Moira Presbyterian Church

History

The congregation is recorded as existing at the time of the Revolution, though the name of its minister then is not known. It was vacant in 1692, and Samuel Ferguson was ordained towards the end of 1693. In 1706 the congregation asked the Synod to strengthen it by adding some families from near Lisburn and Glenavy.

Samuel Harpur, ordained in 1717, appears to have had non-subscribing sympathies and joined the Presbytery of Antrim in 1727. The Seceders afterwards came into the area and the majority of the congregation appeared to adhere to them, obtaining a minister in James Hume, a Scotsman from Aberdour in Fifeshire, who was ordained in February 1752. Two congregations then stood side by side in Moira until 1830, when John Mulligan withdrew with his congregation from the General Synod and joined the Remonstrant Synod. The Secession congregation received those members of the older congregation who had remained loyal to the General Synod, and its minister was serving at the union of the synods in 1840.

A succession of short ministries followed until Samuel Graham, ordained on 2 January 1850, who remained until his death on 21 January 1903 at the age of 79. The congregations of Moira and Ballinderry were united in 1929, when Robert George McFarland, minister of Moira, was also installed in Ballinderry on 14 March 1929.

The building

In 1731 the congregation applied to the General Synod for help to build a new church, having, in the words of the application, been deprived of their meeting-house; what the cause of this was is not clear. A new meeting-house was erected in 1738 under the ministry of Thomas Creighton. The Seceders, being in the majority, apparently took over the building, and the Synod of Ulster section complained that their meeting-house had been seized and that they had been at considerable expense in a law-suit for its recovery.

A new church hall was opened at Moira on 24 March 1973. A new church building opened at Easter 2017.

Notable features

The congregation has a graveyard at Moira. A map is published showing the position of each grave with names and dates, along with the rules governing the graveyard and the fees charged.