Built in the 1790s as the private residence of a Mr Neville, the Rector. On Mr Neville's death, Myrtle Lodge was bequeathed to the Church of Ireland. At different points in its history it was home to both Protestant and Catholic clergymen.
Shortly after the Sisters of Mercy from Cappoquin arrived in Stradbally in 1875, they took possession of Myrtle Lodge. The records kept by the convent at this time reveal that the nuns enjoyed sitting in the garden under the shady trees, reading and praying. In the evening people would often gather to hear the nuns singing. Myrtle Lodge soon became too small however, and the nuns moved, first to Hannigan's Hotel in the square (now Whelan's Bar) in 1883, and then, on the death of Father Casey in 1885, to the Catholic parochial house in Carrickahilla.
Source: Tom Hickey, John Keane and Brian Corry, Stradbally na Déise II (2013), p. 211.
