Ballywatt Presbyterian Church

History

In 1751 John Tennant, from the Edinburgh Presbytery, was ordained to the pastoral oversight of the Secession Synod congregation in the parish of Ballyrashane. The first church building for the congregation was erected at Carnaboy on the Coleraine to Bushmills road, and the congregation was then known as Carnaboy. Very little of that building remains. Tennant was also minister of two other Secession Synod churches, at Roseyards and at Derrykeighan near Dervock.

In 1832 the congregation moved to the present site at Ballywatt. The congregation's own history records that the site was chosen because it was distant from any other church, ensuring effective outreach in the local community at a time when travel was less easy. Ballywatt was in local use as a name long before it became the congregation's official title in 1900; before that it was 2nd Ballyrashane.

The first building on the present site opened in May 1832. It was of traditional Presbyterian design and could seat 600 people. It remained in use until the early 1890s, when the congregation decided, after considerable debate, to demolish it and replace it with a new building on the same site.

The building

The present church was erected in 1895 on the site of the 1832 building. It has a red roof and can be seen from the main Ballymoney to Portrush road. The nearby Moore Memorial Hall was opened in 1911 and is designed in the same style as the church.