Our Parish of Kinawley is an ancient one, and dates back many hundreds of years. We're proud of our history, and wanted to take the opportunity to share with you more details of Derrylin, Crom, and Drumany. We have also included below a link that will be of importance if you are considering getting married at one of our churches in the parish..
If anyone has any information or pictures that they would like to share, then please let Alasdair know so we can plan for it to be included here.
The Parish Church
The Parish Church is situated at the southern end of the village of Derrylin in the townland of Cloghan.
The mother church of the parish was the old ruined church in the graveyard in Kinawley village. It was succeeded by the church in the graveyard just up the road in the townland of Callowhill. That building, also in ruins, was built in 1610 by Bishop Bedell. This was used until the present church was built in 1825/6 under the direction of the rector, Rev. John James Fox at the southern end of Derrylin village in the townland of Cloghan. He was also responsible for building the old rectory around the same time. A plaque in his memory can be seen above the choir pews.
The parish church was built with locally quarried stone and erected at the expense of the Board of First Fruits. It was consecrated for use at the end of 1826 by the Rt. Rev. George de la Poer Beresford, then Bishop of Kilmore. The church was built with one single main nave, the side aisle and balcony being added some years later (1860/1).
The main East window is an unusual design, bearing as it does two coats of arms associated with a local family, the Johnstons of Drumshemuck. The window was erected in 1894 in gratitude for three generations of the family worshipping in the church.
On the occasion of the church’s centenary in 1926, the current pulpit was dedicated in memory of the Rev. J. McKnight, late rector of the parish.
The ‘Good Shepherd’ window (to the East of the North Aisle) was installed by parishioners in memory of the late Dean F. W. Grant and his wife Phoebe. Dean Grant had indeed been a good shepherd to the parish, serving as the rector from 1920 – 1965.
More recently the chancel area was enlarged by moving the choir pews out of that space into their current position; side facing pews at the front of the side aisle were also removed to make more useful space in that area and two small panes of stained glass were fitted in the newly renovated windows in the side aisle. One shows the crest of the Church Lads’ & Church Girls’ Brigade and was a gift from the Kinawley Company to mark the new millennium; the other was donated by our Mothers’ Union Branch whose 80th anniversary occurred in 2001.
New oak furniture for the front of the side aisle and a Clavinova were dedicated on Sunday 25th November 2001 to mark the 175th anniversary of worship in this particular church building.
Holy Trinity Crom
Holy Trinity Crom is located on the western shores of Upper Lough Erne on the east end of the Derryvore peninsula, directly across from Crom Castle.
Although the church is a National Trust Property it is used regularly as a place of worship by parishioners in Kinawley Parish and occasionally for weddings by those who are part of the wider Anglican Communion.
If you'd like to know more about having a wedding at either Holy Trinity Crom or our parish church, then please click here.
‘Victorian church and graveyard sited in a picturesque location atop a low hill at the east end of the Derryvore peninsula in the parish of Kinawley and Diocese of Kilmore. The church (listed grade B) comprises a nave built 1840-2, a chancel with vault and vestry built 1867-9 and a belfry tower with basement built 1884-7. It contains an organ, a fine stained glass window in the east end and high wooden pews with a total seating capacity for 210 adults. The graveyard in which the church is placed comprises a long rectangular area 60 x 31 m (1860 sq m) with east-west axis. It was put down in 1840 except for a 15 m extension on the west end which was added in 1888.
The foundation stone of the Holy Trinity Church was laid on the 9th June 1840 by John Crichton (afterwards 3rd Earl of Erne) and the completed building was consecrated with great ceremony on 15th July 1842 by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese (John Leslie D.D) in the presence of a large congregation. The new church was built at the instigation of Lady Selina Crichton on land donated by her husband John Crichton, while the choice of its location was probably determined by the presence of a large number of parishioners on this side of the lake.’
‘The completed 1840-2 church comprised the present nave together with a tower, steeple and porch. It was apparently completed at a cost of £7,200. The architect has not been established though it has been suggested that John Shipton Mulvany of Dublin was responsible.
In fact it is more likely that either Edward Blore or George Sudden was responsible. Unfortunately, none of the architectural drawings and accounts of this building appear to have survived, but the original church is depicted as a background feature on two paintings, the ‘Garden Party 1853’ and ‘Under Sail’ c. 1850, both presently in Crom Castle. These show the tower and steeple and the presence of an east window. According to a newspaper account of the 1842 consecration this window contained “stained glass, bearing scriptural representations”, while inside the church there was a “pulpit and desk on either side of the communion table”.
The present nave, which measures 14.80 x 7.66 m internally, appears to have retained most of its 1840-2 features. The arched brace roof, which is original to the 1840-2 church, covers the nave in four bays and is painted white. The curved braces are supported below the cornice by projecting brackets and above are joined to a collar beam from the centre of which hang ornamental pendants. The butt purlins are not visible for the areas between each truss are plasters and painted white. Externally the roof is covered with even courses of blue-black slates with a decorative iron ridge-piece and ornamental finials belonging to the 1867-9 period along the apex.
Christchurch Drumany
Christ Church, Drumany was consecrated on 28th December 1883. It was intended as a chapel-of ease for the parish church, Derrylin.
We're keen to share more information about Drumany on this website, however have been unable at this time to find more information that we can use.
We therefore reach out to all to help us do this. Please contact Alastair if you have further information about the church that we can use. However, we're pleased to present a fantastic video of Drumany that was produced by Ryan Horner. We thank Ryan for his kind permission to reproduce it here.