St Patrick's Church is a

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, located on Castle Street,

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It is the main Parish Church in Ballymena's Anglican parish of Kirkinriola and Ballyclug, and is the main civic church of the town. The current church replaced an older church dating from the early 18th century (of which the tower and graveyard can still be seen) on Church Street, and was opened in 1855. The new church was destroyed by fire in December 1879, and it was restored by the original builder, keeping to the same design. It reopened in 1881.

Bells

The Church is noted for holding the only peal of twelve bells in Northern Ireland, and also the only twelve in an Irish parish church (peals of twelve exist elsewhere in Ireland, however these are in cathedrals). A bell was in use in the old parish church by the time it was replaced by St. Patrick's, and this bell can be seen, and rung, in the car park of the present church. A new bell, made specifically for St. Patrick's, was cast in 1866 at the Sheridan Eagle foundry, in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. This bell was moved when a new ring of bells was installed in 1895, and now resides in the church at

Lambeg, County Antrim Lambeg (historically ''Lanbeg'', ) is a small village and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Located between Belfast and Lisburn, it was once a small rural village, but is now within the Greater Belfast co ...

. Change ringing was introduced to the tower in 1895, as a ring of eight bells in the key of E were installed, in memory of Dean Murray, rector from 1865 until 1883. These bells were cast by Mears and Stainbank (of the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

). In 1987, the old bells were sent away to Whitechapel, and recast into a ring of twelve, in the key of F-sharp. The new bells were hallowed on 8 November 1987 and rang out for the first time for the Holy Communion service on Christmas Eve of that year. The bells are still rung today by a faithful band of ringers, twice on Sundays for the 11.30am and 6.30pm services, and for practice on Friday nights.

References

{{Reflist Churches in County Antrim Church of Ireland church buildings in Northern Ireland Bell towers in Ireland