Killyleagh Parish Church Outside Walk Round 1660s Graves & Strangford Views
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- Here we are going for a dander round the grounds and cemetery of Killyleagh Parish Church St John the Evangelist. The church building occupies an enviable site on a hill overlooking Strangford Lough. There can’t be many better views from church grounds anywhere in Ireland. As a result of it being built on a hill, the parish can be seen from anywhere in Killyleagh and even out on the Lough as well. Worship has taken place on the site since 1640 - maybe even before then. As a result there’s plenty of history to learn.
This beautiful church occupies a 1.5 acre site. The original building would have been a barn-like structure. The distinctive font is made of red porphyry, a hard crystalline rock, deep red and quarried in ancient Egypt. There are also some magnificent stained glass windows. The capstone, placed beside the font, shows the date the church was built-1640.
King James had awarded James Hamilton land from Killyleagh to Bangor and the church was built on some of this land at the top of Church Hill.
In 1825 a new spire was added, paid for by local benefactor Lord Dufferin. There are records of the church being closed for four months in 1859 as open pews had been installed.
Gas lighting was installed through the generosity of mill owner John Martin of Shrigley in 1866. He came to Killyleagh from Pott Shrigley in Cheshire and created a respected model village for his mill workers.
Over the decades many additions and improvements have been made, -new glass windows, new organ, new choir stalls, new heating system etc
A new parish hall, the St John’s Parish Centre, was completed early in 2018 and dedicated for use by Bishop Harold Miller on 21st January.
Truly ancient gravestones there Tom! The only place in NI I've seen anything older is in Greyabbey but the grave stones there are much harder to read.
Yes the Greyabbey graves are ancient.
There's a few old headstones from the mid 1600s implanted into the walls of Drumbeg parish church and there's an old well documented ghost story there too. Most old headstones are virtually impossible to decipher.
St Patrick's Parish Drumbeg Belfast Co Down A Place Steeped in History
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Drumbeg Graveyard Belfast Co Down & The Ghost of James Haddock
You take care Edward!
Best wishes from the Belfast Castlereagh hills
Tom
Beautiful scenery……I’ll visit this location one day. History dating from 1663 vintage is prehistoric compared to Canada.
Hi GC. It is a very scenic spot. This is one of te earliest headstones I've ever come across that you could read. The earliest was 1645.
Wow Tom, those are seriously old gravestones what a scoop and well done Tanya for sporting the first one beautiful chuch and a beautiful view and like i said before really enjoying these Killyleagh videos.
Many thanks Chris. That's I'm afraid that's the last of Killyleagh for a while. We had such a good time there.
Well Tom, it's a cracking set of videos, so much interest and like you say come and see for yourself, and we're hoping to do just that in the not too distant future.
As always many thanks Chris. We didn't expect to come across quite so much! lol It is so god to dander round places like Killyleagh in the sunshine. Not so good in the rain! lol