Serene setting for country church

Go for a walk in the local countryside, and not before long, you’ll come across a rural church.

They can be fascinating places to visit, each with their own particular architecture and hidden history.

And if you want to enjoy a truly serene moment, then pay a visit to Cappagh Parish Church and enjoy the peaceful ambience of the surrounding countryside.

This historic building, located in the picturesque townland of Mountjoy Forest West just outside Omagh, dates back to the 1700s.

The townland of Mountjoy is named after a large woodland that was planted in the late 18th century, supervised by the-then surveyor of County Tyrone, John McEvoy.

However, the original location of Cappagh Parish Church was actually in the nearby townland of Dunmullan.

An abbey is recorded on this site as far back as 792 AD, and a bell from the ninth century inscribed as being made for the abbey is now held at the National Museum in Dublin.

It was in 1768 that the present-day church, a grand edifice in the Grecian style with a magnificent octagonal spire, was erected.

Construction was paid for by the rector, Dr Gibson, who, with the help of devoted parishioners, managed to raise the required £1,500, or £210,795.35 in today’s money.

Designed by the esteemed Dublin-based architects, Welland & Gillespie, renowned for their swift and impeccable work, the church is situated on a 1,500 acre plot of land which was sold to the parish of Cappagh by the Earl of Blessington, who received £50 two years after it completion.

Prior to development, the land was mainly recovered bogland and unruly forest, but, once completed, the church stood respendant amidst this tranquil setting as it still does to this day.

When the parish was mapped in the 1830s by Ordnance Survey staff, they described the church as ‘large and handsome’ with ‘a lofty and beautiful octagonal spire’.

An apse was added in 1870, and further renovations in the late 19th century included a new roof, marble steps in the chancel and a new house for the sexton.

poignant tales of remembrance

One of its most striking features are the church’s nine stained-glass windows, each telling a poignant tale of remembrance and tribute.

The first window in the sanctuary is dedicated in memory of Rev Richard Stack, a former rector of the church from 1806 to 1812. It was inscribed with two biblical quotes, the first being, ‘I will make you fishers of men’ and the second stating, ‘Feed my sheep’.

The second window in the sanctuary commemorates those who died during World War II, and states, ‘Make them to be numbered with saints in glory everlasting.’

The third window is a tribute to Rev Thomas Stack, who died in 1839.

It is inscribed, ‘I know that my redeemer lives’.

Two of the three stained glass windows on the southern wall of the church are all in commemoration of members of the Moriarty family: Father and son, Gerald and Matthew, who were both rectors of the church in the late 1800s.

The third is a replica of a window at St Columb’s Cathedral in Derry in tribute to Isabella Craig, who died in 1996.

The final three windows on the north wall commemorate parishioners, Charles Rowe Scott, who passed away in 1868, and another parishioner, David Aucheleck, who died in 1849.

The third is a tribute to former rector, James Scott, who died in 1874.

Among the memorials housed within the church is a plaque dedicated to the fallen locall victims of the First World War, bearing the names of four men from Cappagh who made the ultimate sacrifice.

They were all members of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers: Private James McFarland, who was killed in 1914 at the Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey, as was fellow Cappagh man, Sergent Robert McKeown.

Private Robert Monteith died in 1916 at the Somme, while Private Alexander McFarland died in 1916 in the Balkans.

There are also three Commonwealth War graves located in the church graveyard. Two of which date from World War I and the third from World War II. The three buried are Lieutenant Colonel JC Battersby, who died in 1919; Private John Worley, 1918; and Sergent William Des Brisay Gilmore, 1941.

There are also memorials to five local men who were killed in the Troubles.

At the back of the church, five black placques remember local men who were killed in the Troubles.

Black plaques remember J.J Graham (UDR); Kenneth William Sheehan (RUC); Christopher Kyle (RUC); Andrew Woods (RUC); and William Hutchinson (civilian).

l Information for this article was supplied by a booklet titled
‘Cappagh Parish Church (1768-2018)’ by the Church
Historical Group.