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The present Gothic style church was built by Fr John Lynch and finished in 1860, the bell tower with its 37 hundred weight bell was added in 1908.

The tower at over 90 feet is one of the highest vantage points in Ballymena and is one of the few remaining seven towers of Ballymena.

The church was designed by famous architect Charles Lanyon, and is an excellent source of information, through parish records, for anyone tracing their family tree.

Ballynascreen, ‘the town of the shrine’, lies in the picturesque valley of the Moyola, between the mountains of Dungiven and Banagher on the north and Slieve Gallion on the south.

The most memorable feature of the outside of the church is the square tower with its massive buttresses.

A church was founded on this site in 635 by St Aidan; the site of his death is marked by a shrine within the present church which dates from the end of the 12th century.

The church of St Mary the Virgin lies at the centre of an ancient parish within an Anglo-Saxon royal estate and on the site of a late Anglo-Saxon minster from 950 or earlier.

If you’re new to Banbury, on holiday or just visiting, new to church, or just curious about life and faith, we’d love to welcome you.