All Saints, Newtowncunningham

The Parish of All Saints, Newtowncunningham, Co. Donegal, lies along the east shore of Lough Swilly, south of Inch Island. Newtowncunningham is half way between Letterkenny and Derry. At the time of the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century, the area was planted by the Cunningham family, hence the name of the villages of Manorcunningham and Newtowncunningham.

All Saints Church was built in 1722 as a private chapel for the Forward Family of Castleforward, and was consecrated on All Saints' Day, 1st November that year. On the 9th December 1728, it became a chapel of ease in the Parish of Taughboyne. At the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, 1870, All Saints district was separated from the Parish of Taughboyne, and it became a parish in its own right.

All Saints Church possesses one of the two lych gates in the Dioceses of Derry and Raphoe, the other being at Baronscourt Church, County Tyrone. It was erected in 1920 to commemorate the Rev. Alexander George Stuart and his wife, Christine Emma of Bogay House, Newtowncunningham. Sadly in recent times the gate has been subjected to an attack by ghastly individuals.

Bogay House was given to the Rev. Thomas Pemberton, Rector of Taughboyne for use as a rectory about 1800. Mrs Stuart was a sister of the Very Rev. Edward Bowen, Rector of All Saints, 1868-1886, and Dean of Raphoe, 1882 until his death in 1897.

There is a three storey tower at the west end of the church which is surmounted by corner finials. It was built in 1808. A stone in the interior west wall records the presentation of the clock in the tower by the Rev. Robert Blackmore Rankin, Rector of All Saints, 1885-1917. Also in the porch are two crosses which came from the grave of Lt. Col. A.G.Stuart who was killed at Westroute in Flanders in 1916 during the Great War.

The nave is lit by four windows in the south wall and three in the north wall. Each has two lights with clear lattice panes and Y tracery. There are five windows with coloured patterned glass in the sanctuary. The central window has two lights and cusped tracery.

The baptistery is in the south-west corner of the nave. It was erected in 1992 in memory of a nine-year old Audrey Christine West who was killed in a car accident in 1991. The vestry room is to the left of the nave.

The stone pulpit has marble columns, and inscribed upon it are the names of the four Evangelists. It is on the left side of the nave, outside the chancel. The wooden eagle lectern commemorates Dean Bowen. There is a two manual electronic organ with pedals.

The chancel was built in 1896. The two marble steps into it were erected in 1905 in memory of Isabella Kerr. The reredos commemorates those that fell in the Great War. The names of the former are inscribed on the left side of the altar, and those of the latter, on the right. The prayer desk in the sanctuary was given in thanksgiving for the survival of a serious illness in infancy of Stephen Devenny in 1991.

The three classical monuments on the north wall commemorate the Forward Family. The Rt. Hon. Ralph Howard of Shelton House, Arklow, Co. Wicklow, 1st Viscount Wicklow, M.P for the County of Wicklow, married Alicia, daughter of William Forward of Castleforward in 1755. William Forward, who built the church, is commemorated on a monument over the vestry door. He died in 1770. Alicia is commemorated in the middle monument  William, son of Ralph and Alicia Howard became the third Earl of Wicklow, and in 1780 he assumed the surname and arms of the Forward family. The other monument on the north wall commemorates his wife Eleanor, who died in 1807.

On the south wall is a memorial in the baptistery to Audrey West, John Gordon Bowen, brother of Dean Bowen, brother of Dean Bowen who died in 1891, and his wife Harriet who died in 1885 are commemorated on a brass plaque.

There is a memorial to Dean Bowen, and above it, his Father, the Rev. Edward Bowen, Rector of Taughboyne, 1819-1867, is commemorated. Another memorial commemorates the Rev. A.G.Stuart and his wife Christine and the family. Their son Lt. Col. Alexander Stuart who was killed in Flanders in 1916 is commemorated. There is also a memorial to the Rev. R. B. Rankin. William Forwards gravestone is set into the south wall.

Burt, Christ Church

Burt, "Druim Bearta" - the height of Bearta, is between Derry and Newtowncunningham. The ancient church belonged to the Abbey of Macosquin, and later became one of the five chapels of ease of Templemore Parish. There have been several churches on the different sites, built about 1620, 1737, and around 1805. The present church was built about 1860 to a design by John G. Ferguson . It is a rectangular hall with a porch and a tower in the north west corner, and a porch to the side of the sanctuary. The tower is surmounted by a cream brick turret and short spire.

There is a lattice window of three lights in the west wall, and a stained glass window of three lights in the east wall. There are four lattice windows in the south wall, and three in the north wall, the middle one of which is lattice.

The first window is in memory of the Rev. Cononolly Cheevers, perpetual curate 1820-1871,

and the other window is in memory of Frances Crookshank who died in 1880.

Burt Church was closed in 1973. It has since been sold and converted into a bar/restaurant. In the words of my friend The Rev. Canon David Crooks, " It is to be regretted that the restaurant within contains a pub, with the old church furniture and fittings, including the pulpit, adjacent to the bar, which to say the least, is in very bad taste".

Dunlewey

Dunlewey means, "Lewe's Fort". Dunlewey Church was Consecrated as a Chapel of Ease in Tullaghobegley Parish, Gortahork, on 1st September 1853. In 1872, the perpetual curacy was absorbed into neighboring parishes. The Church is a four bay hall with a tall tower at the west end which has prominent finals.

Dunlewey church was closed in 1955, and is now a ruin on the shores of Dunlewey Lough, at the foot of Mount Errigal.

The bell is now at Cashel Church near Creeslough, and on it is inscribed the date 11th October 1860, and the name of the Incumbent, Rev. J. H. Bor, who was Incumbent 1856-1872. James Henry Bor was the only man to hold the incumbency without any other parish.  

The High Altar, St. Peter's Parish Church, Jersey, Channel Islands

I simply adore this Parish Church. Everything about it screams "Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness"

The history will follow later, I just could not keep the photographs to myself any longer.

William Barnard 1697-1768 : Bishop of Derry 1747-68

William Barnard was born in Clapham, Surrey circa 1697. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. 1720; M.A. 1724; D.D. 1740. He was elected a fellow of the College in 1724 and two years later became Rector of Esher, Surrey, 1726-44. During this tenure he became acquainted with the Duke of Newcastle who made him his Chaplain, while in 1728 he was appointed Chaplain to the King. Barnard became Prebendary of Westminster, 1732-43; Vicar of St. Bride's, London, 1739-47; Dean of Rochester, 1743-3. In May 1744 he was appointed Bishop of Raphoe and three years later was translated to Derry on the 3rd March 1747.

Barnard, after returning to England on account of poor health, died in London on the 10th January 1768 and was buried at Westminster Abbey. He married Anne Stone, sister of his predecessor. Their eldest son later became Bishop of Limerick. William Barnard was responsible for the building of the Chapel of Ease and the Bishop's Palace in Londonderry. He published A Sermon preached before the Incorporated Society for Promoting English Protestant Schools in Ireland, Dublin 1752.

Baronscourt Parish Church

Baronscourt was originally a district curacy in the parish of Ardstraw. The parish church, high in the west Tyrone hills six kilometres to the south-west of Newtownstewart, was consecrated on 24th March 1858. It has one of the two lynch gates in the Dioceses of Derry and Raphoe, the other being at All Saints, Newtowncunningham, Co. Donegal. It was erected by the second Duke of Abercorn in memory of his mother. Over the gate are inscribed the words, "I am the resurrection and the life saith the Lord".

The church is more English in style and character. It is entered through a porch in the south wall. The entrance doors commemorate Samuel and Margaret Compton, 1993. The window in the west wall has coloured lattice glass.

There are two windows in the south wall, which have two lights and geometrically patterned lights above, and richly coloured lattice panes.

In the north wall, the first window depicts St. Matthew and St. Mark on the left, and St. John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist on the right.

 The window commemorates Louisa Jane, Duchess of Abercorn who died in 1905.

The second window depicts King David and the Prophet Micah on the left, and the Prophets Isaiah and Zechariah on the right.

They commemorate James, 1st Duke of Abercorn who died in 1885.

In the ceiling there are dormer windows of three lights each and lattice panes.

  The east window has three lights and tracery.

The east section depicts faith and commemorates Ronald Douglass Hamilton who died in 1867.

The central section, Charity, is in memory of Beatrix Francis, Countess of Durham who died in 1871.

The right section, Hope, is in memory of Elizabeth, Countess of Edgecombe.

The vestry room is north of the chancel. In the sanctuary, the Ten Commandments are inscribed on each side of the east wall. These, and the tiling of the chancel, commemorate Louisa Jane, Duchess of Abercorn.

The pulpit is on the left and the prayer desk is on the right. The brass eagle lectern was presented by Bishop William Alexander and others in memory of James, 1st Duke of Abercorn, K.G.

The beautifully decorated chamber organ also commemorates Louisa Jane, Duchess of Abercorn. It was built by the Positive Organ Company of London.

There are numerous monuments in the church which commemorate the Hamilton Family, Dukes of Abercorn.

Baronscourt House, surrounded by it's estate and gardens, is amongst the grandest neoclassical houses of its kind in Ireland. It was built between 1779 and 1781 by James Hamilton, eighth Earl of Abercorn. He died in 1789, and was succeeded by his nephew, John James who became the first Marquess of Abercorn in 1790. Following the destruction of Baronscourt by fire in 1796, the house was completely rebuilt. It has been altered a number of times ever since.

The Hamiltons have lived at Baronscourt since before 1566. Their ancestry can be traced far further. For example, an ancestor, James Hamilton was 1st Earl of Arran at the beginning of the 16th century. The first Earl of Abercorn, James Hamilton, was a grandson of the second Earl of Arran. He died in 1617. Another ancestor, James Hamilton (1559-1643), was Viscount Clandeboye. James Hamilton, the sixth Earl of Abercorn (1656-1734), took part in the Siege of Derry in 1689, and was created Viscount Strabane in the Irish Peerage.

James Hamilton, (1811-1885), eldest son of James, Viscount Hamilton, was the first Duke of Abercorn. He succeeded  to the title of Marquess of Abercorn in 1818 on the death of his grandfather, the first Marquess.

The above picture shows the grave of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn. He was the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and as such, he presided over the installation of the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII), as a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1868. He was raised to the Dukedom as the first Duke of Abercorn on 10th August 1868.

The above picture shows the grave of the 2nd Duke of Abercorn.

The third Duke was the first Governor of Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1945. His Grace, the fifth Duke of Abercorn, the present holder of the title, was made a Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter by Her Majesty the Queen in June 1999.

Two points of extreme curiosity that one should make a note of when visiting Baronscourt Church.

1. Ruby Studded Communion Rails.

2.

The grave of a member of the Hamilton Clan. The date is somewhat peculiar.

Acknowledgement:

The Earl-Bishop is indebted to the Rector of Baronscourt Parish Church, The Rev. Ivan Dinsmore.