PARISH HISTORY

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PRE-CHRISTIAN PERIOD.

Long before there was a parish of Ramoan and even before the coming of Christianity to Ireland the port of Ballycastle or Port Brittas as it was more commonly called, was connected with several of the great legends of lreland e.g. the story of the Children of Lir, who had been turned into swans and spent a lengthy sojourn in the stormy waters of the Sea of Moyle; and it was at Carraig Uisneach, the rock at the end of Ballycastle strand, that Deirdre and the Sons of Uisneach landed on their return from exile in Scotland; and at Doonfin in Glenshesk Finn MacCool’s favourite hound, Bran, was mistakenly slain.

ST PATRICK.

St Patrick was no stranger to the area. No doubt when he herded the swine for Chieftain Milchu on the top of Slemish he had frequently looked in this direction hoping to see a ship which would take him back home. The founding of the church of Ramoan by St Patrick circa 454 A.D. is recorded in the Tripartite Life of the saint

“He founded Rathmodhain [Ramoan] and left the priest Erclach in it.” St Erclach or Erclasius was a disciple of St Patrick and his festival was held on 3rd March. Colgan describes the church of Ramoan as being “in regione of Dalriadae Carthrugia dicta, et tn Deconatu de Tuashceart” i.e. “in the region of Dalriada Called Carey [the Barony of Carey], and in the Deanery of Tuaisceart”. Little is Known about St Erclasius but the site of his church may still be seen in Old Ramoan cemetery at the junction of the Novally and Whitehall roads. St Patrick founded another Church in the parish at Drumenia and placed Enan in charge of it, hence the name Drumenia or Drumenan. Enan was said to be the son of Modhain, the local chieftain, whose residence was known as Rath Modhain or Modhain’s Rath, hence the name Ramoan.

DRUMENIA.

Reeves elaborates on Drumeeny: “In the townland of Drumeeny, in Glenshesk, a little west of the river which bounds the parish, is a gentle eminence, on which are the remains of an ancient chapel, 28 feet 9 inches long and 15 feet wide in the clear. The walls are 10 feet high and 3 feet thick. There seems to have been a narrow window in the east gable, as also in the north wall, near the altar end, and in the south wall. The font, together with the dressed sandstone quoins, was carried away to a field at some distance. About three perches south was a burying ground, locally called Kileenan, which was long disused and is now under cultivation ... this church is very probably the “Ecclesia de Druim-lndich” which the Tripartite Life of St Patrick states to have been founded by him in the region of Carthrugia [Carey], and to have been placed under the care of St Enan. (Trias Thaum, p. 142). This saint seems to have been the person who is styled in the Calendar of Marian Gorman “Enanus egregius, diuturnae quietis, et Muadani filius” and from whose father, Muadhan, the parish church derived the name Rath-Mudhain. (Trias Thaum. p.I 82; Acta SS. p.747.) The festival of St Enan was observed on 25th March under which day the name is noticed by Colgan. The chapel above described is vulgarly called Gobbin’s Heir’s Castle. It is so termed in the Parochial Survey (Vol.ii. p.506;) and even on the Ordnance Maps - both Townland and Index - it bears the same name. The first two words are evidently acorruption of Goban Saor (Goban the builder), the title of the celebrated architect to whose skill the traditions of the country ascribe the erection of so many churches and round towers but the term Castle is a complete perversion, as every feature of the spot is indicative of an ecclesiastical character.”

It is remarkable that St Patrick founded two churches within the parish of Ramoan and one in the adjoining parish of Culfeightrin at Magherintemple.

KILLNACRUE

Reeves also refers to the standing stone opposite Ulster Quarries on the road from Ballycastle to Armoy: “In the townland of Turraloskin was an old cemetery, called Killnacrue, where were the ruins of a small chapel, and about seven yards from them, a stone 51/2feet high, called the priest’s stone, which bore the figure of a cross”. Cill-na-cru - the horse shoe church or graveyard, according to O’Laverty, contained about a rood of ground and was surrounded by a broad wall of dry stones. The stone on which the cross is inscribed is to the south side of the site of the church. Between the church and the cross stood the supposed ruins of three altars, each one about a yard square on the top.

We are told that when St Patrick came to north Antrim he found it parcelled out among the twelve sons of Ere, the local chieftain, who was the great grandson of Cairbre Riada, from whom derived the name Dalriada (Riada’s territory). The youngest of the sons, Fergus, received the saint with kindness and received his special blessing. Fergus then set out circa 475 A.D. from Port Brittas, in the parish of Ramoan, with his brothers, Angus and Loarne, and a host of followers, to found the colony of Scottish Dalriada. Among the descendants of these Antrim men was Kenneth McAlpine who managed to unite the Picts and Scots.

PRIORY AT DRUMAWILLAN.

Archdall in his Monasticon Hibernicum writes about a priory in the parish of Ramoan: “About the year 1202, William de Burgh granted the village of Ardimur, with the Church and all its appurtenances, to Richard, one of the monks of Glastonbury, to found a priory to the honour of God and the Virgin Mary; which being done the place was called Ocymild, and Richard was appointed the first prior. It was thus mentioned in the Monasticon Anglicanum; but M. Allemande changes the name to Drymild and conjectures that it is in this county [Antrim]. If Drymild be the true reading we may with some probability suppose it to be Drumawillan, near Ballycastle.” All traces of this priory have disappeared but it may be that it was on the site of this old priory that Mass was celebrated during the 18th century (at William McClarty’s garden at the Walkmill.)

THE TAXATION OF POPE NICHOLAS IV

Edward I, King of England, by promising to undertake an expedition for the recovery of the Holy Land obtained from the Pope the tenths of all the benifices of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Pope Nicholas IV, in March 1291, addressed a letter to the collectors of Ireland that the valuation should be “juxta veram existimationem”. The tax was to continue for six years and all ecclesiastics were to be subject to it except the Templars and Hospitallers whose services and losses in Palestine entitled them to an exemption. This taxation, which does not appear to have been completely carried out, was renewed in 1306. The importance of this document is that it preserves the names and represents the fiscal position of the churches in the year 1306 which was to change two hundred and fifty years later when many of the churches were taken over after the Reformation. In the taxation of Pope Nicholas IV the church of Ramoan was valued at £10-0s-0d.

BUNAMARGY FRIARY.

About the year 1485 Rory McQuillan introduced the Franciscans to the area and built a friary for them at Bunamargy. It was not unusual for Norman lords to found Monasteries or friaries and the McQuillans were said to be of Norman descent. As conquerors and successors of the McQuillans, the MacDonnells assumed the patronage of Bunamargy and made it their burial-place, and so it came to be associated with their name. The Suppression of the Monasteries less than sixty years after the founding of the Friary should have meant the closing of Bunamargy but as Biggar points out it did not immediately affect Bunamargy: “Of course the fateful year (1537) saw the suppression of this Monastery with all the others throughout the kingdom; but being situated in a remote district, with the lord and the people still favourable to the Monastery, it is not to be supposed that the suppression meant an immediate expulsion of the monks from its walls, for it is known that they lingered about its aisles for many years afterwards; nor did they finally leave until Macdonnells had embraced the reformed faith, although during that time their existence had been checkered and filled with much adversity, and their numbers had dwindled to insignificance.”

THE FRIARY BURNED BY THE MACDONNELLS

In spite of the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Friars continued their work but it cannot have been easy for them for the Friary was practically destroyed by the MacDonnells. In January 1584 the English, under Sir John Perrott, were waging war on the MacDonnells. They had taken Dunluce Castle and were now at Ballycastle. Captain Carlisle and Captain Warren had their horses lodged in the chapel of Bunamargy Friary, with two companies encamped close by. Sir William Stanley wrote an account of what happened: “About 11 of the clock on the same night there came certain troops of Scots on foot and about six horsemen with them, who had upon their staves lighted wads, whereby they suddenly set the roof of the chapel being thatched on fire.” However the Friary was subsequently rebuilt and occupied by the friars again. As for Sir William Stanley he led an army to the Continent and became a Catholic and in the city of Mechlin he acted as a gracious host to his former enemies the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell who had fled from Ireland in September 1607.

ST COLMCILLE’S CROSS

During the campaign against the MacDonnells Sir John Perrott plundered Dunluce and Dunaneanie Castles and distributed the spoils to his friends. He sent an unusual present to Lord Burghley which had been taken from Sorley Boy MacDonnell’s household treasures. Perrott’s letter accompanying the gift is as follows: “And for a token I have sent you Holy Colmkill’s Cross,a god of great veneration with Sorley Boy and all Ulster, for so great was his (Colmkill’s) grace, he thought himself happy that could get a kiss of the said cross. I send him unto you, that when you have made some sacrifice to him according to the disposition you bear to idolatry, you may, if you please bestow him on my good Lady Walsyngham or my Lady Sydney, to wear as a jewel of weight and bigness, and not of price and goodness, upon some solemn feast or triumph day at court.” Reeves writes in 1857: “This altar-cross is not now known to exist, but from the description it would seem that it was cased in metal, and adorned with crystal bosses, like the Cross of Cong preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.”

The Terrier of such lands as appertain and belong to the Bishopric of Down and Connor drawn up by Robert Echlin, the Protestant Bishop, in 1615, gives the name of every Catholic church which existed before the Reformation. It records that the church of Ramoan has twenty acres of Glebe. It pays Proxies 20/-; Reflections20/-; and Synodals2/-.

The Ulster Visitation Book reports in 1622: “Eccelesia de Ramoan decayed”

BUNAMARGY USED AS A PARISH CHURCH.

After the Reformation, when the church of St Erclasius was taken over by the Established church, it would seem that Bunamargy served as a parish church for the people of Ballycastle. In support of this theory there is the fact that Sir Randal MacDonnell, Earl of Antrim, built the MacDonnell side-chapel as an annexe to the Bunamargy chapel in 1621 in such a position that the members of his family were raised above the general congregation and yet quite close to the high altar ( almost like a royal box in the theatre). There were probably two reasons for this; firstly the MacDonnells being lords of the manor would have found it ‘infra dig’ to stand side by side at Mass with the common folk of the district; secondly the cholera disease was rife at that time and was easily transmitted by the slightest contact with infected persons or even their clothing. This might suggest that Bunamargy was by this time, 1621, serving as the parish church for Ballycastle and the surrounding area.

FATHER FRANCIS MACDONNELL.

Sir Randal MacDonnell’s son, Francis, joined the Franciscans and was ordained in 1624. In 1632 the bishops of Ulster petitioned the Pope to appoint Fr Francis to the See of Clogher but the request was not granted. The signatories of the letter were: Hugh O Reilly, Armagh; Thomas, Meath; John Cullinan, Raphoe; Eugene Sweeney, Kilmore; and Bonaventure Magennis, Down and Connor.

The friars continued to serve the western isles of Scotland from their base at Bunamargy from 1616 until 1646. The four friars involved were Patrick Brady, Patrick Hegarty, Edmund McCann and Cornelius Ward and their work must have been extremely difficult. In 1639, 700 Scots came over to Bunamargy to receive the sacrament of Confirmation administered by Bonaventure Magennis, OFM, Bishop of Down and Connor.

LOCUS REFUGII AT ARDAGH

Eventually the Friars had to leave Bunamargy and they moved to a ‘locus refugii’ - a place of safety - at Ardagh in Glenshesk. This Friary was also used by the Friars from Carrickfergus Friary. A list of suspected men in Ulster in the reign of Charles II contains ‘Hugh O’Dornan chief of the friars of Glenshesk in the Barony of Carry, and ye rest of the friars there’. Primate Oliver Plunkett in his report on the state of religion in Down and Connor in 1671 writes: “In the Convent of Carrickfergus, there are ten Franciscans of whom only five are priests. Among these Hugh O’Dornan and Daniel O’Mellan are distinguished in preaching. There is a certain Paul O’Hara who is well versed in literature.”

The Ordnance survey for Ramoan, written in 1833, has this notice of the remains of the Friary at Ardagh: “ In Ardagh on the holding of Thomas Cassley and situated on the banks of the River Shesk there stands the ruins of an ancient building locally called the Friars house and said to have been formerly the seat of a number of friars. The building seems to have stood 40 feet by 20 feet inside, and situated east to west. The only potion of it now to be seen is the remains of one of the side walls, which is of stone and lime and measures 40 feet in length, 3 feet in breadth and 1 to 2 feet in height. The situation of this building, whether a dwelling or an edifice, was well adapted for religious orders. Here are also extinct a number of ancient cherry trees at present bearing fruit. Contiguous and bordering on the river are some fertile valleys and said to have been the friars’ fruit and flower garden and are still called the ‘Vineyard’ .Adjoining these stood an ancient fish pond, but the whole is now disfigured and the site under grazing and tillage.”

“About a quarter of a mile south west of the Friars House are the Friars’ Wells or Tobar-na-mbrahar, three springs in a line of twelve yards along a bridle road at the base of a lofty hill. About a quarter of a mile west of the friars’ house is a stone five feet long, three feet broad and 1 foot 8 inches thick, having a circular basin 10 inches in diameter and 7 and a half inches in depth hollowed in it. This stone was raised about 1 1/2 feet above the ground by several stones placed under its ends. It is seated on a rocky eminence in the farm of John McCaula close to the village of Ardagh. On the east side of it, 4 1/2 feet square was enclosed by rows of stone sunk on theirs ends. Close to it on the north-east side are traces of ancient houses and small enclosures; 5 1/2 feet square on the inside, bounded by flat stones fixed on their ends and rising from 1 to 4 feet above the surface.”

THE PENAL LAWS

The introduction of the Penal Laws at the beginning of the 17th century placed Catholics at a great disadvantage. Lord George MacCartney of Loughguile, a former Chief Secretary of Ireland, made these comments about the harshness of these laws: “The laws of Ireland against the Papists are the harsh dictates of persecution, not the calm suggestions of reason and policy. They threaten the Papists in case of foreign education, and yet allow them no education at home. They shut the doors of their own university against them, and forbid them to enter any other. No man shall go to a lecture who does not go to church. A Papist shall not be divine, a physician, or a soldier; he shall be nothing but a Papist……..”

Further Acts passed in 1697 included one for the banishment of priests from the country and while the Penal Laws were in operation priests were prohibited from celebrating Mass. Those who offered Mass did so on Mass rocks in hidden places throughout the country. In the Ballycastle area Mass was said at a rock at Kilcraig, at Carnsaggart, near Gortconney, or Altifernan in Glenshesk.

BALLYCASTLE COMES UNDER THE PARISH OF ARMOY

After the wars of 1641 Ballycastle was almost entirely deserted. In 1699 tenements of the town occupied only an extent of three acres. In 1722 the village and demesne connected with the castle were re-let to James McCarroll for £22-12s-0d. The population return for the parish of Ramoan in 1734 gives the number of householders of Ballycastle as sixty-two, of whom sixteen were Catholics, thirty-two Episcopalians and fourteen Presbyterians. The Catholic families were; Chism, Kelly, McAlinden, McAlister, McAuley, McCarroll, McConnell, McCormick, Matthews, Murphy, O’Donaghy, O’Hegarty, O’Mooney, O’Mullan, O’Raliff and Shannon.

With the taking over of the church at Ramoan and the closing down of Bunamargy, the Catholics of Ballycastle depended on the services provided by the parish priest of Armoy. Under a slight relaxation of the Penal Laws, there was permitted one priest in each parish. It was imperative for the parish priest and we find the registration of Father John McCormick of Armoy recorded:

“Mr John McCormick, the priest of the parish, a good kind of man, has the parish of Armoy, Ramoan and Rathlin, and lives in the Armoy parish

Certified by me, 14th March 1766.

Thomas Vesey, Vicar”

Father McCormick resigned in 1780 and the parish was served by a number of Administrators. Father Roger Murray was appointed Parish Priest in 1791 and came to Ballycastle on horseback to celebrate Sunday Mass in a wooden shelter in William McClarty’s garden at the Walkmill. The Catholics of Ballycastle asked Father Murray to build them a chapel in the town and Father Murray set about obtaining a suitable site. The local landlord, Hugh Boyd, Esq., 0n 16th January 1795, granted to Father Murray a lease in perpetuity of a plot of ground in the north-east of Whitty’s Park. This piece of ground near the Fairhill had been in the possession of Patrick O’Scally, an ancestor of the Scally family who later lived at Plumfall close by. This was the lowest part of the town where the church would not be seen, but in fairness to Hugh Boyd it should be pointed out that he gave the ground for the building of a Catholic church thirty years before the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed (1829). Fr. Murray erected his church here and the street which had been called Tanyard Brae, became known as Chapel Lane. The church is described in the Ordinance Survey Memoirs for the parish of Ramoan written in 1833 as follows:

The Roman Catholic chapel stands on the eastern side of the town; it is a neat edifice, having been recently enlarged and improved in its appearance; it is not very comfortably fitted up internally; its extreme dimensions are 60 feet by 30 feet. it would accommodate 500 persons.”

BALLYCASTLE BECOMES A PARISH AGAIN

By 1825 the Catholics of Ballycastle felt that the parish was now large enough to be separated from Armoy.They decided to approach Bishop Crolly when he next came to Ballycastle, presumably for Confirmation. O’Laverty describes the meeting:

“Dr. Crolly was waited on in Mr. Edmund McGildowney’s house at the Quay, Ballycastle, by some of the Catholic inhabitants of Ramoan, in order to solicit him to appoint a separate Parish Priest. The Bishop requested them to walk with him through the Warren (now Ballycastle Golf Links), and there they debated the question. They undertook to pay at least £40 per annum for the support of a parish priest and he undertook to provide them with one in a few days. Father McCann (parish priest of Armoy) surrendered the parish of Ramoan, and Dr. Crolly, about the first of August 1825 appointed a friar named McCarrill, who had officiated for some time in Kilcoo, Co. Down. Father McCarrill does not appear to have suited the new parish and left in a few months.”

His successor was Rev. Hugh McCartan and it was he who erected the Chapel in Glenshesk. The landlord’s widow, Mrs. Cuppage, gave an acre of ground in the townland of Corvally for the project and planted trees and landscaped the area. A slab inserted in the gable bearsthe following desription:

Glenshesk Chapel

Erected A.D. 1827

The site was a generous gift of

Mrs. Cuppage.

This chapel pre-dated the Catholic Emancipation Act by two years. Father McCartan’s successor in 1828 was John McMullan who died on 2nd January 1830 aged 32 years. He was buried in front of the altar of the chapel at the Fairhill. Father Charles Hendron was appointed parish priest in 1830 and died ten years later on 10th March 1840. Both these priests were buried in front of the altar in the chapel. Father George Dempsey was parish priest from 1840 until 1848 when he was succeeded by Father James McGlennon.

NEW SCHOOL

In 1853 Father James McGlennon built a school beside the chapel. the application to the Commissioners of Education for grant-aid gives the details of the building:

“The house is new with one schoolroom 30 feet by 20 feet. Six desks each 14 feet in length, entirely new; a master’s desk with a locker for books etc., a few forms and blackboards. Archibald McKinley aged 33 is the teacher. The average attendance is 85 : about one half are males. The school hours are from 10 o’clock till 3 p.m. The whole of Saturday each week is set apart for Religious Instruction. There is also a Sunday School. The books used will be those of the National Board. Visitors will be admitted at all times during school hours. The school is under the management of the Revd. James McGlennon, P.P., Ballycastle.”

By 1870 the chapel at the Fairhill was too small for the congregation and the parish priest, Father Patrick McAlister, built a new church at Moyle Road. He obtained from Mrs. Keats Boyd 5 acres of ground on a very fine site at what was then known as Clare Road. The architect was Father Jeremiah McAuley, curate in Cushendall, who had been trained as an architect before he entered the priesthood. The foundation stone was blessed and laid on the Tuesday after Pentecost, 7th June 1870, by Father McAuley by permission of Dr. Dorrian, who was at the time attending the General Council in Rome. In a cavity prepared in the foundation stone was placed a bottle in which were deposited a few coins, some of which bore the date 1870. Two hymns, one in honour of St. Patrick and the other in honour of St. Brigid as well as a scroll containing an inscription in Latin were also deposited.

DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH

The church was dedicated to St. Patrick and St. Brigid on Sunday 9th August 1874 by the Most Reverend Patrick Dorrian, D.D., Bishop of Down and Connor. The special Sermon was preached by the Most Reverend George Conroy, D.D., Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.

It was built with sandstone from near Carrickmore on the Shore Road, and Father McAlister rented a special sandstone quarry from the Ballycastle Estate for the purpose. The contractors who built the church were James McMichael(who also owned the Royal Hotel and was grandfather of the McMichaels of Quay Road), Charles Darragh and Neill McLaughlin. Other workmen on this job were Daniel McDonnell, John McGarry, Willie Hill and John Wilson. Several others were employed in the quarry and many more had the task of carting the stones with horses and carts a distance of over two miles. the most difficult part of the journey would have been the steep hill leading up to the church.

About six months after the new church was opened, 18th February 1875, the remains of Fr John McMullan and Fr Hendron were exhumed and re-interred in the new cemetery attached to the church. Their headstone may be seen quite near to the gates of the cemetery.

The remains of Mr. Philip McKeever and his wife, his son Philip, and daughters Sarah and Catherine, were also exhumed and re-interred at St. Patrick and St. Brigid’s cemetery. Philip McKeever was a man of some importance in the parish and he was a member of Ballycastle’s first Health Committee which set up a Dispensary in Ann Street and a Fever Hospital at Bath Lodge in 1823.

CHAPEL CONVERTED INTO SCHOOLS

In 1875 Father McAlister converted the old chapel into schools for boys and girls. Father McAlister lived at 32 Ann Street in a house recently occupied by Moyle Antiques and in 1879 he erected the Parochial House.

On the death of Bishop Dorrian in November 1885, Father Patrick McAlister was elected Vicar Capitular of Down and Connor. He was then appointed by Pope Leo XIII to the vacant see of Down and Connor and was consecrated Bishop in St. Patrick’s Church, Belfast, on Sunday 28th March 1886 by Most Rev. Thomas Nulty, D.D., Bishop of Meath.

When Bishop McAlister made his first Episcopal Visitation to the Parish of Ramoan, a deputation of parishioners met him at the Parochial House for the purpose of reading to him an address and presenting him with a pectoral cross and chain. The adress was read by Daniel McKinley and signed on behalf of the parishioners; Daniel McKinley, Neal McLaughlin, Charles Darragh, John Black, James Clarke, E.F. McCambridge, Anthony McKinley, Charles McLaughlin, Henry Butler and William McHenry.

Bishop McAlister was buried in the cemetery attached to St. Patrick’s and St. Brigid’s Church on 28th March 1895.

Father John Conway became the parish priest in 1887 and he added the Sacristy, the Sacred Heart Altar and the Baptistry and extended the present parochial house. On 14th June 1896 the ordination of Father John Osborne of Culfeightrin was the first such ceremony in this church.

Photo showing the Old Church and school in the foreground and the new Church in the background with the Parochial House but no spire on the church which dates it between 1879 and 1890

THE SPIRE

The one Hundred and ten foot spire of the church was not built until 1890 and the last stone was placed on it on 17th July that year by Charles Darragh who had worked and dressed the first stone of the church which was laid on 7th June 1870. The money for the building of the spire came from John Lawless, whose grave can be seen on the left-hand side of the old path through the cemetery. In 1892 a bell weighing 30 hundredweights was erected in the spire and blessed by Bishop McAlister.

The newly built spire, being the highest building in the town was put to a most unusual purpose in 1898 when it was used to support an aerial required for the transmission of messages to Rathlin as part of Marconi’s wireless experiments - a world first for Ballycastle and Rathlin.

The Stations of the Cross were blessed by Father Falloona parish priest and erected by Peter Dallat on Good Friday, 9th April 1909. they were made by Mayers of Munich at a cost of £147.

MCALISTER MEMORIAL HALL

On Sunday 13th December 1903 a committee was formed to discuss the building of a parochial hall. The members of the committee were: Daniel McKinley (chairman), Hugh McGill, E.F. McCambridge, Patrick McBride, Neal Dallat, Daniel McCormick, Randal McDonnell, John Clarke, James McMichael, James McKinley, Peter Dallat, Patrick Verdon, Daniel Lamont, William McHenry, James O’Connor, John McConnell, Patrick Lamont, James Darragh, John McCaughan, John Boyle, Hugh Maloney, Francis Black, James McGill and John McBride (Secretary). Approval for the project was sought from Bishop Henry and it was agreed that it should be named the McAlister Memorial Hall in memory of the former parish priest and bishop. The successful tenderer for the contract was Bernard Boyle (grandfather of Mrs. Claire Murray and miss Margaret Fleming) and the contract price was £621-17s-1d. It was agreed that the opening of the Hall would be accompanied by a two day bazaar, the opening ceremony on the first day to be performed by Joseph Devlin, M.P. and on the second day by Miss K.I. Boyd of the Manor House. Fr James McCann, one of the Trustees of the Hall was tragically drowned while bathing at the Pans Rocks on 14th October 1907.

St. Patrick’s and St. Brigid’s Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society was inaugurated on 14th March 1910 and the first President of the Conference was William McHenry (grandfather of Miss Kathleen McHenry of Ann Street).

CROSS AND PASSION COLLEGE

Father Bernard Murphy was appointed parish priest in 1911 and in 1913, on his invitation the sisters of The Cross and Passion Order came to Ballycastle, where they set up a Convent in a large house in Market Steet, which had been built as an hotel by John O’Hara. The nuns opened a grammar school for girls in a small building at the rear of the convent and this was known as the Academy. The first five pupils were Misses Lucy Devlin, Mary McKee, Annie O’Kane, Kathleen O’Kane and Mary Anne Bakewell. By 1924 the Sisters had built a new convent at Moyle Road and Cross and Passion College was opened on 15th September 1924.

MOSAIC IN THE SANCTUARY

It was when Father Murphy was parish priest that the parish of Ramoan got a second curate, Father Dan Gogarty. Previous to this the curate resided in the parochial house. In 1925 the now vacant convent in Market Street became the residence for the two curates Father Henry McGuigan and Father Dan Gogarty. The mosaic on the high altar was installed in 1930 to honour Father Bernard Murhpy, P.P. who had been appointed a Canon of the Diocese.

The First Antrim Troup of Catholic Boy Scouts was set up in the parish in 1929 with Mr John McAfee as Scoutmaster and Mr Charles McKay as Assistant Scoutmaster. In 1934 Canon Murphy completed a new school for girls, St. Brigid’s Primary, beside the McAlister Hall at a cost of £605-10s-6d. He died on25th August, 1934.

Canon Murphy’s educational dream had been realised but only in part. He also wished to establish a grammar school for boys in the parish. When the principal of the boys’ primary school, Mr. Patrick Hughes , died in 1933, Canon Murphy appointed a member of the De La Salle Order, Brother Pius Salter, to take charge of the school. In a short time a number of Brothers arrived in Ballycastle and set up a small community in a house at Quay Road. It was Canon Murphy’s intention to open a grammar school for boys run by the De La Salle Order, but he died before his intention could be fulfilled. His Successor, Father John McAleese, subsequently returned the principalship of the boys’ primary to a layman, and the De La Salle brothers left Ballycastle.

Father McAleese cleared the debt on the Girl’s School and purchased the Methodist Manse at £1,000 as a residence for the two curates. Father McAleese also introduced the Cemetery Sunday ceremony into the parish in 1935. In 1934 Rathlin Island became part of the parish of Ramoan. Rathlin had been a parish from 1740 until 1877 and had an administrator from 1877 to 1909. Again it had two parish priests from 1909 until 1929 and an administrator from 1929 to 1934.

Father Archibald McKinley became parish priest after the death of Father McAleese in 1944.

STAR OF THE SEA SECONDARY SCHOOL

In 1945 he purchased Sheskburn House and grounds in Mary Street with the intention of building a Grammar School for boys. In the meantime Bishop Mageean had purchased Garron Tower with the same intention and it opened as St. MacNissi’s College in 1951. Father McKinley then built Star of the Sea Secondary School which opened on 26th September 1957.

BALLYCASTLE BISHOP

There was great rejoicing in the parish when it was announced in June 1957 that Pope Pius XII had appointed a Ballycastle man Rev. Donal Lamont, O. Carm. to be bishop of Umtali.

Father John Matthew Lynch succeeded Father McKinley in 1959 and built a primary school for boys at Moyle Road which opened in 1961. He also extended St. Brigid’s Girls’ Primary School. This extension was built on the site of Union Street where the unoccupied houses had been purchased by individual members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and presented to Father Lynch.

Father Lynch died in 1969 and Father P.J. O’Hare was appointed parish priest. To mark the centenary of the church in 1974, Father O’Hare had the high altar re-modelled to meet the requirements of the Second Vatican Council. Father Malachy Murphy re-established the First Antrim Scout Troup in the parish. Father O’Hare represented the parish at the Consecration of Father Keith O’Brien (a native of the parish) as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. In 1976 Cross and Passion College amalgamated with Star of the Sea Secondary School to form a new comprehensive college.

There were two ordinations in the church during Father O’Hare’s pastorship: Father Aidan McCaughan in 1986 and Father Ciaran Dallat in 1988.

Father O’Hare retired in 1988 and was succeeded by Father Noel Watson who took on the mammoth task of renovating, extending and modernising the one hundred and eighteen year old churchand it stands a tribute to him and his curate Father Austin McGirr. Additionally he had the task of amalgamating St Patrick’s Boys school and St Brigid’s Girls school into a single primary on two sites in 1991 as well as purchasing the Methodist Church in Market Street and renovating it into a scout den.

THE PRESENT CHURCH

The renovation work on St Patrick’s and St Brigid’s church has now been completed and the building has been transformed and adapted to fulfil the requirements of present day liturgy. To achieve this the seating capacity has been increased to nearly 1000, the fabric has been restored and the Sanctuary reordered.