History of Moville Churches
A Historical Survey of the Moville Churches by Cannon David W.T. Crooks, M.A.,B.D.

St Patrick is supposed to have founded an abbey at Moville, which means. "the plain of the ancient tree". A church was built as a private chapel for the Carey family in 1741. This in due course, became a chapel of ease, and eventually, the parish church.

The original parish of Moville was divided into Upper and Lower Moville in 1781. Upper Moville Church is in Redcastle, a few kilometres to the south of Moville. The church was built, and consecrated on 18th August 1853. It has a three bay nave, with large porch to the west and a bellcote. Over this in the west wall, there is a sexfoil window. The transepts are lit by paired lancets with sexfoils above and the east window is a triple lancet. Redcastle Church was closed in 1990. The ruins of an older church are in the graveyard.

Moville Upper Church, Redcastle

The Parish Church of St. Finian at Greencastle was built in 1782. It is a rectangular building with a louvered and battlemented tower at the west end, and a sanctuary with a vestry room adjacent to it to the east. Inside, is a gallery. On the north wall are three plain windows, each with three lights, and each has three small circular lights overhead. In the south wall, there is one plain window. There is one plain window on each side of the west wall below the gallery. The sanctuary is lit by three stained glass windows. The hexagon stone font to the right of the entrance, is in memory of CMMcC and ARMcC, who are not otherwise identified. The pulpit is in memory of the Rev. Thomas McClellan, Rector of Macosquin near Coleraine, who died in 1896. The reredos behind the alter is inscribed Holy, Holy, Holy, and on each side are, on the left, the Apostles' Creed, and on the right, the Lord's Prayer.

Moville Lower Church, Greencastle

There are eight memorial monuments or brass plaques on the south wall. The first, from the left is to William McClellan who died in 1858, and to his wife. There is one to W.A. Brown, who died in 1859, and to his wife. A brass plaque commemorates the Rev. Richard Smyth Benson, Rector 1923 to 1944, and his wife, and another commemorates Lt. Col. Walter Crosbie, D.S.O. Catherine, wife of Rev Richard Hamilton, Rector of Culdaff and Cloncha 1823 - 1847 is commemorated on a monument. She died in 1842. Mr Hamilton was one of thirty nine children! Next, a plaque commemorates the three men who from the parish died in the Great War. Also, William and Adelaide Press and the family, 1933, and Mrs Hugh Corbett, who died in 1859, and her family, are commemorated.

As the town of Moville grew larger than its neighbour, Greencastle, a new church was built there. It was consecrated on 16th April 1858 as a chapel of ease in the parish of Lower Moville. It is a rectangular building with a sanctuary extending to the east, to the left of which is the vestry room. On the south side, near the west end is the entrance porch, which is topped by a short octagonal tower and spire.

Moville Lower Chapel of Ease, Moville

On the west wall are two clear windows with a circular light above. On the north wall are four plain windows, each with two lights. On the south wall are three stained glass windows, each with two lights. The first of these depicts the Good Shepherd, and is in memory of Thomas Wetherall and Mary Sproule, in 1887. The middle window depicts Mary and Martha with Jesus, and the window by the pulpit depicts Moses and Miriam. In the South Wall of the sanctuary, a window depicts the Good Shepherd in memory of Charles Seymour, D.D. Rector of Moville Lower, 1852-1862, and Dean of Derry, 1872-1882. There are three stained glass windows in the east wall.

The pulpit also commemorates Dean Seymour. The brass lectern is in memory of Laura Jane Forster who died in 1966, and a brass plaque states that it come from St. Michael's Church, Norwich, and was given in 1976 by Ellen de Vere Walker. The prayer desk was given in memory of Canon Peter Cartwright, Rector, 1966-1980. There is a hexagonal stone font. The pipe organ is on the south side of the nave.

On the north wall are memorials to Bertie Kane who was killed in 1940, to Lt. James Montgomery of the Indian Army who died in 1843, and to Charlotte Morrison who died in 1940. There are monuments to Annie Hyland who died in 1839, to Capt. J.E. Hillman who died in 1877, to Richard Anderson who died in 1891, and to Pechell Irvine who died in 1884, and his family.

The memorials and monuments to the Montgomery family are on the south wall. Samuel Montgomery was a Derry merchant, and Sheriff of the city in 1774. He built New Park, the family residence in 1776. He also bought the site of Moville in 1768 and leased it. There is a monument to his son, the Rev. Samuel Montgomery, Rectory of Lower Moville, 1812-1830. The next monument is to Maud, wife of Bishop Montgomery, who was daughter of Dean Farrar, Dean of Canterbury. She died in 1949. A brass plaque commemorates Katherine May Montgomery who died in 1932, and another, Charlotte Montgomery who died in 1889, and May Montgomery. Another brass plaque commemorates Col. James Montgomery, Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, who died in 1940. Rev. Samuel Montgomery and his brother, Sir Robert Montgomery of the Indian Civil Service, sons of the Rev. Samuel Montgomery, are commemorated on a monument. There is a monument to the Rt. Rev. Henry Hutchinson Montgomery, Bishop of Tasmania, 1889-1901, and Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1901-1919. Bishop Montgomery was father of Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein, a distinguished soldier in the Second World War.

The other memorials on the south wall commemorate James Baskerville who died in 1922, Col. Hugh Chetham Lyle, Royal Artillery who died in 1897, and Gilbert Thomas Baskerville, Royal Navy who died in 1914.

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