In medieval times there were two churches in the parishes of Knock and Bredagh. The one at Bredagh was close to the old cemetery in Belvoir. The first record of it was in 1442 but it is possible that it was build earlier. It was ruined by 1662. The parishes were united by Oliver Cromwell in 1657 to form Knockbreda. By the early 1700s the Church of Breda was in ruins, and although the old Knock Church had been repaired, it was unsuitable for worship. A new church had to be built but the decision had to be made about where it was to be built and where the money would come from. Ann Trevor, Lady Middleton, was responsible for building Knockbreda Parish Church in 1737 at her own expense, but stipulated it must be situated at Breda.
The church is surrounded by a fascinating graveyard with tombstones dating back as far as 1647. The most recognisable person buried at Knockbreda is Charles Lanyon, former Lord Mayor of and MP for Belfast. Lanyon was involved in the design of many of Belfast's iconic 19th century buildings, including Queen's University, Crumlin Road Gaol and Courthouse and Customs House. Back in my paperboy days the council graveyard was a convenient shortcut through, you'll notice the big houses on this street, well they gave good tips at Christmas :)
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 ~3500 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.
The cache
The cache is a medium size tablock box, there is no need to enter the church grounds or neighbouring council graveyard to retrieve the cache. In fact, it is only accessible from the public road. There is only a footpath on one side of the street so please be careful with children, although traffic is generally light. You can park on street close to the cache location but please be considerate of local residents. No sign = no find.
CONGRATULATIONS TO FREZELUBERZ FOR THE FIRST TO FIND!