|
Ebenezer Chapel revisited |
|
|
|
Written by John McCullagh
|
|
Saturday, 03 June 2006 |
Live and learn! I have reason to visit the Salvation Army building on Trevor Hill on a regular basis - so I thought I'd enquire if they knew of the Ebenezer Community of old and where it was centred. But of course!
'Right Here, actually!
The Independent Congregation of Ebenezer Chapel constructed this building in 1825. The original building cost £500 which was raised by public subscription. This was then Kildare Street. It is now of course Trevor Hill in tribute to the old Hill/Downshire family.
The Congregation in Newry was always small and in fact did not see out the nineteenth century. We have had the site ever since and it is still devoted to the worship of God. Recently we have acquired the adjacent property for a Family Centre, with cafe and bookshop.
Below we reproduce another page from the parish records of the Ebenezer Community. This is the first page.
The first new member was Agnes, daughter of Archibald McAlister and Susan (of Dysert), his wife who was born on 4 Dec 1824 and baptised by the first congregational minister E Brown on 16 Jan 1825.
Mary, daughter of Joseph and Margaret Scott of Desert was baptised on Christmas Day of the following year. There was a new minister James Carlisle. With almost two years between these two first baptisms, there were early signs that the community might not flourish.
'Dysert' - meaning a secluded and holy place of reflection - is a townland in the general Mayobridge area.
|
History 
