Drumbo Parish Church

General information

We are an Anglican (Church of Ireland) Parish church meeting every Sunday @ 11 for worship.

The church has existed on this site from 1791. At the instigation of the Marquis of Downshire, Wills Hill, a site was chosen and work was commenced. The architect, on the Marquis’ advice, was Charles Lily of Dublin. The work commenced in mid 1789. The land belonged to one James Beers, who gave the land for free and forever to the Parishioners of Drumbo. A church had existed in the village of Drumbo, but had fallen into ruin in the sixteenth century. The parish was part of the Archdeaconry of Down and the pastoral needs were looked after by a curate. Horatio Maunsell became the first rector in 1834 when Drumbo was granted full Parochial status. Robert Batt, whose father was Narcissus Batt, a founding partner of the Belfast Bank, was instrumental in having the church enlarged by adding two transepts and the chancel in 1863/64. This followed the 1859 revival, which saw a great increase in church attendance which necessitated many churches to be extended, including Drumbo. The grandson of Narcisus, Robert Narcisus Batt, re-roofed the church and extended the windows in the nave in 1874.