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News
Aughnamullen Church celebrates 150 year Anniversary
On Sunday 14th September we held our Harvest and a Celebration of 150 years of the building of the Church.
The building as you see it dates back to 1864 and was hugely credited to Revd E Tardy. His predecessor Revd Porter had carried out extensive work, but after the death of his two children, decided to leave. He swopped parishes with Revd Tardy in Yorkshire for what they thought was going to be break, but both decided to stay.
This building was consecrated on the 8th November 1864. The tower and gallery were added In 1827 to the existing building. This structures are still quite young if you take into account that it was built to replace the church that stood on the same site from 1421.
The original church dates back to early Christian times and stood in the centre of the graveyard. Evidence has been found when graves are been dug in that area. This was believed to support not just Church of Ireland but also Roman Catholic services at various times in history as seen in the grave yard of multi denominational burials.
The church has gone under a major new wave of renovations. The last record of this amount of work was in 1959. We stripped and re-plastered the Chancel, the Vestry and a large section of the back wall. The floor of the chancel also had to be removed, painstakingly, due to the under floor collapsing. The tiles were cleaned and restored to their original glory. The exterior has been re-pointed and the electrical wiring and the heating system has gone under a lot of work too.
On Sunday 14th about 200 people assembled to celebrate with us, some having travelled from Belfast, Dublin and other parts of the island. The Preacher was the Very Revd Kenneth Hall, Dean of Clogher. Mr Glenn Moore and the Cathedral Choir provided the music. Refreshments were provided in a marquee at the Old School House.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys read the 1st lesson and the Revd William Buchanan read the 2nd Lesson. The service was conducted by the Revd George Beattie, minister of Aughamullen.
