About

Camlough (Bessbrook), Mullaglass and Ballymoyer Union

St. Luke’s Mullaglass is a small, country parish located on the outskirts of Newry, Northern Ireland located within the Armagh Diocese of the Church of Ireland. It forms one of the four churches within the Camlough, Mullaglass and Ballymoyer Union group of churches.

The current church was consecrated on 23rd October 1933, dedicated to Saint Luke and originally referred to as Killevy before changing to the parish of Mullaglass in 1870. It was built using a grant from the Board of First Fruits for £2000. The design is attributed to William Farrell, who was the architect appointed by the Board for the county of Armagh, but this is disputed with Sir Charles Brett, believing the design to be more reminiscent of Joseph Welland instead.

Sir Charles Brett in his publication, Buildings of County Armagh, describes the churches design as ‘unusual’ It is a Barn shaped church, as opposed to the usual cross shaped churches that the Anglican faith is better known for. Built with Mullaglass granite, the same as Gosford Castle, it is a grand church with five narrow windows, two of which are stained glass. The East window is original, ‘a delightful geometrical lattice composition of diamonds of red, blue and clear glass.’ Inside our church is very much original with wooden grained pews, a brass lectern and wooden pulpit. A simple country parish.