Dromore An Ulster Diocese

This book is a companion volume of "Clergy of Connor" published by the Ulster Historical Foundation in association with the Church of Ireland Diocesan Library Committee of Down and Dromore and Connor. It contains a Succession List of Clergy who have served in the United Diocese from 1930 until the present day, together with biographical detail of each individual. For the pre-1930 period, there are facsimiles reprints of Canon J. B. Leslie's Succession list for the Diocese of Down, originally published in 1936 and Dean H. B Swanzy's Succession list for the Diocese of Dromore, first published in 1932. In addition, lists are given for the succession of clergy in the Chapters of Down and Dromore Cathedrals as well as clergy from the diocese who served on the Chapters of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin and Saint Anne's Cathedral Belfast. The book also contains a brief history of every parish in the diocese, quoting, as far as possible, dedications, dates of consecration and architect, together with the evolution of the parochial district. There is a contemporary photograph of every church and in many cases, illustrations of previous churches which no longer exist or photographs of nearby ruins of previous churches. It will be an indispensable reference volume to ecclesiastical historians, genealogists and students of architectural history, as well as to anyone contemplating writing a parish history.

This publication provides full biographical information on the 2,500 clergy who have served in the diocese of Connor, Co. Antrim from Patrician times to 1993. The work will provide vital information for students of ecclesiastical history, writers of parish histories, and of course genealogists. The main work for this publication was undertaken by the late Canon James Blennerhassett Leslie who was rector of Kilsaran, Co. Louth 1899-1951 and Chancellor of the diocese of Armagh 1934-1943. As a young man he conceived the plan of compiling succession lists for all the diocese of Ierland and he had almost completed the task by the time of his death in 1953. Unfortunately he was only able to publish the lists for nine of the dioceses during his lifetime. He expressed the hope that the remaining dioceses would publish the lists that he so laboriously compiled, but no one took the initiative for many years. In 1984 however the Library Committee of the Diocese of Down, Connor, and Dromore decided to undertake not merely the publication of Leslie's list for the diocese of Connor but also a through revision and updating of his text.

The notebooks of bishops of Carlisle reveal a wealth of detail concerning clerical life at the time. The volume presents three nineteenth-century manuscripts originally created for the use of bishops of Carlisle: Walter Fletcher's "Diocesan Book", written between 1814 and 1845, and Bishop Hugh Percy's two parish notebooks, compiled between 1828 and 1855. Based on visitations, and on articles of enquiry now lost, they add to a growing body of knowledge relating to the condition of the Church in the first half of the nineteenth century, providing a unique record of livings in the Carlisle diocese prior to its expansion in 1856. In particular, they illuminate the concerns of two significant clerical figures. In 1814 the newly installed chancellor, Walter Fletcher, set about recordinghis primary visitation, updating his notes frequently until the year before his death in 1846. In 1828 the newly consecrated bishop, Hugh Percy, created his own diocesan record, utilising Fletcher's material while adding matter of his own. The popularity of Anglican ritualism since the advent of Tractarianism has made it commonplace for the Georgian Church to be viewed with a certain amount of disdain. The notebooks allow us a more objective view ofthe period. Fletcher's notes on the 130 churches he visited are particularly valuable in presenting a diligent, hard-working clergyman, loyal to the Tory high-church traditions into which he had been born, with a vision for the diocese which, above all, was one of orderliness and obedience to canon law. The documents are presented here with introduction and notes. Dr Jane Platt is an honorary researcher in history at Lancaster University.