Killesher St John

History

Killesher parish takes its name from the townland of Killesher, on the western side of Claddagh Glen, where the oldest church known in the parish stood. One of the earliest mentions of the name is in the Book of Survey and Distribution for Fermanagh of 1636, and older records give it as Killagher, Killasher and Killaher. The name is also preserved in St Lasser's Well and St Lasser's Cell at Cladagh Glen. Local tradition holds that the first church was built in the townland by St Lasser, a woman who worked only at night so that no one saw her. The ruins of a stone church, probably later in date, stand in the townland with a graveyard alongside.

A chapel-of-ease stood at Lisdivrick in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Nothing of it is visible, and its stones are recorded as having been taken by a Mr Thomas Carr to build a house at Lisgally. A new church was built in the neighbouring townland of Tullyhona in 1780, possibly a wood and thatch structure, which folk memory holds burned down. A further chapel-of-ease was built at Druminiskill and consecrated in 1863.

The building

An enlarged church designed by Ian Derick, including the present tower and spire, was built between 1819 and 1825, aided by a loan of £600 from the Board of First Fruits. Extensive repairs and improvements were made in 1837, after which the church was still described as small.

In 1979 the church was almost completely destroyed in an accidental fire, which left only the porch, tower and spire standing. The rebuilt church was reopened in 1982.

Notable features

A plaque on the wall between the windows on the right-hand side records the donations made when the church was being built, and further plaques are set throughout the interior. Most of the stained glass was installed at the rebuilding in 1982: the Parable of the Sower and Christ as the Good Shepherd in the chancel, the Light of the World, the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ in the transept, the Emblems of the Evangelists in the east window and the Ascension in the nave. Two further nave windows were added in 1985 and a window depicting the interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams was placed in the sanctuary in 2012.

The Revd William Richey Bailey, rector from 1886 to 1888, is buried in the ground behind the church. He made the original pulpit and prayer desk, both destroyed in the fire, and a chair that stands in the transept. William Willis (1837–1894), a medical officer on a British ship during the Boshin War and the founder of the Tokyo Medical School, later the Faculty of Medicine of Tokyo Imperial University, is buried in the same area.

In 2010 the Hicks family vault in the graveyard was found to be in danger of collapse and was later demolished, the remains being reinterred on the site. Part of a wall survives and the vault's original door was reused as a headstone.