Larne Historic Church Trail - Causeway Coast and Glens

ARDCLINIS BALLYKEEL
Situated on A2 road, approximately 9.2 miles
north of Glenarm.
Situated on the Low Road, Islandmagee,
approximately 2 miles north of Whitehead.
The trail website contains further information on these two
addtional historic sites which are nearby the trail.
www.larnehistoricchurchtrail.co.uk

INTRODUCTION
Welcome
Welcome to the Larne Historic Church Trail. This
easy-to-follow trail will guide you around some of
the oldest churches and graveyards in County
Antrim. Each site tells a story, built into the stone
work of its walls, and inscribed on the memorials
in the churchyard.
This brochure will give you a flavour of
Larne’s church heritage. It will let you
glimpse what you can discover within
only a short distance of our town. But
the only true way to experience all
that these churches and graveyards
can reveal, is to visit and explore them
at your leisure.
Plan your route
You may decide to stop off and do
some exploration at all the points, in
which case the tour may take most of
a day – just depending on how long
you spend at each location. Or you
might decide to plan your own route
around the sites that interest you
most, by following all the points
highlighted on the tour map.
You’ll see some beautiful places, and
you’ll have an opportunity to explore
an aspect of our history that’s maybe
less well known. And like all the best
things in life, some of our destinations
require a little time and effort to reach.
So be prepared for the weather - and
wear a good pair of comfortable
shoes!
QR codes and website
More detailed information can be
found on the trail website:
www.larnehistoricchurctrail.co.uk
or simply scan in the QR codes by
downloading a free app for your smart
phone/device.

ST JOHN’S
Broughshane
Kells
The
Sheddings
A36
Ballyclare
6
Cairncastle
Kilwaughter
A8
Glenarm
Larne Rd
5
Belfast Rd
Ballygally
Glynn
Larne
4
3
Ballycarry
2
A2
1
Islandmagee
Whitehead
A2
Ballycarry
B90
Larne Rd
B90
Low Rd
Access details: Access to St. John’s graveyard
is available throughout the hours of daylight.
Middle Rd
Islandmagee
1
2
3
4
5
6
1. St. John's
Islandmagee
2. Templecorran
Ballycarry
3. Glynn Old Church
Glynn
4. St Cedma’s
Inver, Larne
5. St. Patrick’s
Cairncastle
6. Glenarm Friary
Glenarm
St John’s Church, Islandmagee
St John’s Church, Islandmagee, is one of the oldest places of
worship in Ireland still in regular use.
Early history
St John’s was probably built in the late sixteenth century,
although renovations in the 1820s uncovered the foundations
of an older and larger building, which suggests it may stand on
the site of an even older church.
The church since the early
nineteenth century
Prior to 1828, the church measured
27 metres by 8.5 metres, with an aisle
or transept attached to the west end
of the north side. In that year 8.5
metres of the main body of the church
were removed and a new roof was
installed. There have been relatively
few changes to the church since
1840.
The churchyard
The churchyard has a large number of
headstones, most of which are in
good condition. The earliest date of
death on any gravestone is 1752, so it
is possible that the practice of burying
in this churchyard did not start until
the middle of the eighteenth century.
Maritime associations
All of the burial grounds in Islandmagee
contain a very high proportion of
gravestones with maritime associations.
James Campbell and William
Johnston were both washed
overboard, the former off the Cape of
Good Hope in 1867, and the latter
from the schooner G. F. Williams in
1876.
Clergy memorials
By the end of the nineteenth century
there were four churches in Islandmagee.
Several gravestones
commemorate clergymen who
ministered in the parish or members
of their families.

TEMPLECORRAN
Broughshane
Kells
The
Sheddings
A36
Ballyclare
6
Cairncastle
Kilwaughter
A8
Glenarm
Larne Rd
5
Belfast Rd
Ballygally
Glynn
Larne
4
3
Ballycarry
A2
1
Islandmagee
Whitehead
Templecorran Graveyard
The graveyard of Templecorran stands on the site
of an Early Christian monastery. By the medieval
period, a parish church stood here, possibly the
‘Church of Laslaynan’ as recorded in the papal
taxation of 1306.
2
St
Main
Rd
dgend Bri
Ballycarry
Main Bentra Rd
Island Rd B90
A2
Larne Rd A2
Access details: Access to the ruins
of Templecorran is available
throughout the hours of daylight.
1
2
3
4
5
6
1. St. John's
Islandmagee
2. Templecorran
Ballycarry
3. Glynn Old Church
Glynn
4. St Cedma’s
Inver, Larne
5. St. Patrick’s
Cairncastle
6. Glenarm Friary
Glenarm
The arrival of the Scots
In the early seventeenth century the
Ballycarry area was a favoured
destination for Scottish settlers
landing in east Antrim. In 1613 the
Rev. Edward Brice was appointed as
the first Presbyterian minister of
Templecorran.
The church ruins
The roofless ruins of the church in
which Brice once preached stand
reasonably intact. Unusually, it is built
on the plan of a Greek cross, with
each arm of the cross of equal length.
Twelve musket loops in its walls
suggest the church was more than
just a place of worship – it was also
designed to provide refuge in case of
attack.
Later history of the church
Templecorran church gradually fell
into a state of disrepair and by 1679 it
was in ruins. For a brief period in the
1690s, it was one of the parishes for
which the celebrated novelist,
Jonathan Swift, was responsible. In
1847, a new Anglican church
dedicated to St John was built beside
the old churchyard.
The churchyard
The memorials in the burial ground
date back over a thousand years. The
oldest memorial is a stone that almost
certainly dates from the Early
Christian period.

GLYNN OLD CHURCH
Broughshane
Kells
The
Sheddings
A36
Ballyclare
6
Cairncastle
Kilwaughter
A8
Glenarm
Larne Rd
5
Belfast Rd
Ballygally
Glynn
Larne
4
3
Ballycarry
2
A2
1
Islandmagee
Whitehead
A2
Glenburn Rd
Rectory Rd
Glynn
Shore Rd A2
Access details: Access to the ruins
of Glynn Old Church is available
throughout the hours of daylight.
1
2
3
4
5
6
1. St. John's
Islandmagee
2. Templecorran
Ballycarry
3. Glynn Old Church
Glynn
4. St Cedma’s
Inver, Larne
5. St. Patrick’s
Cairncastle
6. Glenarm Friary
Glenarm
Glynn Old Church and Churchyard
Beautifully situated in wooded surroundings along
the east Antrim coast, with views to the east looking
out across Larne Lough, the site of old church
at Glynn has fascinated visitors for centuries.
The old church
The ruins of the old church are
substantial and consist of a structurally
divided nave and chancel. This is
unusual, as most medieval parish
churches in Ulster had no such
division. The chancel is also long in
comparison to the nave. Differences
in masonry suggest the chancel may
have been added at a later date –
possibly the fourteenth century.
The new church
The parish of Glynn was separated
from Larne and Inver in 1838 and two
years later, a new church was built on
a site at the west end of the old
churchyard. A special service to mark
its opening was held on Wednesday,
9 December 1840.
The churchyard
The ruined church stands in the
north-east section of a rectangular
graveyard which was extended to the
south in 1912. The earliest inscriptions
date from the early eighteenth
century. Among these are the memorials
to John MccClelland who died in
1714 aged 82 and Margaret Fowlerton,
who died in 1716 [1717]. In a
small walled enclosure, abutting the
exterior of the east gable, is a broken
box tomb in memory of the McCleverty
family, one of the most
distinguished families in the parish.

Glynn Rd
ST. CEDMA’S
Broughshane
Kells
The
Sheddings
A36
Ballyclare
6
Cairncastle
Kilwaughter
A8
Glenarm
Larne Rd
5
Belfast Rd
Ballygally
Glynn
Larne
4
3
Ballycarry
2
A2
1
Islandmagee
Whitehead
Access details: Access to St Cedma’s Parish Church
Larne, is by calling at the Parish Office (next to the church),
Monday to Fridays 9.30am to 12.30pm.
Larne
Inver Rd
Pound St
A8
Church Way
High St
A8
Station Rd
1
1. St. John's
Islandmagee
2
3
4
5
6
2. Templecorran
Ballycarry
3. Glynn Old Church
Glynn
4. St Cedma’s
Inver, Larne
5. St. Patrick’s
Cairncastle
6. Glenarm Friary
Glenarm
An ancient place of worship
St Cedma’s Church stands on an ancient ecclesiastical site,
possibly dating back 1,500 years. A monastery once stood at
Inver and the site of St Cedma’s marks the location of its
chapel. The Church of St Cedma of ‘Ynver’ is listed in the
papal taxation of 1306. But in the late medieval period a
Franciscan Third Order Regular community was established at
Inver. The Franciscans probably took over the site of St
Cedma’s and reused the church building.
The church building
It is thought that St Cedma’s church
was built around 1350 and it has been
extensively remodelled over the
years. A narrow window in its north
wall is known as the ‘Leper’s Squint’ -
lepers were kept out of the church
and would listen to the service from
this spot outside.
The church interior
Early nineteenth century renovations
robbed the interior of its Jacobean
architecture and high oak-canopied
pews. That said, the interior of the
church today is one of the finest in
County Antrim, with an impressive
number of high quality stained glass
windows. Two exceptional stained
glass windows in the south wall of the
nave are by Miss Wilhelmina Geddes.
The churchyard
For centuries this churchyard was the
principal burial place in Larne, used
by all denominations, so it is full of
interesting memorials. One of its most
interesting features is the lych-gate,
which provided a dry place for a coffin
to rest on the way to the church.
Stories from the stones
There is a fair range of gravestones
in this churchyard, each of which
communicates something of both
those commemorated and the
person or persons who erected it.
The earliest gravestone, based on
the date of decease, commemorates
James Murdoch who died on 23 Feb.
1677.

ST. PATRICK’S
6
Glenarm
Access details: The church is usually open on Sundays from 11.30am –
12.30pm for Sunday worship, at other times please contact Jenny on
28583061 or Lindsay on 28583081/07540888384 who can open the
church by arrangement.
1
1. St. John's
Islandmagee
Broughshane
Kells
The
Sheddings
Ballyclare
Cairncastle
Kilwaughter
A36
A8
Larne Rd
5
Belfast Rd
Ballygally
Glynn
Larne
4
3
Ballycarry
2
A2
1
Cairncastle
Ballymullock Rd
Brustin Brae Rd
Islandmagee
Whitehead
Cairncastle Rd
Weyburn Rd
Ballygally
2
3
4
5
6
2. Templecorran
Ballycarry
3. Glynn Old Church
Glynn
4. St Cedma’s
Inver, Larne
5. St. Patrick’s
Cairncastle
6. Glenarm Friary
Glenarm
St Patrick’s Church, Cairncastle
A place of antiquity
Cairncastle parish was the site of a medieval
church. The date of its foundation is not known,
but it appears in the papal taxation of 1306 as
Karkastell.
The seventeenth century
By the early 1600s, the old medieval
church was in a state of disrepair, and
a temporary building was being used
until a new church could be
constructed. By 1657 a new church
had been built at Cairncastle, but by
1679, it was described as ‘ruinosa’, or
run down, and in 1768 it was ‘in bad
repair’. Some lengths of its foundation
wall are still visible and a section
of the north wall survives to a height
of about 3 metres.
The present church
The new church of St Patrick’s was
completed in 1815. The east window
was made by the famed Mayer
Company in Munich and is of an
exceptional quality. Also of note are
the two south windows in the chancel
each depicting local landmarks. The
St Patrick’s window shows the
church’s patron Saint tending sheep
on Slemish mountain. The south
window in the Nave commemorates
Captain John Park, a former ship’s
master on the P&O Larne-Fleetwood
ferry.
The churchyard
This churchyard has probably been
used as a place of interment since the
medieval period.
One of its most interesting features is
a beautiful Spanish chestnut tree,
said to stand on the spot where a
shipwrecked Spanish sailor was
buried in the sixteenth century. It is
known that Spanish sailors carried
chestnuts to ward off scurvy on their
long voyages.

GLENARM FRIARY
The
Sheddings
Broughshane
Kells
A36
Ballyclare
6
Cairncastle
Kilwaughter
A8
Glenarm
Larne Rd
5
Belfast Rd
Ballygally
Glynn
Larne
4
3
1
Ballycarry
2
A2
A2
Islandmagee
Whitehead
Glenarm
Toberwine St
New Rd
Glenarm
Marina
A2 Coast Rd
Mark St
A2
Dickeystown Rd
Access details: Open most days.
Contact Jean Pullins Tel: 28841630
1
2
3
4
5
6
1. St. John's
Islandmagee
2. Templecorran
Ballycarry
3. Glynn Old Church
Glynn
4. St Cedma’s
Inver, Larne
5. St. Patrick’s
Cairncastle
6. Glenarm Friary
Glenarm
St Patrick’s Church and Glenarm Friary
A place of antiquity
Glenarm Church of Ireland church is located west of the mouth
of the Glenarm River and north of Glenarm Castle. A Franciscan
friary was established on the site in 1465. It was probably
closed by the beginning of the seventeenth century, but its site
continued to be the favoured burial place of the local population,
including settlers from Scotland.
The medieval parishes of Glenarm
and the Reformation
In the medieval period the Glenarm
area was divided between the
parishes of Templeoughter and
Tickmacrevan. Each parish had its
own church. By the early seventeenth
century these churches were in ruins
and a new Protestant church serving
both parishes was built in Glenarm.
The new church in Glenarm
On 13 December 1759 an official
order was issued in Dublin granting
permission to build a new Church of
Ireland church in Glenarm at the
‘vaults of the old abb[e]y...’. A
parliamentary report of 1768 noted ‘a
very good new church’ in Glenarm.
The church is the earliest known
example of Strawberry Hill ‘Gothick’
in an ecclesiastical building in Ireland.
It features a fine collection of stained
glass windows, including an intriguing
single-light window in the south
transept.
The churchyard
The friary has been used as a place
of burial for centuries, possibly back
to its foundation. It was certainly in
use in the seventeenth century for
the earliest inscription dates from
1641, and there are at least two other
memorials bearing dates prior to
1700.