Sacred Heart Church,
Ferrybank 

RICHARDS and Scales map of 1764 shows the existence of a building on, or close to, the site of the present house.  On the map the property was described as Mount Hulings .  It is established that a family called Hulings lived there.  An old deed tells us that in 1753 a John Hulings was a witness of a lease arrangement between Sid and John Snow and four farmers of Kilmurry.

In 1789 William Anthony Ounior) designed the Belmont mansion.'It was probably built for a member of the Newport family, most likely William Newport, the banker.  He ended his own life at Belmont .  It is said he faced bankruptcy and could not deal with the situation.

Shortly after-wards Henry Winston Barron 2 took up residence in Belmont and changed the name to Barroncourt.  That name remained on the house during his lifetime and also while Pierce Marcus Barron , his successor, was there.  The property was offered for sale in 188 1. At the time Dr. Abraham Brownrigg, Catholic Bishop of Ossory, invited the Brothers of Charity to come to Ossory to open a foundation for the treatment and care of mentally sick patients.  Belmont was thought of as a possible suitable location for this work.  Later that year the Superior General of the Brothers of Charity and Canon de Groote, Spiritual Director of the Order came to Ossory and were taken to inspect the Belmont property.  On examination it was discovered that the buildings were in need of major repairs.  Eventually in 1883 a sale was agreed, the purchase price being f,600.  The roof was replaced and extensive work had to be done to the foundations, which cost a further f600 . Hearnes of Waterford were the contractors.

The religious ceremony of taking possession of the property was performed on May Ist 1884.  New extensions were built the following year under the direction of the Superior , Rev.  Bro.  Wenceslaus Becker.

At Easter 1885 local papers carried an advertisement for the hospital - 'St.  Patrick's Hospital for the insane, under the care of the Brothers of Charity was now in a position to accept patients' The first private hospital of its kind in the country, it claimed to be equipped to the highest standards.  The first patient, a priest from Ossory, had been accepted in May 1884.  By 1908 the hospital was licensed to have 73 patients.  The next building development was the chapel.  It was blessed and opened in 1927 and it is still in service. 

Disaster struck in 1949 on 10th December at 1. 10a.m. Fire had broken out in St. Mary's Wing and the alarm was raised using the chapel bell to rouse everyone.  Most of the building was gutted but the patients and members of the community escaped unharmed.  The current statue of St. Patrick standing over the front entrance escaped damage as the building around it was gutted.  Work commenced on replacing the hospital building in 1951 and was completed in February 1954.  In the interim for a short period patients were accommodated in St. Otteran's and some in the present St. Michael's building.  Large wooden huts with individual rooms were built on the tennis court to accommodate the community and patients until the hospital was ready, in tandem with the psychiatric services in 1965 a residential service was established for male adults with intellectual disability at St. Michael's Belmont Park and in 1982 the first community based group home was opened.  Since then these services have gone from strength to strength.

On the contrary the psychiatric services and a specialist alcoholism treatment centre were discontinued in 1991 as a stage had been reached when the continuance of such services seemed in conflict with the ethos and vision of the Brothers of Charity Congregation.  Their ethos was to care for the marginalized and to leave each individual live life to their full potential and the decision was taken to concentrate on the Mental Handicap Services.

A huge financial input was required to upgrade facilities to compare with the private hospitals in Dublin and the Congregation felt that there were adequate resources and facilities in the country already in the area of psychiatry.

Today - November 2001 - Brothers of Charity Services is one of the three largest service providers in the South Eastern Region, offering residential and day services to persons with Intellectual Disability in Waterford City and County, and in Tipperary South Riding.  Over three hundred adults and children avail of the services on offer and in excess of 300 staff are employed directly in service provision and administration.  There is an emphasis on community based services and the development of small enterprises that offer real work opportunities for people with intellectual disability in an environment that paces itself to the needs of the person with intellectual disability rather than to the commercial pressures of regular businesses.

The members of the Brothers of Charity Congregation are no longer involved in the day-to-day administration of the services but work at a Governance level.