The Ulster Historic Churches Trust invites glebe wardens, property stewards and others who are responsible for church care and maintenance to an event on Friday 31 March 2017 in Gracehill Moravian Church, Gracehill. This will give expert advice and insight into the best way to avoid expensive repair bills through carefully managed maintenance.

To book see link below:

Church Maintenance Seminar tickets

The seventh UHCT walking tour was, yet again, very lucky with the weather with blue skies and a little autumn sunshine heralding another interesting tour of churches, this time of Knock and Ballyhackamore in East Belfast. We started in St. Columba's CoI where the Rev. Canon John Auchmuty welcomed us and we learnt about the orgins of this beautiful church. Manus Deery, Assistant Director of the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities, accompanied us again this year and proved a font of knowledge on the architecture of the various churches. An unexpected organ recital by Dr Joe McKee caused a slight delay to the programme as we stayed to listen to a rousing rendition of the Dambuster's March. The group of about 25 people then quickly made their way to St. Colmcille's Roman Catholic Church on the Upper Newtownards Road where we were made very welcome by Noeleen Dunne on behalf of Father Feeney.   

Manus explained how this church differed in some aspects from St. Columba's. He pointed out how the intricate mosaic detail of the Sanctuary contrasted with the simple architecture of the nave and how the impact of the large columns in the nave had been minimised by detailing them as a cluster of four, more slender columns.

A brisk walk up the road brought us to Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church, the third stop on the tour. The Rev. Christoph Ebbinghaus welcomed us and Manus explained how this church presented a stone front facade to the road but the side and rear walls were constructed in brick - probably to cut costs. This church was much simpler in style with a basic rectangular plan, less ornate stained glass windows and had the pulpit as the focal point. 

At Knock Methodist Church we were welcomed by the Rev. Britt Gilmore who pointed out the two stained glass windows in the west transept which had originally been in Donegall Square East Methodist Church and which commemorated the introduction of Methodism to America through the work of Barbara Heck and Philip Embury. It seemed a fascinating coincidence that he had been appointed to the very church where this window was now installed! 

Our final visit was to Knock Presbyterian Church. Following the welcome by the Rev. David Moore, Manus described how the church had grown and changed since the original design by the architects, Young and Mackenzie, with additions of transepts, galleries and halls to the rear. The afternoon ended with tea and biscuits in one of the newer halls and an informative talk on maintenance.  Jennifer Stutt, our Chair, closed the event, thanked everyone for taking part and reminded everyone to keep an eye on the website for the details of next year's walk.

Appreciating the

Ecclesiastical Heritage of

KNOCK and BALLYHACKAMORE

Thursday 22 SEPTEMBER 2016

The Ulster Historic Churches Trust, which was founded in 1995 and exists to promote best practice in Church maintenance, has run several seminars and conferences over many years. It also organised with UTV and the NIEA the very successful Church Maintenance award scheme of 2006. To date it has organised walking tours in Cookstown, Newtownards, Portadown, Derry/Londonderry, Enniskillen and Armagh.  

This latest event run in collaboration with Knock Churches involves a tour of local churches,

designed to appreciate the rich legacy of the area’s fine ecclesiastical heritage, followed by an

informative talk aimed at how best to maintain these buildings for future generations.

We hope that Glebe Wardens, Vergers, Sextons and Property Stewards will find this particularly helpful.

You are warmly invited to join us for this event.

The walking tour includes the following churches: St Columba’s C of I, St Colmcille’s Catholic Church, Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church, Knock Methodist and Knock Presbyterian Church

APPRECIATING KNOCK AND BALLYHACKAMORE’S

ECCLESIATICAL HERITAGE

UHCT Walking Tour of Knock and Ballyhackamore Churches

Thursday 22 September 2016

For further information about this event contact:

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or Tel:

or visit our website:

www.ulsterhistoricchurches.org

$11.            St Columba’s, Church of Ireland, 29 Kings Road, Belfast, BT5 6JG

$12.            St Columcille’s Catholic Church, 191A Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 3JB

$13.            Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3JF

$14.            Knock Methodist Church, 17 Knock Road, Belfast, BT5 6LA

$15.            Knock Presbyterian Church, 53 Kings Road, Belfast, BT5 6JH

UHCT is grateful to the clergy and staff of the participating churches for the inclusion of these historic buildings in the Walking Tour itinerary.

APPRECIATING

the

ECCLESIASTICAL HERITAGE

of

KNOCK and BALLYHACKAMORE

Thursday 22nd September 2016

This latest event run in collaboration with Knock Churches involves a tour of local churches,

designed to appreciate the rich legacy of the area’s fine ecclesiastical heritage, followed by an

informative talk aimed at how best to maintain these buildings for future generations.

We hope that Glebe Wardens, Vergers, Sextons and Property Stewards will find this particularly helpful.

You are warmly invited to join us for this event.

The walking tour includes the following churches: St Columba’s Church of Ireland, St Colmcille’s Roman Catholic Church, Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church, Knock Methodist Church and Knock Presbyterian Church.

More information will be posted shortly.

Yet again the Churches Trust met on another glorious day to walk around some of the wonderful church buildings in the ecclesiastical city of Ireland - Armagh. We met at St Malachy’s Catholic Church, Irish Street where the particpants were welcomed to the church by Rt. Rev. Monsignor Raymond Murray, a former trustee of the UHCT.  He gave an illuminating account of the building of the church presently on the site with reference to the earlier church building in the city. Manus Deery, Assistant Director with the Historic Environment Division, followed this with more details about the architecture of the church.  From St. Malachy's the group proceded through the city centre to First Presbyterian Church on The Mall where we were welcomed by the minister, the Rev. A D Davidson who gave a brief hsitory of the church with Manus Deery explaining the architectural details of the building. A short walk across The Mall, along a tree lined avenue and the group arrived at St. Mark's Church of Ireland.  Here the Rector, the Rev. Malcolm Kingston, explained that St. Mark's was the Parish church for the city of Armagh although it was originally built in 1811 as a chapel of ease to St Patrick’s Cathedral. When one of the trustees ventured into the pulpit to take a photograph of the particpants, the Rev. Kingston applauded his bravery as the pulpit is famed for being the highest in the Church of Ireland! Our last visit of the day took us back across The Mall and up one of the seven hills of Armagh to Abbey Street Methodist. The Rev. Rowan Zeelie, originally from South Africa, welcomed us to the church and he and Manus explained the history and architecture of this building and its connection with the city and wider Methodist church. Following the walk, the ladies of the church provided much welcomed refreshments and the day concluded with a short but informative talk from Manus on how regular maintenance can prevent costly repair bills - something every church warden was keen to hear.