First Presbyterian Meeting House

This simple hall-type Presbyterian church retains much of its early form and character despite some modern alterations. Its visual expression is enhanced by the retention of salient fabric such as the timber sliding sash windows. ). The building built in a subdued classical idiom with round-headed openings lighting the simple rectangular nave. A plaque to the east side of the porch reads ’MPV + MRC RM 1723’ and ‘1746 this house was built be the Revd William Laird Minister Jas Boggs Projector’. This suggests that this building originally dates to the first half of the eighteenth century. Local information suggests that the building was originally constructed in 1746 at a cost of £600 to accommodate 700 people. However, the present building looks of a considerably later date, perhaps built c. 1860 and altered c. 1900 or rebuilt in c. 1900, and the plaque may be from an earlier building or buildings to site (there is a Presbyterian church marked on the same site on the Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map of c. 1837, which appears to be adjacent to the north-west of the present edifice and on a slightly different alignment). The margin sash windows to the side elevations of the hall were probably installed c. 1900, or slightly later. It is one of two Presbyterian churches (see 40827007 for other building) in the small village of Manorcunningham, which is indicative of the strong Presbyterian community in the area. The local Presbyterian community was established in 1647, making it the second oldest Presbyterian congregation in Co. Donegal, after Monreagh (see 40905512) to the north, which was established in 1645. The first Presbyterian minister at Manorcunningham\Ray was the Revd. Hugh Cunningham, who had come from Scotland to serve as chaplain to the Earl of Glencairn's (William Cunningham) Royalist regiment. Mr. Cunningham had been present at the formation of the Army Presbytery in Carrickfergus in 1642, which marked the official beginning of Presbyterianism in Ireland. The Cunningham family give their name to the village of Manorcunningham and the nearby village of Newtowncunningham to the north-east. In 1747, a disagreement arose between the majority of the Ray congregation and the Synod of Ulster over the transfer of their minister the Revd. William Laird to Belfast; this eventually lead to the formation of a new congregation known as the ‘Secession Synod’, and the Seceder Church established at Ray\Manorcunningham was the first Seceder congregation in Donegal. In 1840, the two churches (Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod) were reunited to form one church – the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The two churches in Manorcunningham reunited becoming one denomination known as the 1st and 2nd Ray, eventually forming one congregation ‘Ray’. This building is an integral element of the built heritage and social history of Manorcunningham. It forms part of a group of related structures along with the adjacent church hall (see 40827007) to the south and the manse adjacent to the north (altered or rebuilt and not in survey). The boundary wall to the east and the fine gateway to the east with moulded rendered gate piers and elegant cast-iron gates adds to the context and completes the setting.