Our Lady of the Assumption

History

The parish history reads the place name Magherafelt as combining tech, meaning house or monastic house, with a female personal name, indicating an early Christian monastic house under the direction of a woman. Diocesan and parish boundaries in the area were drawn up at the Synods of Kells and Rathbreasail, when Magherafelt was the most northern parish in the diocese of Armagh, and early seventeenth century maps show a church building situated presumably below the present day Bridewell at the bottom of Broad Street.

From 1792 the Catholic people of Magherafelt were served by St John's Church at Milltown, a building placed outside the town on the road to Castledawson which was, according to the Ordnance Survey, plain in its structure and appearance. Our Lady of the Assumption was built by Canon Patrick Donnelly on a plot of land in King Street donated by the Salters Company, and was dedicated on 10 September 1882 by Dr McGettigan, Archbishop of Armagh. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Logue, later Cardinal Logue and Archbishop of Armagh.

A new wing was added to the church in 1981 to cater for growing numbers in the parish.