Know Your Parish: St. Mary's, Chapel Lane, BelfastAuthor(s): Owen KellySource: North Irish Roots, Vol. 14, No. 1 (2003), p. 13Published by: North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27697478 .

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KNOW YOUR PARISH

ST MARY'S, CHAPEL LANE, BELFAST

Belfast was originally part of the parish of Shankill, and well provided with churches The

appointment of Sir Arthur Chichester as governor of Carrickfergus and surrounding area ushered in

an era of persecution during which the Catholic population was dispersed and the churches either

destroyed or converted to other uses

By the year 1700 Belfast possessed only 10 slated houses and there wasn t a single Catholic among its tiny population Four years later two Catholics were reported to be living in the town, which by

then had grown to six streets As the years progressed the

Presbyterian population, labouring under laws as strict as those

affecting Catholics, drew closer in sympathy to

the growing Catholic population

By 1724 there were 340 Catholic families

living in the town, but they had no

chapel Mass was celebrated in

John Kennedy's house in Castle

Street, but the authorities forced

an end to that in 1745 From then until 1769 Mass was

celebrated in the sandpits near

Friars Bush In that year restrictions on Catholics

obtaining leases were eased and

a building in Mill Street was leased as a temporary church It

was approached by entry so

narrow it was called Squeezegut Lane

With considerable Presbyterian

help the Catholics managed to

lease a better house in Crooked

Lane, now Chapel Lane Fr.

Hugh O'Donnell opened St Marys on May 30, 1784

and the Irish Volunteers

provided a guard of honour for the ceremony

The church soon became

inadequate for the

growing population and the

larger, present St Mary was opened

by Bishop Dorrian on November

1868 OWEN KELLY This article is based on a series which first appeared in

the IRISH WEEKLY 60 years ago 13

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