Rathcoole St Comgall

History

Services for the parish were first held in the assembly hall of Abbot's Cross Primary School, the first service taking place on 4 September 1955. Building of St Comgall's began in January 1956 and the church was consecrated on 1 December 1956 by the Bishop of Connor.

An extension to the front of the church was completed in 1994, providing lift access, and the building was rededicated on 4 May 1994. The parish describes itself as the first in the Church of Ireland to be planned entirely within the confines of a housing estate.

The building

The church stands within the Rathcoole housing estate, off the Shore Road close to Belfast Lough. It is unusual in arrangement, with the church hall on the ground floor and the church itself on the first floor, and it is a grade 2 listed building.

It is dedicated to St Comgall, whom the parish records as having been born at Magheramourne.

Notable features

The stained glass in the church came from the Chapel of the Resurrection, which stood in the grounds of Belfast Castle and had been the private chapel of the Shaftesbury family. The chapel, which held three stained glass windows, closed in the early 1970s, and the rector and select vestry of St Peter's agreed that the intact glass should pass to St Comgall's.