BALLINA CHURCH HISTORY

"I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord'" (Psalm 122:1), and so began a new chapter in the long history of Methodism in the Ballina area when on 15th October 1983 the local congregation moved into a new church building, vacating the old 'Wesley Chapel' which had been built in 1839. Methodism has roots in Mayo which go back centuries. Our founder John Wesley, visited Ireland and journeyed to many centres of population, Castlebar (Mayo's county town) being one of them. He established a church there, but it is thought that he did not visit Ballina in his itinerary.

In 1839 the Wesleyan Centenary Chapel and manse were erected followed by a school house built in 1857. It was the centre of a widespread circuit with seven churches, but as numbers decreased and the outlying churches closed, the Ballina circuit was combined with the Sligo circuit (in 1959), and today the minister travels the 37 miles from Sligo to conduct services and visit his flock. The present Methodist Church, compact and beautifully appointed has been created in the old Methodist schoolhouse. The old communion rails and two memorials from the walls of the old Wesley Chapel are incorporated in the new church.