The name “Magheragall” can be translated as meaning “the field of the stranger”
The earliest Church of which there is a record was about a mile further towards Ballinderry, at Brookhill, where the Farm Museum is today, but this Church burned down in 1641.
A replacement Church was built on the site of the present church in 1676. Evidence for the existence of this church is to be found in the dates on the tombstones in the Churchyard.
In the early 1800’s a new Church was needed, and the present Church was begun in June 1830, and consecrated by Bishop Mant, the hymn writer, on 2nd June 1831. It cost £1000 to build.
Sir Hamilton Harty, now recognised to have been the most distinguished Irish musician and composer of his generation, was appointed organist in Magheragall Parish Church in 1894, when he was just 14 years old.
This is a rather beautiful Church, so if you have time, take a walk around the well kept Churchyard. There are also great views over the surrounding countryside from the Church itself.
The cache is not located on Church property.
There is parking space for two cars on the road opposite the front of the Church, though this is a very busy road so care should be taken with junior geocachers. This should be a quick cache and dash. The cache is a camouflaged nano, you may need a pin or tweezers to remove the log roll. Please bring your own pen.
The Church Micro IE series is open to everyone; if you have a church you would like to place a cache at then please contact THE_Chris through Geocaching.com. This is to keep track of the numbers of the churches and give you the general format for the cache page. In the UK there are ~1500 caches in the series so we have some catching up to do! Also, if you currently have a published cache at a church that you would like to include in the series, get in contact and we can add it.