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About Groomsport
Groomsport is a Church of Ireland church in Groomsport, County Down. It is in the Diocese of Down & Dromore.
History
The church was built in 1841 as a chapel of ease, one of 16 churches funded by the Church Accommodation Society, which had been started by Bishop Richard Mant. The site was a gift from John Waring Maxwell of Finnebrogue, near Downpatrick, whose summer residence was Groomsport House nearby. The gift carried two conditions: that burials were prohibited in the church and the churchyard, and that the church was to be called Groomsport Church.
The total cost of the building was £750. The Church Accommodation Society gave half of that sum, Maxwell added a donation and an endowment of £100 a year, and the balance fell to the building fund. The bishop issued a licence to the Rev Richard Binney on 26 November 1842 and the first service was held on 11 December that year, though the church was not consecrated until 2 February 1850. From 1842 until 1853 the services were conducted by the clergy of the parish of Bangor. The first wedding in the church took place in 1865.
The building
The church was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon, architect of the then Queen's College, who gave his services free to the Church Accommodation Society. As built it consisted of a nave only, with an entrance porch in the base of the tower, and had seating for 130. It originally carried spires, which had been removed by about 1920.
The chancel was added in 1909 in memory of Major Robert Percival Maxwell. Additional pews were installed at the same time and the flat ceiling was replaced by the present hammer-beam roof. The transepts, designed by the local architect J A Hanna, were consecrated in 1932.
Notable features
The west window of the chancel, which depicts the Transfiguration, was made by Mayer of Munich and was installed in memory of Robert Percival Maxwell and his brother John William Percival Maxwell, who died in 1873 and 1875 respectively. The window in the south transept carries the arms of the Percival Maxwell family and that in the north transept the arms of the united dioceses of Down and Dromore. The nave holds a window depicting the Good Shepherd.
The bell was cast by Thomas Mears and Son in 1843 and is inscribed 'Presented by Mr J W Maxwell, Esq R E of Finnebrogue, to Groomsport Church. Thomas Mears, Foundry London 1843'. The foundry later became known as Whitechapel Bells. Church plate was presented by Lady Selina Ker of Portavoe, a daughter of the first Marquis of Londonderry.
Clergy
- Priest-In-Charge Rev E Swattridge
