Leckpatrick Parish Church

The Church of Ireland Church of Saint Patrick’s, Leckpatrick is situated on the outskirts of the village of Ballymagorry, County Tyrone on the A5, two miles from the market town of Strabane and eleven miles from the walled city of Londonderry.

The Church, now a listed building was built in 1815/16 with a loan of six hundred pounds from the Board of First Fruits and enlarged in 1834 with the provision of another aisle giving the Church its distinctive T-shape. Following the enlargement the new aisle became known as the Presbyterian aisle and is known to this day as such. The most plausible explanation for this is that the Church of Ireland and Presbyterian congregations both used the Church for worship before the building of the present Presbyterian Church.

Alistair Rowan in his book “The Buildings of Ireland” (North West Ulster) describes the Church as “externally very plain with four round-headed sash windows with gothic glazing bars, a bellcote, and a small porch, circular inside.”

The interior of the Church is exceptionally interesting as the Ecclesiastical Commission never removed its high box pews or its two-decker pulpit.

Monuments

The monuments inside the Church receive special attention by Alistair Rowan. He describes them as “unusually elaborate, if inexpert, and unusually early.” The memorial to Mrs Isabella Sinclair wife of the Rector (died 1673) is described by Rowan as “a large armorial wall tablet with a coat of arms in high relief, flanked by triple-shafted composite columns; salient entablature and obelisk.”

The memorial to reverend John Sinclair (died 1702) Rowan describes as “a similar wall aedicule with hourglass, skull and bones and angle heads.”

The Parish

The Parish at the moment comprises of over one hundred and fifty families. There is also a large Presbyterian community and a much smaller Roman Catholic community within the parish boundary.

There is an upsurge of housing development within the parish boundary which enables us to say with confidence that the future of the congregation would be secure.

The Area

The area served by Saint Patrick’s, Leckpatrick includes the two villages of Ballymagorry and Artigarvan and a large rural hinterland. Leckpatrick Dairies is one of the largest employers in the area although many in the community commute to employment in Strabane and Londonderry. Agriculture and horticulture would provide moderate employment within the parish boundary.

The Church is situated as it is at “Leck Corner” provides an excellent landmark for parishioners and travellers alike and is available to the public at all times with the name, address and telephone numbers of the Rector and Caretaker (who live nearby) clearly displayed.

A Brief History

Leckpatrick is a parish in the extreme Northwest of County Tyrone bounded on the north and east by the parish of Donagheady, on the south by Camus and Ardstraw and on the west by the River Foyle. Although part of the town of Strabane overspills into the parish, Leckpatrick is predominantly rural with only two villages of any consequence – Ballymagorry and Artigarvan. While most of what we see today in the parish is of recent date, there are enough surviving monuments to remind us that people were living in Leckpatrick several thousand years before the birth of Christ. One of the best known in the area is the ‘Rocking Stone’, a collapsed portal tomb constructed perhaps 5000 years ago. It can be seen in a field outside Artigarvan and close to the main road to Dunamanagh.

The name Leckpatrick means ‘flat stone of Patrick’ and tradition has it that Ireland’s patron saint, on one of his many travels, founded a church here. Tradition aside there was definitely a church here at the beginning of the fourteenth century when it appears in an ecclesiastical taxation roll.

 The union of Leckpatrick and Dunnalong

Following the retirement of the Reverend Thomas Sutcliffe in 1921 the perpetual curacy of Dunnalong was cared for by the incumbent of the parish of Camus-juxta-Mourne, Thomas Baird, until 1926.  In that year the Reverend William Rennison of Leckpatrick retired and the parishes of Leckpatrick and Dunnalong were united.  The first rector of the united parishes was Thomas Alexander Hickson Moriarty who was instituted on the 7 December 1926.  He was born at Blennerville, near Tralee in Co. Kerry on 31 January 1880, the youngest son of the Reverend Thomas Moriarty.  He served as curate in a parish in Yorkshire before becoming rector of Learmount in 1909.  He also served as rector of Glendermott (1914-21) and Drumachose (1921-26).  Moriarty retired as rector of the united parishes in 1944 and was succeeded by Ernest Harley Hadden. 

The Reverend Hadden was born in Altar Rectory, Co. Cork, the son of the Reverend Robert William Hadden.  In 1956 he was appointed archdeacon of the diocese of Derry. He died on 15 November 1978 and was buried in Leckpatrick.  His successor, Alan Ernest Tilson, served the united parishes for ten years before moving to Bermuda to become the incumbent of the parish of Hamilton.  The Rev David Ferry succeeded the Rev Tilson until his move to Donagheady. His successor was the Rev Garth Bunting, who served the parishes until 2006 when he moved to Belfast. The current rector of Leckpatrick and Dunnalong is the Reverend Irene Lyttle, a native of Londonderry.