About
All Saints Clooney Parish Church is a free-standing gabled stone Gothic Revival church, built c.1867.
The building is rectangular in shape facing south with a canted chancel to the north, steeple to the southwest and lean-to side aisles and entrance porch to the east.
It is located on a sloping site at an acute junction with Clooney Terrace and Bond's Hill. From its opening, the church was very much a garrison church, serving the spiritual needs of the local Army Garrison barrack at nearby Ebrington Barracks. A canon from the Crimean War, is situated on the church grounds. The interior is most impressive, and is a fine example of a mid-nineteenth-century church, built in the Gothic idiom for the Church of Ireland. A substantial amount of internal historic fabric survives intact. The capitals of the columns traversing the building are beautifully carved with doves and other figures, and each one is different.
The central nave is flanked by two arcaded aisles with short transepts contained within the walls of the aisles.
As we enter the church, there are three coloured glass windows on the left with two lancet windows and one circular window above them. One of these windows depicts a dove and one depicting praying hands. The dove depicts the descent of God's Spirit upon Jesus. The praying hands depict the prayers of the people, and invite us to to pause and reflect on Jesus' words 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me' John 14:6 As we approach the Baptistery, we see a new lift that was installed in early 2024. This was to enable the congregation access from the Baptistery to the recently renovated basement area which includes new choir robing rooms, and disabled toilets. The rededication of the choir rooms was carried out by the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe in mid 2023.
Situated at the south side of the Chancel is a fine pulpit. In January 1931, the Vestry agreed to the removal of the original pulpit and the erection of a new pulpit, made of alabaster. Situated at the north side of the Chancel, we see a magnificent brass lectern, which was the gift of an anonymous friend of All Saints' Clooney, and was dedicated in 1897. In the Chancel area, we have the Chancel steps, and in the Sanctuary, we see a magnificent stained-glass windows in the apse.
