Cregagh St Finnian

History

Cregagh formed part of the ancient Parish of Knockbreda, whose church had served a population of farmers and farm labourers. As late as 1928 the district was still partly inhabited by dairy farmers who sold milk daily from spring carts in the streets of Belfast, but as Belfast developed after the boom years of linen and shipbuilding in the nineteenth century, and a new tramway service made travel cheap, houses were built along each side of the Cregagh Road and the green fields between them were gradually covered. Knockbreda was too remote for the new population, and the church authorities established a hall in McCaughan Park on the Knockbreda Road, built of red brick above a bend in the road, where a curate from Knockbreda conducted services.

On the evening of 11 September 1928 a committee met in a hall on the Knockbreda Road, chaired by the curate-in-charge, C. W. A. Huston, with the intention of building a church for the district. The foundation stone was laid on 19 September 1931 by the Most Rev. Charles Frederick D'Arcy, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland. The church was consecrated on 10 September 1932, the Feast of St Finnian, by the Right Rev. C. T. P. Grierson, Bishop of Down and Connor and Dromore, and the sermon was preached by the Right Rev. J. I. Peacock, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe. Canon Huston died in February 1968.