History – velvethummingbee

Posted on August 22, 2026August 21, 2026 by David Steers

Visit to Warrenpoint, Newry and Banbridge

Saturday, 15^th August was our long-awaited visit to churches and places of Non-Subscribing Presbyterian interest in Warrenpoint, Newry, and Banbridge. A group from Dunmurry and First Belfast made an early start from Dunmurry and kept brilliantly to the timetable all day. Our first stop was Warrenpoint where Anthony and Anne Holmes made us very welcome.

Warrenpoint is a unique church in our tradition, there is no other quite like it. When you approach it through the unusual curved porch you come into a building with a curved pulpit and three galleries supported by cast iron columns and leaving only a narrow rectangle not covered by the galleries. There is a date stone of 1707 and part of it must date from then but it was extensively rebuilt in about 1820. Founded in 1697 and identified as the congregation of Narrow-Water until 1875 when it was named Warrenpoint, it was made a joint charge with Carlingford, situated on the other side of the Lough, in 1707. This made for a complicated life for the minister who had to travel backward and forward across the Lough to conduct worship in both places. The Rev Samuel Arnold was the last minister to do this between 1805 and 1820 when he left Carlingford to concentrate on Narrow-Water. This proved a great success for Narrow-Water although it confirmed a downward trend for Carlingford. The last minister on that side of the Lough was the Rev James Lunn, the Carlingford congregation eventually closing in 1859.

Warrenpoint interior (Photo: Anthony Holmes)

On the county Down side the congregation flourished with Samuel Arnold able to concentrate on its needs and extensively rebuilding the meeting house in about 1820. It was badly hit by the Famine although managed to maintain itself as a single charge until 1910 when it was linked to Newry, an arrangement that has remained ever since. The congregation had the services of some high profile ministers including G.W. Bannister and W.E. Mellone and many of them are buried in the adjoining graveyard where we also saw the grave of Thomas Donnan, for 45 years the precentor of the congregation.

From Warrenpoint we moved on to Newry, generally said to be the first non-conformist church in Ireland to be built in the Gothic style. Designed by W.J. Barre, it is an impressive building with a spire and as well as a big, white pulpit also houses the first organ installed in a Presbyterian church in Ireland. The organ was built for Belfast’s Second Congregation and despite rumours that it had once been in St George’s Chapel, Windsor perhaps built by Snetzler and indeed played (and haunted) by Handel we do know now that it was built by an organ builder named White who operated out of Orr’s Entry in Belfast. When the Second Congregation moved to All Souls’ the organ came with them but in the 1920s it was sold to Newry where it continues in regular use, the same organ that was once played by Edward Bunting.

Some of our group in front of the organ of 1806

While we were at Newry Anthony opened up the trapdoor to the underground passages that are hidden away under the building. Only one of our number was brave enough to venture into this hidden realm and modesty prevents me from naming that intrepid explorer but the passages seem to be there to house a large stove that once heated the church. Made by Musgrave & Co. Ltd, a firm based in Belfast in the middle of the nineteenth century, there must have been a flue somewhere, but it hasn’t been used for a long time.

Click on the video for Anthony Holmes’s video of the underground passageway

From the Newry church we went on to the Old Meeting House Green on High Street. Despite extensive redevelopment on all sides this spot remains a beautifully maintained peaceful oasis which contains not only ancient and modern graves but the ruins of the previous meeting house.

Inside the old graveyard (Photo: Sue Steers)

All that remains of the old meeting house (Photo: Sue Steers)

The old meeting house was built in 1724 but abandoned when the new church was built in 1853. It was here that John Wesley preached when he came to Newry and until fairly recently the remains of the pulpit could be seen. The graveyard is particularly notable for containing the last resting place of John Mitchell, Young Irelander, Nationalist leader and a son of the manse, as well as the grave of Rev A.G. Malcolm an innovative minister who edited the first major Non-Subscribing hymnbook and who began his ministry at Dunmurry before moving to Newry.

A view of the graveyard from the sundial, said to date from 1757

On leaving Newry we travelled to Banbridge for lunch before going off to the Masonic Hall which was built as the Second Non-Subscribing congregation in Banbridge. This congregation built a grand church opened in 1849 after a large portion of the original congregation left that church following the appointment of the Rev John Montgomery, a nephew of Henry Montgomery. There were deep divisions amongst Non-Subscribers at that time and this was one of the places where this manifested itself in congregational division.

Second Banbridge (Photo: Sue Steers). Note the lion on top of the pediment

I am sure most people that pass the Masonic Hall don’t realise it began life as one of our churches and we were given the rare privilege of visiting the building, being shown round by Willy McCoy, one of the officers. The interior was extensively remodelled, probably in the 1890s and most of the rooms give nothing away of its ecclesiastical origins. Nearly all the windows are covered in, and new floors have been added, but the original church must have filled both the length and height of the building, probably with galleries. It must have been a magnificent space built to compete with the church building they had left.

It doesn’t quite match the splendid building that is the first congregation but it can’t have been far off. But the one detail that does survive and which is quite exceptional is the ceiling that remains in the Lodge Room.

The ceiling dates from 1849 when the building was opened and is a stunning piece of work that has not been dimmed by age at all.

The impressive ceiling in Second Banbridge

The one thing we could not discover was the origin of the stone lion that sits atop the structure. This does not seem to have been placed there by the Masonic Lodge, but would it be put there by the congregation? It is nevertheless an attractive and distinctive feature. You can read more about this congregation here.

From there it was a short walk to First Banbridge. Founded in 1716 this church was built in 1844 towards the end of the ministry of the Rev James Davis, Non-Subscriber and Remonstrant. We were greeted by Carol McAlister and Karen Bushby who again were excellent hosts. We know that the Second Congregation’s building was designed by Edward Gardner (who may have had a connection with our Downpatrick congregation), but we don’t know who designed First Banbridge.

If Newry is an example of the beginnings of the use of Gothic architecture then Banbridge is a stunning example of the adoption of the fullest Neo-Classical design. It is a complete and splendid example of Classical architecture with Ionic columns at the entrance, a large vestibule with a curved staircase on either side leading to a U-shaped gallery and a magnificent two-decker pulpit.

Ceiling and Organ, First Banbridge (Photo: Sue Steers)

The Classical features extend all the way around the building both inside and outside, which is not always the case, but here it makes for a very impressive church.

Looking towards the pulpit (Photo: Karen Bushby)

After leaving the church we stopped off at the Banbridge Meeting House Green. This was also once the site of the first meeting-house and is the burial place of many members and ministers such as James Davis and John Montgomery as well as Rev Percival Godding who served in the First World War, you can read a little bit about him here.

Entrance to Banbridge Old Meeting House Green

Inside the graveyard (Photo: Karen Bushby)

It was an excellent day, thank you to everyone who came along or helped organise the day, especially to Kathy. We are already preparing for next year when a trip to Carlingford is planned.

Posted on August 18, 2026August 18, 2026 by David Steers · 1 Comment

A Silk-hatted Veteran

It was a great delight for us to welcome to Dunmurry last week Patrick Robertson, a direct descendant of the Rev Alexander Gordon, his great great grandson no less. He brought with him a mass of wonderful material relating to AG and his family which will provide the basis for much important research in times to come. But the most poignant item he brought along was Alexander Gordon’s silk top hat.

On the steps of Dunmurry Church with Alexander Gordon silk hat

The last time this hat was in Dunmurry was on 18th January 1931 when AG preached in Dunmurry for the last time shortly before his death in February of that year. This visit was preserved in a photograph taken as he entered the Church which can be seen in this post. Alexander Gordon was a member of Dunmurry from the time he moved to Manchester in 1890 to take over as Principal of the Unitarian Home Missionary College. He seems to have valued this link above all else and returned regularly to Dunmurry to attend communion, to serve on the committee and to participate in other aspects of congregational life.

Patrick has another printed postcard image of AG’s visit to Dunmurry in 1931. This view is actually the same shot as the original picture used on this blog before but it is cropped differently. This is it:

The venerable figure of Alexander Gordon coming to preach at Dunmurry at the age of 89 in 1931. Wearing his silk hat

Alexander Gordon was known for his hats. He was said to wear an ancient silk hat inscribed ‘Not Yours!’ But this one wasn’t it. It is actually in excellent condition and though it must be nearly 100 years old it is probably not much older than that.

But his hat was noticed in a newspaper article which is preserved in the Very Rev William McMillan Library in Dunmurry. Probably from the Belfast Newsletter and dating from early in 1931 the writer gives an account of Gordon’s visit to the Linen Hall Library to hear Shannon Millin’s lecture on Belfast historian George Benn. For the writer Gordon was the ‘Silk-hatted veteran’:

Patrick has a lot of fascinating material relating to Alexander Gordon including his certificate from Manchester New College, London dated June 1862 and signed by James Martineau, J.J. Tayler, William Gaskell and many other prominent Unitarians. In later years AG corresponded regularly with his granddaughter Nellie and these lively and engaging letters shed a lot of light on his activities and interests in the 1920s and will be the subject of a future article. The family history is fully covered by a range of letters from across the generations which show the Gordon family’s removal from the north east of Scotland to Dudley in the English west midlands where Alexander Gordon’s grandfather and namesake established himself as a highly successful spirit and wine merchant.

Alexander Gordon senior announces his entry into business

His grandfather was not only a very successful business man (helped no doubt by his wife Maria Loxton whose aide memoire for calculating measures survives to this day) but was Mayor of Dudley, and was also a leading Methodist in the west midlands. Converted by Wesley he kept an illustrated document detailing his spiritual state. This was before Methodists began to be advocates for temperance or teetotalism, which was quite a late development, most people won’t realise that as late as 1841 the Methodist Conference ruled against Methodist Chapels being used to host teetotal meetings and against using unfermented wine at communion.

Other documents that will provide more insight into Alexander Gordon’s life and activity include his ‘Essay on the Results of the Late [Crimean] War’, probably his oldest surviving written work, dating from 1856 at the age of 15; congregational addresses from Norwich and Hope Street, Liverpool, presented on his removal; a testimonial given to his father on removing from Coventry in 1854; photographs and more.

All this helps us expand our knowledge of Alexander Gordon and the world he belonged to, someone whose significance as a scholar has not diminished and whose personal religious bonds, it is becoming increasingly clear, were strongest with the Remonstrant congregation of Dunmurry.

Posted on January 27, 2026January 27, 2026 by David Steers

Knutsford

I was really pleased to be invited to Knutsford to give a talk on Unitarian history earlier in January and so pleased to see such a good turnout and to find such a lot of interest in the topics discussed. I was delighted too to be asked to preach on the Sunday in the impressive meeting-house of 1689.

I have put together a short video that looks at one of the connections between Knutsford and Dunmurry, mainly that represented by Rev Alexander Gordon and his wife Clara Maria Gordon (née Boult). It can be viewed here:

Elizabeth Gaskell, Clara Boult & Alexander Gordon. Click above to see the video

Alexander Gordon himself was descended on his mother’s side from an ejected minister of 1662 and part of his enornous contribution to history was to produce Freedom after Ejection and the Minutes of the Cheshire Classis, both still important works of reference which have close connections to the story of the early dissenting community of Knutsford.

Of course, the most famous person connected with the chapel is undoubtedly Elizabeth Gaskell, who is buried in the chapel graveyard along with her husband Rev William Gaskell.

An old plaque commemorates ‘Mrs Gaskell, the Authoress’

Elizabeth Gaskell is possibly the most famous nineteenth-century Unitarian of all in terms of her continuing impact on modern culture and literature. She is also someone claimed as a Unitarian who really was exactly that; the daughter of a minister, raised in Knutsford Chapel, married to a prominent Unitarian minister and part of that extended community throughout the north west. Her religion was part of her, even to the extent of utlisiing some of the reports of the Manchester Domestic Mission for her descriptions of urban hardship in nineteenth-century Manchester in her novel North and South.

Along with Elizabeth Gaskell, Knutsford is also the burial place of Clara Gordon and her gravestone is an invaluable aid in uncovering the tragedy of her and Alexander Gordon’s home life. Two children killed in war, a young daughter died in Rostrevor, county Down, and buried in Warrenpoint, a fact that can hardly be discovered anywhere else than from Clara’s gravestone.

The tragic story of the family is told in the video. May was born in Belfast, the above picture was taken in Manchester, in a studio in Rusholme.

The video also shows Alexander Gordon’s close allegiance to Dunmurry. A dedicated member there from 1889 to 1931 despite his commitments to the Unitarian Home Missionary College, the University of Manchester Faculty of Theology, and the churches in North West England.

Posted on December 6, 2025December 5, 2025 by David Steers

Homer’s Iliad 1686

Click above to watch the video

The oldest book in our Library at Dunmurry is this volume, the Third Edition of Thomas Hobbes’ translation of Homer’s Iliad published in London in 1686. The video tells the story of the book and its recent restoration in Belfast.

The book following its recent restoration

Posted on October 13, 2025 by David Steers · 1 Comment

Falkner Square, Liverpool

A walk around Falkner Square in Liverpool is always interesting. The buildings are quite impressive although not quite as grand as the houses in the nearby Georgian Quarter, now much utilised for film locations, although Falkner Square itself made a film appearance in the 1971 film Gumshoe with Albert Finney.

What’s attractive about it is that it has its own central park and resembles the sort of square you would find in Bloomsbury. I was always told, that in days gone by, only the people who lived in the Square had a key to the park, although the City Council now claims it as ‘one of the earliest public open spaces in the city’. I suspect it wasn’t open to the public in its earliest days.

Falkner Square is said to be named after Edward Falkner, an ex-soldier and former High Sheriff of Lancashire, who mustered a force of 1,000 men to defend Liverpool in 1797 when fears of a French invasion were at their highest. He was a successful merchant, involved inevitably in the slave trade, but who died in 1825, so he can’t have been directly involved in the development of the Square.

Joseph Sharples’ Pevsner Architectural Guides Liverpool says ‘The central garden is shown planted on a map of 1831, but the stuccoed houses did not begin to appear until the mid 1840s.’ The only architect he mentions is William Culshaw who designed number 29 in 1845 along with many Liverpool buildings.

One relatively new feature is the Memorial to Black Merchant Seamen who served in the Second World War. This was unveiled in 1993 on the 50^th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic and contains the words “They Held Their Course” Respect Due. The bronze plaque, which, shockingly, has endured some vandalism but is now restored, is attached to a large decorated piece of sandstone. This came from the old Liverpool Sailors’ Home, which was once a very prominent landmark in Canning Place near the city centre. Now only the ornate gates survive and can still be seen at the entrance to Liverpool 1.

Posted on August 18, 2025 by David Steers · 1 Comment

Balloo, Killinchy, A Hidden History

I was delighted to attend the launch of Balloo, Killinchy, A Hidden History by Lesley Simpson, Moira Concannon and Leanna Russell on Saturday, 15^th August at Florida Manor, Killinchy. It was a wonderful occasion and a great start for a fascinating and beautifully produced book.

With Rev Dr Stanley Gamble, Rev Dr John Nelson, Lesley Simpson and Moira Concannon

The authors tell the story of the locality through maps, family history, newspaper reports, churches, mills and stores and, most of all, the local houses. Of particular interest to me is the house known as Templebrook Valley which was the home of the Rev Samuel Watson minister in Killinchy from 1797 up to his death in 1856. He was at the centre of one of the major disputes between the Synod of Ulster and the Non-Subscribers in the 1830s and the new Remonstrant meeting house was built for him in Killinchy in 1846.

When the Non-Subscribers were ejected from their original meeting-house, for three years they held services in the grounds of his house. The book tells the story of the Rev Samuel Watson and his ‘long and interesting life from his suspected involvement with the United Irishmen to his move towards Unitarianism’. One of 13 children, three of them becoming Non-Subscribing Presbyterian ministers, Samuel Watson was also a significant farmer in the locality. Sadly his house was left to fall into dereliction in the twentieth century although a new house has now been restored on the site.

There is a great deal in the book about Samuel Watson. At the stone-laying ceremony for his new meeting-house it was reported that:

…seventy clergymen and strangers joined the congregation for a celebration which culminated in a substantial dinner, in a commodious wooden house that had been erected for the occasion with the Rev. Samuel Watson presiding.

I was particularly amused by one quotation taken from James Gourley in 1874, a perhaps not entirely unbiased commentator, who asked an old man who had sat under Samuel Watson’s feet:

What sort of doctrines did he preach? ‘Ohm’ said he ‘at that time there was no word about doctrine.’ ‘And what then did he preach about?’ ’Mainly about far away countries and wild beasts’.

Samuel Watson’s obituary in the Northern Whig described him as ‘…one of the oldest and ablest Ministers of the Church.’

The book is full of detail and uncovers such fascinating stories as the 1893 excavation of Templebrook Valley by the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society with the co-operation of Samuel Watson’s two youngest daughters – Anna and Sarah who were photographed at the excavation which uncovered Bronze Age vessels now in the Ulster Museum.

The book is richly illustrated throughout and is full of fascinating information. It is a credit to its authors and will be enjoyed by all with an interest in local history, the history of county Down and Irish Presbyterian history. The launch was a splendid occasion at Florida Manor, as the following photographs show.

Posted on August 6, 2025 by David Steers

Postcards by A.D. Coon

In this post we are looking at some more examples of the work of Allen Daniel Coon. The total output of postcards he produced between 1902 and his death in 1938 must have been enormous and they covered a very wide geographical area. I hadn’t noticed that one card I picked up a few years ago was by him:

This was produced for John McKee News Agent and Confectioner, Ballycarry, and is interesting because he has labelled different features of the graveyard, although you can only see the tip of the spire of St John’s Parish Church and can’t see the ruins of the old church at all as they are obscured by trees.

This is what the ruins look like today:

Ruins of Templecorran Church, Ballycarry

You can read about our recent visit to this graveyard here.

Allen Coon produced a lot of postcards for this part of County Antrim in the later 1920s, in this case giving his location as Moira, NI. Five years earlier his postcards produced for Mrs Johnston, Draper & Boot Merchant, Hillsborough still give his location as Letterkenny:

Town Hall and Court House, Hillsborough, 1924

Interior of Parish Church, Hillsborough, 1924

The cards produced in Antrim in 1927 stand out from the others having a large border and a glossy finish. This time they are published for Mrs Simpson, Newsagent and Stationer, Antrim, who must have wanted something different in terms of design. By this time he is well settled in Moira:

Motor Boats on Lough Neagh at Antrim, 1927

Presumably the motor boats were used as pleasure craft taking people on tours of the Lough.

In Whiteabbey in 1929 he produced about 18 postcards for H. Quiery, Newsagent & Tobacconist. He must have exhausted all the possible views of the surroundings.

A lot of Allen Coon’s pictures are straightforward architectural treatments of churches or halls. But this one is slightly different in that a passer-by boldly walks into shot in front of the Whiteabbey Memorial Hall (opened just two years earlier in 1927). Was this pre-arranged to add a bit of extra detail? Or did the lady accidently cross into the frame while he was standing there with his camera? If this was an unforeseen intrusion into his picture he must have liked the look of the finished article since he could easily have taken another one. But there she remains for posterity, out on her messages, captured on film.

Posted on July 17, 2025July 17, 2025 by David Steers · 1 Comment

Postcards from Finaghy – and the Moore family of Finaghy and Dunmurry

Following our postcard views of Dunmurry in the 1930s I thought I would post some postcards from a place a short distance away; pictures of Finaghy, which probably date from a few years before, and which we know were taken by Allen Daniel Coon of Letterkenny and Moira.

The numbering system on the four cards is believed to point to a date in 1927 for their production. According to the excellent catalogue of Allen Coon’s cards produced by Brian Hamilton in 2016 there were five cards published in this series for W.J. Ross of Finaghy Stores but I only have four of them. These four images are quite common but I have to admit that I have never seen an example of the fifth card which is named as ‘Finaghy Road South looking North’.

The ‘Finaghy Stores’ postcard shows a solitary shop, that of W.J. Ross’s Cash Stores and Refreshment Rooms. It stands out very prominently in those days, but later had another shop joined to it and was surrounded by a number of other shops, including a couple of banks. The shop was well known to me in more recent times when it belonged to John Frazer, an active member of All Souls’ Church when I was minister there.

The postcard ‘Finaghy Road, North, Finaghy’ looks across the crossroads to Finaghy Road North and dates from a time when there was so little traffic that a bus could stop in the middle of the road to pick up passengers to be taken into town. This view has essentially not changed except for the addition of shops on one side and what was a bank on the other side of the road.

The other two postcards are a little more curious. Named as ‘Finaghy House’ and ‘Finaghy House and Grounds’, they could more accurately be titled ‘Finaghy House gateposts’ and ‘Finaghy House Grounds’ since neither card features any more than the merest suggestion of Finaghy House.

This is a pity really because Finaghy House will have been a major landmark at the time. Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland tells us all about Finaghy House in his excellent blog which you can read here. He tells us that the original house was built by Richard Woods at the end of the seventeenth century but was sold to the Charley family, a prominent linen family in 1727. Lord Belmont quotes the 1830 Ordnance Survey Memoirs as saying ‘the walls are nearly four feet thick and run together by grouted lime, similar to other ancient buildings.’ A descendant of the family said it was ‘an imposing mansion in a large park, with extensive outhouses and stables … a remarkable feature [of the interior] being a revolving fireplace between the drawing-room and the dining-room.’ The Charley family sold the house to a family named Brewis who, it is said, bred corgis, one of which had the distinction of being the first corgi owned by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.

In about 1890 Finaghy House was sold to James Moore and this is where a connection can be found with the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland. James Moore was a direct descendant of Rev Henry Montgomery and the family were all members of our church at Dunmurry. In the 1901 Census he is listed as a Manufacturing Stationer living with his wife, Maria Lydia, who had been born in New Orleans. They and their three children (Harold Montgomery, Kenneth Montgomery and Sybil) all give their religion as Unitarian. As well as the five family members there are three servants listed as resident in the house. Harold and Kenneth are respectively stationer’s assistant and stationer’s apprentice to their father in 1901, Sybil is still at school. By the 1911 Census the three children are no longer living at home although there are still three (different) servants; a parlour maid, a cook and a housemaid.

By 1911 James Moore was a JP in County Antrim. In the First World War Kenneth Montgomery Moore was commissioned into the 11^th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and was awarded the Military Cross. He returned home safely at the end of the war and his name is listed in the First World War Roll of Honour of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland (published 2018).

The Moore family burial ground can be found in their church, the First Presbyterian (NS) Church, Dunmurry. Marked simply as ‘Moore, The Finaghy’ it can be seen at the top of this page.

Posted on July 4, 2025July 3, 2025 by David Steers · 3 Comments

Commonwealth War Graves at Botley Cemetery, Oxford

Visiting Botley Cemetery for the first time, despite seeing the signs for the Commonwealth War Graves, I didn’t expect to find such a large military cemetery of a size and with such features as you would expect to find in France or Flanders. Like all Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries it is immaculately maintained, and a very moving place to visit.

I was surprised to find such a large graveyard of this sort in Oxfordshire, although it is inevitably true that many service men and women did die at home, either on home service, or were brought back because of wounds or found themselves in hospital because of accident or illness. Oxford provided a major regional hospital during the First World War, and again during the Second World War. Oxfordshire was also a major centre of RAF activity in the Second World War and Botley was then designated as a Royal Air Force Regional Cemetery. In the First World War the University Examination Schools housed the 3^rd Southern General Hospital with room for 1,500 patients. The Schools weren’t the only venue for the war-time hospital, also put to use were Somerville College (for officers only), the Workhouse on Cowley Road, the Town Hall, University and New Colleges, and the Oxford Masonic Buildings on High Street. In the Second World War the Examination Schools were again used as a hospital.

Botley Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery has all the features that can be found in major cemeteries of this type. At the centre of the grave yard there is a Cross of Sacrifice, a large cross containing a bronze longsword, with its blade pointing down, it is said to be present in all graveyards containing 40 or more war graves. These were designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and are a familiar symbol of sacrifice in so many places. By 1937 there were already over 1,000 of these crosses in Europe alone, more were to follow after the Second World War.

The Cemetery also has a Stone of Remembrance designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for use in CWGC Cemeteries containing more than 1,000 graves. There are now hundreds of these all around the world but only 12 in the UK. With around 743 graves Botley was regarded as a special case, perhaps indicating that it is one of the dozen largest Commonwealth War Grave Cemeteries in the UK. Although not designed as such the Stone resembles an altar and carries a quotation from the book of Ecclesiasticus: Their Name Liveth for Evermore. Sir Edwin Lutyens was one of three principal architects of the Imperial War Graves Commission (as it was then called) and as well as his work in New Delhi and elsewhere is perhaps best remembered for his contribution to memorial architecture for the First World War, designing the Cenotaph in London and the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme.

The third building found in the graveyard is the Shelter, designed by Sir Edward Maufe, the Principal architect of the Commonwealth War Grave Commission after the Second World War.

One of the first graves I noticed must be among the most poignant. It is that of Air Mechanic 3rd Class Osmund R.T. Fleeton of the Royal Flying Corps who was just 16 when he died. He came from Cork where his parents Robert and Jeanie Eloise Fleeton, lived at 1 Brookfield Villas, College Road. The official record says he ‘died of sickness 26^th April, 1917’. ‘Ossie Always Beloved, Never Forgotten,’ his family inscribed on his grave.

Another Irish grave is that of Private James Byrne from county Kilkenny of the 1^st Battalion the Leinster Regiment who died on 13^th May 1915.

In one corner of the grave yard there is a solitary grave of a nurse – Staff Nurse Mabel Murray, of the Territorial Force Nursing Service, who worked at the 3^rd Southern General Hospital and who died of influenza on 2^nd November 1918 at the age of 35. She was one of the victims of the so-called ‘Spanish flu’ which swept over the nation at the end of the First World War, and it may be that the reason her grave is situated in a lonely corner is that they expected more of her colleagues to fall victim to influenza, but thankfully this did not transpire. She is not the only woman buried in the cemetery, however. Nineteen years old Aircraftwoman Glenys Doreen Harris is buried in the RAF section having been killed when an RAF Mosquito crashed in training at Upper Heyford on 24th September 1945.

The graveyard contains the graves of many nationalities from both world wars including those who came from the then dominions of the British Empire (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa) as well as other countries including Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Italy, The Netherlands, and Poland. Botley also contains the only grave of a Greek soldier in Britain – Private T. Lagos, who died in Oxford on 18th October 1944. His headstone is inscribed with a quotation from Pericles’ funeral oration as recorded by Thucydides: ‘The whole earth is the tomb of famous men’. There are also a number of German graves from the First World War as well as a large section of 33 graves of German soldiers all dated 1944 who presumably were prisoners of war. It was strange to see the German war graves although their presence is perhaps slightly reminiscent of the memorial in New College Chapel to former German students who had been killed in the Great War.

The precise number of graves in the CWGC cemetery at Botley varies according to which source you consult but I did notice a number of other military graves from the world wars located outside the Commonwealth War Graves area which might account for the variations. But it is certainly a very peaceful place, a well-cared-for corner of a municipal cemetery, a silent memorial to those who gave their lives.

Posted on June 5, 2025 by David Steers · 3 Comments

Four churches, a graveyard and a peacock

On 5th June 2025 a party of about 20 of us set off on a journey to visit four Non-Subscribing Presbyterian churches in county Antrim plus an historic graveyard (including the ruins of a very historic church) and met a Non-Subscribing Presbyterian peacock along the way. We had as our expert guide the Rev Dr John Nelson whose extensive knowledge kept us informed and entertained all day.

We left Dunmurry and headed for Ballycarry where we visited first Templecorran graveyard.

The original parish church used by Edward Brice, the first Presbyterian minister in Ireland in 1613, is now in ruins but it contains many interesting items, including Edward Brice’s grave, the grave of the Rev John Bankhead and a memorial to James Orr, the Bard of Ballycarry.

The church was renovated in 1622, during the ministry of Edward Brice, and being built in dangerous times was constructed to be defendable; musket loopholes can still be seen which would have covered all angles of the church should it ever have come under attack.

The church at Templecorran was slated (unlike the first Ballycarry meeting house which was thatched) and was occupied by Edward Brice and his congregation until he was ejected in 1637.

From the old church it is a short walk to Ballycarry where Dr Nelson told us the story of the meeting house, itself dating from the early 18th century.

It’s not far from Ballycarry to Raloo but some of us still managed to get lost! But we got there in the end to enjoy the Remonstrant meeting house of 1838 and adjoining modern church hall.

From Raloo we went to Templepatrick where we were able to enjoy our lunch thanks to the kindness of the congregation. Templepatrick is an attractive church which has often faced upheaval. In 1798 the brass canon used by the United Irishmen at the battle of Antrim were stored under the pews. One of these was dragged to the battle on a carriage which was fired once and blew the carriage to pieces.

Later when the congregation became Remonstrant the landlord Lord Templeton evicted the minister from the manse farm.

While we were in Templepatrick a peacock was spending some time in the car park:

Finally we went off to Crumlin, a congregation founded in 1715, which built a new church in 1835 which was a miniature version of First Church, Belfast.

Looking through some wild flowers towards the church

It is such an elegant building that deserves to be better known.

The church was particularly associated with the Rev Nathaniel Alexander who was 6 feet three inches tall. The pulpit consequently has a trap door that was open when he preached so he could stand at a slightly lower lever.

It was a great day out, many thanks go to Rev Dr John Nelson.