On Sunday 30 May 1784 the first Catholic Church in Belfast, St Mary's, was opened in Crooked Lane. According to the 1782 census there were 365 Catholics living in the city, with no fixed place to worship. The Presbyterian and Church of Ireland communities took up a special collection at their services - the Handsome Collection - and made a gift of the monies donated to build St Mary's.
By 1866 the Catholic population in the city had risen to 45,000 and so a new church was commissioned, the new chapel was dedicated in 1868. The adjoining Lourdes grotto was added in 1954.
The cache
It has long been a dream of mine to find a suitable spot in the city centre to put a non-micro cache and we thought this would be ideal a few months ago. From there it's been a laborious hunt for a suitable container, the chosen cache container is now a small square metal box (previously a small rectangular metal box) with enough space for geocoins and small, flat trackables. It is camo'd in black PVC tape and held in place with magnets, please note that it should be UNDER the horizontal strut, not on top (far less obvious when it's underneath). The cache is marked as teamwork required due to the high footfall in this area during trading hours, you may well need someone to cover while you retrieve and replace the cache. Additionally there is usually a lady selling big issue outside the chapel doors. Please replace the cache where you found it. If you cannot retrieve/replace covertly then please retry at a later time, better that than have the cache muggled (again).
CONGRATULATIONS TO SGTZARA FOR THE FIRST TO FIND!