Church Micro IE 87 All Saints’, Ballymena
All Saints’ is located in the Parish of Kirkinriola and is a Gothic Church with a bell tower.
It was erected by Father John Lynch who was in the parish from 1847 until 1889. It was dedicated by Dr Denvir on 11 November 1860.
1889-1908 the church tower was completed and the bell, weighing thirty seven hundredweight, was installed. The bell is rung manually every day. Walls and iron railings were erected around the church together with elaborate entrance gates and pillars. In the interior two side altars, the old Stations of the Cross (now in Crebilly Church), the Sanctuary Lamp and some of the stained glass windows were erected.
1908-1941 extensive alterations and improvements were carried out, including extending the Sacristy to its present dimensions, the installation of a heating system, marble Pulpit, Communion rails and Baptismal Font. A mosaic floor was installed in the Sanctuary.
1942-1958. Though the Church required immediate attention war-time restrictions meant that work did not commence until October 1945. The works included re-roofing the Church, re-plastering the interior walls and having the entire Sanctuary walls done in mosaic. A new Mortuary Chapel, in the Gothic design of the Church, was added and the aisles were laid in terrazzo.
1958-1978 saw the renovation of the lighting system and the whole Church was rewired. New carpets, incorporating a Celtic design with sacred symbols interwoven were provided for the High Altar, the two side altars and St Joseph’s Altar in the Mortuary Chapel. The church grounds were renovated.
1978-1990 The Sanctuary was rearranged in 1979, in keeping with the changes of the Second Vatican Council. The table of the altar was brought forward; a difficult job that was successfully completed without destroying or disfiguring the monogram in the mosaic. The Sanctuary Lamp which had become blackened was sanded, straightened and re-lacquered, as were the Altar gates. Two microphones were also fitted. In 1980 work began on a new car park, a new entrance into the Church incorporating a new toilet block. The Mortuary Chapel was screened off with a hard wood glazed screen to match the confessionals and the new entrance doors. Further works took place during this period including replacing the wiring, new illuminated Name Panels fitted to the new confessionals and in 1982 the marble pulpit was taken down, reduced it in size and put it inside the Sanctuary as an Ambo.
1991 to date. The ceiling of the Sanctuary was cleaned revealing the gold in the paintings on the ceiling and the beautiful coloured frescoes around the roof. The work uncovered the signatures of those who had originally worked on the ceiling in 1857. The Stations of the Cross were repaired and restored..
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. He keeps track of the numbers of the churches and he will 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! 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.
