Meeting-house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a slight S and W-facing slope. There was a synod of the Presbyterian Church in Ulster by 1690, and Presbyterianism was the faith of the Scottish settlers since the beginning of the century. The Secession Church was a branch of Presbyterianism that arose in Scotland in 1733, and by 1770 there were two congregations in Co. Cavan, at an unknown location in Corraneary and at Urcher. In the 1880s the congregation, then known as the Second Bailieborough, built a new church in the town, partly with materials from Urcher, and the congregation became known as Trinity Bailieborough. The Secessionists had been reconciled with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland by 1840, and by 1956 the last of the Original Secessionist Church had merged with the Church of Scotland.
The original meeting house at Urcher is depicted on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map as an oblong building (dims c. 15m NE-SW; c. 8m NW-SE), but only part of the conserved SW wall (L 9.85m; T 0.5m; H 1m) survives. It is within a subrectangular burial ground (dims c. 60m N-S; c. 20m E-W at N to c. 45m E-W at S) defined by earthen banks with hedges and has a fine wrought iron entrance gate at the S end of the E side where there is a public road. The headstones date from c. 1830-2015, and amongst them is the horizontal memorial to the congregation’s second minister, Rev. Francis Carlile who died in 1811. His widow, Anne Jane Carlile, long outlived him, dying in 1864, and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery in Dublin. She had a remarkable career as a philanthropist and was actively involved in the temperance movement.
Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 18 March 2020