Local effort to save old church

A rural community in Co Leitrim has joined forces in an effort to save a historic Church of Ireland building, originally built because of the perceived threat of Methodism in the area. Kiltubrid Church on the shores of Lough Scur, built in 1785, is now on the brink of dereliction.

While emigration had led to the decline of both Protestant and Catholic communities in the parish, a new wave of immigration has encouraged those hoping to safeguard the building as a place of worship and a heritage centre.

The 10-person committee is being advised by historian and author Fr Liam Kelly, a native of Kiltubrid.

Catholic and Protestant churches, Fr Kelly said, were built in the rural parish around the time that John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, started visiting nearby Annadale House.

He was invited to Kiltubrid by Angel Anna Slacke of Annadale House, whose extended family are believed to have helped fund the construction of the church.

Before the Famine, 8,000 people lived in Kiltubrid. In the 1980s this had shrunk to about 800 and the parish was documented in the national media as one which lost two-thirds of its senior football team to New York. "The parish is finding its feet again and last year won the senior football championship in the county," Fr Kelly said.

The Kiltubrid committee, which has applied for funding through the Co Leitrim Task Force and from the Heritage Council, believes that unique features such as the square "box pews" traditionally used by local families should be preserved. The belfry is now inaccessible because the stairway has collapsed.

The project is expected to cost up to €400,000 and will be done in two phases. The restored belfry and gallery are to be used as a heritage centre and meeting room while the main part of the building will be preserved as a place of worship.

On Saturday, there will be a fund-raising draw in aid of the church at Cardiff's lounge, Kiltubrid.