135 year old hidden gem provideswarm welcome to new visitors

The magnificent old building - which was opened in March 1879 - has been an integral part of the city centre landscape for almost a century-and-a-half.

However, many in the city are wont to bypass the familiar façade, with it’s twin frontal spires and four turrets marking the gateway to Carlisle Road, whilst making their journeys to and from the city centre

But this summer the congregation launched a successful experiment to attract people of all faiths, tourists as well as fellow citizens, inside for a sneak peak of their church. Around a dozen members have taken turns showing visitors around.

Ken Canning is one of them. He told the Sentinel over 130 people have visited over July and August. That’s around one for every year of the present building’s existence. Ken says that overall the experience has been extremely positive.

“This is the first year this has happened,” he said. “We decided to [open our doors] because so many people have come to us, tourists from all over the world, as well as local people of different religions, who have come in.”

He continued: “They’ve seen the outside of the building but never had an opporunity to come inside. There’ve been so many positive comments about the building, [People are] impressed with the condition it’s kept in, and by the size of the building, which you don’t really get an idea of from outside.

“It was more or less experimental this year but hopefully, it’s something that will be continued in the future, during the summer months.

“We have a rota of people like Victor [Wray] and myself, who can come and look after it during the day.”

The volunteers who have been showing people around are members of a robust congregation, which, however, like many Christian congregations on the cityside, dwindled to an extent during the Troubles, as many, especially in the wider Protestant community left for the Waterside and further afield.

Ken acknowledges that this has been the case with his own congregation, stating: “The numbers of the congregation...during the years too, have altered. Prior to the Troubles there may have been around 400 families but this has been reduced with people going to different churches and moving to different areas. We still manage to keep going.”

However, Ken explains that his affinity with Carlisle Road Presbyterian Church and the airy old building stretches back for a number of generations and that this has survived his own migration away from the immediate area.

“I was born into it, and my father and my grandfather. There’s been a loyalty thing that brought me to this Church and kept me here, even though we moved to another part of the city,” he explained.