Coolbuck Cache Traditional Cache
golaman: Unfortunately I have no choice but to archive the present cache.
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Situated to the north of Lisbellaw at Coolbuck Church but not in the church grounds. It is in a small garden belonging to the Parish beside the Church property. Cache is 500ml tablock box containing FTF prize and swaps.
Coolbuck Mountain Church is a Chapel of Ease lying within the Church of Ireland Parish of Lisbellaw. Early records of the church were lost with other parish records in the fire in Dublin in 1922.
According to the Griffith Valuation in 1862 a new schoolhouse was to be added to their records. It is believed that the Ford family built it as a school and handed it over to the landlord JGV Porter to be used as a church.
The stonemason was John Johnston who lived nearby in Coolbuck; the agreed price for the building including the boundary wall was eight pounds.
John Johnston was married in the parish of Derryvullen South to a local girl, Margaret Rinchey of nearby Mountdrum and they had a large family. Many of the children moved to Australia and three of them became ministers in the Church. Their grandson was the stationmaster in Lisbellaw and on the day of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II the family left Lisbellaw by train to start a new life in Australia.
After the First World War services were held and Harvest Services held annually by the light of Tilley lamps. The Rev. JJ St Ledger opened the church on a weekly basis when he came to the parish in 1958 and this practice still continues. As such it is believed that Coolbuck is Irelands smallest church building regularly used for public worship.
Electricity was brought to Coolbuck in 1995.
The delightful garden to the side of the church, where the cache is located, is not consecrated ground. The ground was left to the parish by a parishioner. It is used for a multitude of purposes and there is evidence where local people suceeded in making a small bell in exactly the fashion in which it would have been in the Bronze Age. When the cache was placed the mould was on the ground to the right.
Bronze sculptures are now featured across the Fermanagh landscape with the latest project at Coolbuck, Lisbellaw.
The project has been spearheaded by the Art of Regeneration programme resulting in exciting artworks created by communities in Fermanagh. Based on the theme of wind and water, the participants learned about the process of making works of art, working with wax through to the finishing of the work using Bronze Age methods.
Recently a group of 10 people produced a small sailing boat in bronze, mounted on a 5 foot high oak post, bearing the words of a poem about Topped Mountain which inspired the work. Sited in the formal garden adjacent to Coolbuck Church, the boat points towards the Shannon valley in the distance.
There is a cache at Topped Mountain.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)