were just things you did in the country back then, but we had to remind ourselves that we weren’t in the country anymore. I haven’t shot my gun since then.”

Several members of the original families went to an official renaming of the road before retreating to the Royal

Oak

“The renaming of the road is a great tribute to the heritage of our community,” Harder said.