Places and Objects of Interest

At various locations in Ulster it is possible to explore the setting of Catholic worship in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The now ruined Franciscan friary at Bonamargy, near Ballycastle, was an important religious centre in north Antrim in the seventeenth century, enjoying the patronage of the MacDonnell Earls of Antrim.

A small number of churches survive from the late eighteenth century and we can also observe the tombstones of the clergy, sometimes with the symbols of Catholic worship displayed on them. Some Penal Era chalices have also been preserved, as well as crosses.

Catholic churches

In the eighteenth century Mass was celebrated in a variety of settings, including private houses, temporary structures and the open air at Mass rocks, the locations of which are well known in many districts. Increasingly so, more permanent structures described by contemporaries as ‘mass-houses’ were built in Ireland. A report of 1731 found that there were nearly 900 mass-houses across the island as a whole. However, the situation in Ulster was considerable worse than most of the rest of Ireland.

The condition of the buildings depended on a number of factors, including the relative strength, both socially and economically, of the local Catholic community. There are some few examples of older religious sites being reused. Struell Wells, near Downpatrick in Co. Down, was an important pilgrimage site associated with St Patrick. A chapel was begun here around 1750, but on account of local opposition from the authorities it was never completed.

The great majority of mass-houses in rural Ireland, including Ulster, were fairly nondescript edifices.

With the gradual relaxation of the Penal Laws in the latter part of the eighteenth century, the Catholic community grew in confidence and this was reflected in its places of worship. Mass-houses were rebuilt as more substantial structures with greater architectural pretensions.

Gallery of photographs of churches

Presented below is a series of photographs of early Catholic churches in Ulster. It should be noted that many of these buildings have been subject to alterations and refurbishments, and have had their interiors rearranged.

The ruined chapel at Dunnvadden, near Ballymena, was constructed in the mid-1700s. However, the building was abandoned when a parishioner struck the priest c. 1795; the chapel was unroofed in 1797. The church at Lagg, near Malin, was erected in 1784 and is said to have been the first Catholic church built in Inishowen since Penal times. Interestingly, the adjoining burial ground includes a Protestant section. A near contemporary church in Donegal is Massmount in Fanad of 1780.

The former Drumcree church dates from 1783 and once stood near Portadown; it is now in the Ulster Folk Museum. The earliest portion of the Long Tower church in Derry was built just beyond the city’s walls in 1784–6 at a cost of £2,800.

Now part of the outdoor exhibition at the Ulster American Folk Park, the former chapel at Tullyallen, Co. Tyrone, was built in 1768. It is a plain hall with a thatched roof. The fireplace at the west end suggests that it was also used as a school, while a door beside the altar leads into a small area that provided accommodation for the priest.

According to a slate tablet in the exterior wall, Drumcatton church, near Inniskeen, was built in 1796 'under the inspection' of Rev. Bernard Callan. The church at Lisbane in the Ards peninsula was, according to a tablet, built in 1777 during the ministry of Rev. Daniel O'Dornan; when a new church was constructed at Ballycranbeg in 1874, the church at Lisbane became a mortuary chapel.

The former church at Kildoagh, in the parish of Templeport, bears a plaque with a Latin inscription recording that it was built in 1796. It had separate entrances for men and women. the altar was in the middle of the long south wall.

Dunnyvadden, Co. Antrim

Malin, Co. Donegal

Massmount, Co. Donegal

Drumcree, Co. Armagh

Long Tower, Derry

Tullyallen, Co. Tyrone

Drumcatton, Co. Monaghan

Lisbane, Co. Down

Kildoagh, Co. Cavan

Memorials

The practice of laying out a burial ground next to a Catholic church dates primarily from the nineteenth century. Prior to this, the great majority of Catholics were buried in graveyards on pre-Reformation religious sites. These included former monasteries and the sites of chapels and parish churches. The latter were in the possession of the Church of Ireland, and often included a Church of Ireland place of worship. Nonetheless, these locations continued to be used by the local Catholic population.

A remarkable gravestone at Moybologue shows a figure in clerical dress, holding a chalice and in his left hand and with his right hand raised in blessing. Various suggestions have been made as to the subject of this memorial, including a priest who died in 1721 and Maurice Gargan who became vicar-general of Kilmore diocese c. 1616 (the tombstone may well have been reused and so both of these suggestions could be correct).

The inscription on the headstone in Aghagallon graveyard is interesting in that it does not name the priest, simply giving his initials, WD. The inscription reveals that he erected this headstone in his own lifetime, in 1809, by which time he had 'rul'd' this congregation for 36 years. From other sources we know that he was named William Dawson. He died in 1814. The upper part of the headstone features a cross and the Latin phrase Memento Mori (Remember you must die).

The images presented below are of memorials to a number of Catholic priests in Ulster. The headstone to Rev. Hugh O'Donnell (d. 1814) informs us that he was PP of Belfast for 44 years, and displays a high quality carving of the O'Donnell coat of arms, linking this family to the ruling family in pre-Plantation Donegal (Tyrconnell). The headstone is at Glenarm in the graveyard adjoining the Church of Ireland church (once the site of a Franciscan friary).

The inscribed tablet in the former Drumcree Catholic Church - now reconstructed in the Ulster Folk Museum - commemorates Rev. John Coyne (d. 1803) and includes a verse praising the deceased for his personal qualities and dedication to service. The memorial was erected by his brother, Rev. Michael Coyne, whose own death in 1815 is also recorded on this stone.

Image: Moybologue, Co. Cavan

Aghagallon, Co. Antrim

Glenarm, Co. Antrim

Drumcree, Co. Armagh

Chalices

Chalices were an integral part of the celebration of Mass and a number of examples from the Penal Era are still in existence. The chalice of Andrew Campbell, Bishop of Kilmore, was produced in 1761. The McCartan and Tullymacnally chalices are held by the Diocese of Down and Connor.

The decorative McCartan chalice of 1773 screws into three parts for ease of transport as to avoid detection. Legend is that it was brought by three individuals and assembled on site. The Tullymacnally chalice is a simple silver chalice inscribed with the name and a cross.

Campbell chalice

McCartan chalice

Tullymacnally chalice

Acknowledgements

For supplying some of the photographs in this section, we are very grateful to Dr Finbar McCormick (Drumcatton, Struell Wells and Tullyallen), Monsignor Liam Kelly (Campbell chalice, Kildoagh and Moybologue), and the Diocese of Down and Connor (McCartan and Tullymacnally chalices).

The Catholic Church in Ulster, 1600–1800