St Luke’s is embedded in the Christian heritage of Loughgall village dating back to the Culdees who were originally members of Christian monastic communities. The old church which is visible as ruins today is located close to the present church building and was in existence in 1622. It is said to have been built on the site of a 13th century church.
Following burning in the 1641 rebellion, the church was rebuild in 1740 and was in constant use up to 1795. Work began on the new church at the top of the hill in 1795 on land granted by Arthur Cope of Drumilly. It is believed to have been designed by Frances Johnston, a pupil of the famous architect Thomas Cooley who designed the Archbishops Palace, the Public Library (Robinson Library) in Armagh and the Royal School Armagh. A gallery was added in 1822 with the transepts added in 1863-66. The transepts were designed by the architect, William Joseph Barre and completed by Richard Cherry, a highly respected contractor who lived in the village. The church was consecrated on 26th October 1866 by Archbishop Marcus Gervaise Beresford and dedicated to St Luke.
From entering through the original wrought cast iron gates between square piers of limestone to the beautiful stained glass window above the panelling and altar together with the Conacher organ and the memorials contained in the church, many of which are testament to past Rectors and their service to the parish and the communities of the time, visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the architecture and history of this wonderful B1 listed building.
The cache is a small tablock box with the log contained within an appropriately themed inner container. Please replace the log as found and leave this container in the outer box. This container will be useless to anyone else as it has been personalised to me.
PLEASE NOTE - When this cache was placed, there was a large patch of wild garlic nearby. However, there is also a plentiful supply of Arum in these woods which is toxic and often mistaken for wild garlic. I have added the appropriate attribute to the cache page.
Parking is available in the park at the waypoint provided, however this cache is placed near a way into the park that is open 24/7. Should you choose to avail of this way in, please park responsibly nearby. While there is access to te park 24/7,I do not recommend looking for this cache after dark.
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 thousands 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.