In addition to the above microfilm, the Church has a copy of all Baptisms from 1799 to 1921 and all Marriages which took place in Castlereagh from 1816 to 1921. There is a cost of £10.00 to provide this information.

Please contact the Clerk of Session with as many relevant details as possible, for further details.

The information will be presented in an alphabetically sorted, Excel spreadsheet.

The following entries, taken from the 'Guide to Church Records' may also be of some interest to you.

Presbyterianism came to Ulster from Scotland in the 17th century, but its freedom was severely curtailed by penal enactments to the extent that it was illegal until 1782 for Presbyterian ministers to perform marriages, even of Presbyterians and only from 1845 could they legally marry a Presbyterian to a member of the Church of Ireland. Religious and civil persecution resulting from the Penal Laws meant that many Presbyterian baptisms, marriages and burials are to be found in the registers of the Church of Ireland, albeit sporadic, until well into the 18th century. Burial registers for Presbyterian churches are uncommon as there were few Presbyterian burial grounds. Although Presbyterian registers and those of other denominations were not subject to state control and therefore there was no requirement to place them in the Public Record Office of Ireland for safekeeping, though there are still a few registers going back into the 18th century. Records since Civil Registration was introduced, can now also be traced at the General Register Office (Northern Ireland) in Belfast or The General Register Office in Dublin. These Repositories contain Registers of Births and Deaths (from 1864) and of Marriages (from 1845).
 

A feature of Presbyterianism is the number of places which have more than one Presbyterian church and are referred to as 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Frequent disputes over doctrine or the choice of a minister, or just the need for more accommodation, led to the creation of new congregations, and building of new churches. Many of the churches now known as 1st, 2nd or 3rd began as seeding congregations which broke away from the original Synod of Ulster in 1733. The Seceders took a strong Evangelical stand and in particular objected to an Act of Parliament in 1712 which accepted patronage as an accepted method of appointing ministers. However, as the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod gradually resolved their differences and eventually hold the same doctrines, the secessionist congregations were re-united in 1840 into the Synod of Ulster. Another complication arises from changes in designation of churches. For example, a new congregation was formed in Ballymoney in 1834 and was known as 2nd Ballymoney but, when the Seceders joined the Synod of Ulster in 1840, the seceding congregation was given the name 2nd Ballymoney and this new church (hitherto 2nd Ballymoney) became 3rd Ballymoney. A History of Presbyterian Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982, published by the Presbyterian Historical Society  is a useful tool when unravelling these problems.

Castlereagh Presbyterian Church
Church Road, Castlereagh
Belfast BT6 9SA
Northern Ireland