Falls Road Methodist Church
Falls Road Methodist Church
For a number of years prayer meetings and other religious services had been held by the Methodist in the Falls Road district. In 1842 a room was secured in a factory belonging to Mr William Stewart for the use of Sunday school and preaching services. A year later in 1843 preaching services were begun near Whiterock and one of the families connected with the Falls Road church from its earliest days was the Kirkwoods of Whiterock farm.
In 1850 a new preaching place was opened in the loft of an old bark mill in Greenhills Court, off Falls Road. A Methodist ‘class-meeting’ was formed in it by Mr John Caruth. Mr James H Beattie also commenced a Sunday school, and as a result of these efforts, congregations began to grow which necessitated new premises. The site chosen was opposite some large flour mills in a district, described at the time as ‘one of busy industry rather than aristocratic pretensions’. The mills owned by Messrs Alexander, who granted a plot of ground at a merely nominal rent. The architect was Charles Lanyon, the then County Surveyor. The new building was opened on Sunday 26th March 1854.
For a number of years Falls Road congregation formed part of the Belfast South Circuit, but at the Conference of 1862 it was separated and formed into a circuit for one minister. In this period classes met in and around the churches, at Andersontown, Ballygomartin, and Whiterock. In 1864 a house (Manse) for the minister was purchased next to the then Model School.
Sunday school work played an important part of the church activity and schools were to be found in Falls Road, Wilson Street, Andersonstown and Hutchinson Street.
The membership of Falls Road at this time numbered about 250, but the congregations seem to have been large enough to fill the church at both services. During the ministry of the Rev Robert G Jones (1868-71) the church was enlarged by the addition of a gallery to give seating for an additional 250 persons at a cost of £500.
One of the church stewards at the time was Mr John Horner, proprietor of Clonard Foundry on the Falls Road. He and his family were among the most loyal members of the congregation. The schoolhouse which was built attached to the church was erected and furnished in 1867 for about £700 at his sole expense.
The church became noted for the quality of its choir which sang unaccompanied with remarkable precision, and was in great demand at religious meetings ally over Belfast district. The choir leader was Mr Henry Taylor whose business premises as a machine maker was close at hand and was later transferred to Brown’s Square.
During the ministry of the Rev. W. J. Christie (1894-98) additional premises were erected at the rear of the church where he established a Medical Mission and employed a Deaconess who carried on a kind of surgery where prescriptions where made for poorer people.
Change patterns of population and the riots of 1886 and particularly the conflicts of 1920-21 greatly affected the Falls Road congregation. During 1886 the neighbourhood was desolate for weeks and the church itself was ‘somewhat injured’. One memorable Sunday no service could be held. Similar difficulties during the 1920s meant that the church was again closed for a few Sundays though it is recorded that Catholic neighbours exercised care of the Methodist property.
The diminishing Methodist (and Protestant) community in and around the church found it increasingly difficult to sustain the work in Falls Road. As early as 1903 permission was granted to sell the Manse and Falls Road ceased to be a separate circuit. The work at Andersonstown was given up in 1936 and the premises were disposed of and passed to the hands of the Catholic Church and became known as St Lawrence’s Hall.
In February 1966 the annual congregational meeting voted with regret to dispose of the Falls Road church buildings to the Belfast Corporation at such a price as shall be agreed by our professional advisors.
Closing services were held on Sunday 26th June 1966.
