St Patrick's graveyard and former friary Glenarm

Image: © Jo and Steve Turner Taken: 7 Sep 2006

Robert Bissett donated land after Pope Eugenius VI authorised the archdeacon of Connor to establish a Franciscan Third Order Regular friary in 1445 that was finally established in 1465. What remains of the friary is not easy to interpret and archaeological investigations in the summer of 2005 revealed that the friary was larger than previously thought, with evidence of outbuildings uncovered beneath the vestry. The earliest inscription on the grave stones dates from 1641 and there are at least two other memorials bearing dates prior to 1700. An act of parliament of 1698 banned burials within the confines of a dissolved monastery but this ruling was ignored. Permission to build the 'new' church was granted in December 1759 but it was not built for some years and a parliamentary report of 1768 noted ‘a very good new church’ in Glenarm but the church was finally consecrated in 1769. Work on the new church appears to have started in early 1763, the majority of it undertaken by a stonemason named William McBride. Some documents mistakenly state that the spire was a later addition.

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