The History of Mullabrack Parish

St.John's Parish Church, Mullabrack, stands on a grassy mound, which was originally a prehistoric fortification known as a "rath". The Irish name "Mullabrack" means "the hill of the speckled summit’ land the first church to be erected there, a small wooden structure, was founded by the Culdee monks of Armagh Cathedral, probably in the 10th century. Since that time, at least five or six different church buildings have occupied this ancient site. The present church is very much the product of extensive 19th century restoration and rebuilding, which dramatically altered what previously had been a simple cruciform 18th century edifice, by the addition of a tower (1814), two side aisles and the enlargement of what, up until then, had been a small musicians gallery. (1830). Mullabrack parish is first mentioned in historical documents in 1291 and not again until the early part of the 17th century.

In 1609 King James I of England initiated his scheme for what is known as” the Plantation of Ulster" i.e. The colonization of the northern part of Ireland by English and Scottish Protestant settlers. These people restored the church building at Mullabrack and used it as their place of worship. The native Irish were forced to surrender their lands to these new “Planters", many of who were to pay dearly for their newfound prosperity in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.

There is little resemblance between the tranquil, rural landscape of Mullabrack today and the countryside into which the Protestant settlers came nearly 400 years ago. It was then a wild, desolate area, part bog land and part dense forest, in which wolves roamed by night. The Planters worked hard to build their solid farmhouses and to clear, drain and till the land. In 1617, Archibald Acheson, the Planter ancestor of the family of local landlords, who would later become the Earls of Gosford, erected a strong castle one mile from the church and around it settled 36 Scottish families, while a mile and a half in the opposite direction from the church, another Scots landlord, John Hamilton, built a fortified mansion house or bawn. St.John's, Mullabrack, became the parish church of these two great. Families, their servants and tenants and some of the oldest monuments still to be seen in the present church, relate to one or other of them

                                        The church was badly damaged during the Rebellion of 1641,when the native Irish rose up against the Planters, who had derived them of their lands. The Irish under their commander Turloughog O’Neill used the oldest memorial in the church, which is to Sarah, wife of John Hamilton, for target practice, and the marks of shot can still be seen in its base. Mr. Mercer, who was curate of the parish at that time, was murdered by the Irish.

Dean Jonathan Swift of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, the famous author of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ was a friend of Sir Arthur and Lady Acheson of Gosford and preached in the church at least once, when he was staying with the Achesons in 1728, The Gosford family vault, where generations of the Achesons are buried, still exists beneath the church. At the top of the south aisle, is the spacious Gosford pew, in which the infant Sunday school now meets, while the present choir stalls were once the Gosford servants, seats. The family left the area in the 1920,s

                                         One of the strangest events in the church’s long history occurred during Sunday service on the 17th January ,1864, when a young parishioner named Samuel Calliston, apparently driven out of his mind by unrequited love, suddenly stood up in the middle of the sermon and fired a pistol into the air shouting, "There is no love in her heart for me and I can live no longer!" Miss Annie Dobbin, the girl, who was the object of his passion, was also at the service with her parents. There was pandemonium in the church. Some members of the congregation threw themselves onto the floor, others rushed outside fearing for their lives, while many of the women present fainted. The Rector, Rev. Josiah  Frances Flavell, came down from the pulpit and, and with help of the church wardens, disarmed Calliston, who was then led out, kicking and struggling. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but Calliston received a two months' prison sentence for his few moments of madness!

                                          Mullabrack church is surrounded by its historic burial ground. Many of the oldest grave stones here are indecipherable and some are so ancient that they bear no inscription at all, but simply mark a burial place. A pre-Reformation altar slab, once used in one of the earliest buildings on the site, and now on display in St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh, was unearthed by workmen in Mullabrack church yard in the 1940s

 

Thanks to Mrs. Mary McKew For putting this together.