Magheragall

History

The parish appears in the Taxation Roll of 1306 under its original name of Drumcale, and the name Magheragall is sometimes translated as the field of the stranger. The parish records that the earliest church of which there is any record stood at Brookhill, about a mile towards Ballinderry from the present site, and that it was burned down in 1641. A church was built on the present site in 1676; the parish takes the dates on tombstones in the churchyard as evidence of it, and believes it to have been of a design similar to the Middle Church at Ballinderry.

The present church was begun in June 1830 and consecrated on 2 June 1831 by Bishop Mant, the hymn writer. It cost £1,000 to build. In 1906 the church was completely renovated and given new seating, and the installation of electricity was dedicated on 18 November 1951. The external stonework was restored, and where necessary renewed, in 1993, and between 1990 and 1999 the parish spent over £400,000 on restoring the church and the rectory and on extending and restoring the parish hall.

A small thatched cottage to the left of the steps up to the church door, in ground since taken into the churchyard, at one time served as the rectory and at another as the local post office.

The building

The church did not originally have a chancel; one was added in 1898, when the stained glass east window was also installed. The organ was first placed in the gallery. A clock presented in 1906 by Mrs Richardson and her family of Springfield is set in the tower, and a plaque in the church porch records the gift. The clock strikes the hour in a muted fashion, said to be so as not to cause night-time disturbance to the donors at Springfield.

Notable features

The bell was cast in 1676 and the parish believes it to be the oldest church bell in Co. Antrim. The chalice bears the date 1705, and a flagon and two patens the date 1769. The baptismal font is dated 1771 and was probably used in the former church on the site, as were the long-handled copper alms dishes now fixed to the wall behind it. One of the hymn boards is made from a portion of the oak roof beams of the church of 1676 and was presented in 1924 by Joseph Turkington, the schoolmaster. A marble tablet commemorates the First World War.

There was no musical instrument in the church until after 1863, a precentor having led the singing with a tuning fork; a harmonium came first, and the organ, built in 1847, was brought from St Patrick's Church, Coleraine in 1875. Herbert Hamilton Harty was first appointed as an organist by the select vestry of this church as a boy and presided at its organ for a period. The Mockler tablet on the south wall of the chancel was erected in memory of the Rev and Mrs Mockler; he was rector of Magheragall from 1863 to 1893. A lectern was presented in October 1945, a gift from the parish of Groomsport.