St Macartan’s Church (Forth Chapel)

St Macartan’s Church (Forth Chapel), Augher was constructed between 1838-46 and is grade B+ listed. The Chapel is notable for its stained glass windows, designed in the workshops of Joshua Clarke & Sons. The windows commemorate local writer Rose Kavanagh and Archbishop Hughes who founded St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

The chapel is dedicated to St Macartan (d506) who is traditionally believed to have established a monastery at Clogher at the direction of St Patrick and houses four Clarke Studio windows which were all erected in 1922. Local writer William Carleton’s (1794-1869) short story Midnight Mass (1834) describes an open air mass that is purported to have been inspired by the meetings held at the hill fort in Ballynagurragh now the site of The Forth Chapel, hence it is felt the site has always historically been used as a Mass site.

St Macartan’s Chapel stands in the centre of an ancient rath or Fort, possibly an early pre-Christian site with stunning views of the Clogher Valley. The name, ‘The Forth Chapel’, has evolved through time from ‘The Fort’ to the Forth.

The church is notable for its four Clarke Studio windows. Three of these were dedicated to the memories of the Kavanagh family, prominent local parishioners. Revd Hughes window was installed to commemorate the Archbishop John Joseph Hughes (1797-1864). Hughes was the first Archbishop of New York and was been born in Clogher Parish but emigrated to the United States in 1817. It was largely through his influence that St Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue was constructed which is today a major New York landmark.

Revd John Hughes returned to Clogher where he celebrated mass in the newly completed St Macartan’s on 6th January 1846. An inscription on the Clarke Studio window reads ‘In memoriam most Revd John Hughes / First Archbishop of New York / A native of this parish / Died Jan 3rd 1864 RIP’.

The St Macartan window was erected in memory of Rose Kavanagh (c1859-1891), a local editor and poet. The third memorial window within St Macartan’s depicts St Patrick and was also erected in 1922 to commemorate a ‘Mrs Campbell’. This was Katharine Campbell (nee Kavanagh) who was the sister of Rose Kavanagh. The mother of Rose and Katherine Kavanagh was first cousin to Revd John Hughes, therefore making the three memorial windows within the chapel a family set.

Source: National Churches Trust

Video credit: BBC Northern Ireland is an UK public broadcast service