Presbyterian Church is to sell off Strand Road Manse meeting is told

At a meeting of the Presbytery of Derry and Donegal at the end of May, the Clerk, Rev Dr Robert Buick, told members that the Education Board of the Presbytery were to proceed with the sale of the Manse of the former Strand Road Church.

In October 2010 the church closed. The congregation amalgamated with the congregation of Carlisle Road Presbyterian Church.

Strand Road Presbyterian Church was also known as Second Derry and Buncrana Church. It opened its doors over 160 years ago on March 12, 1848. The Buncrana congregation amalgamated with Strand Road in 1975.

The church continued operate throughout the worst of the Troubles and witnessed the brutal murder of one its own congregation, RUC Inspector Norman Duddy who was shot in front of sons at they left the church in 1982. Congregations at Great James Street Church and at Claremont Church on the Northland Road have also ceased to worship at those churches in recent years.

In a statement at the time of the announcement it was stressed that substantial investment would be necessary to repair the current buildings.

The statement continued: “Most members now no longer live in the parish area, there continues to be a decline in young families in membership and central funds of the church would have to further augment the ministry costs in the congregation.”

The Londonderry Sentinel first reported the then potential move towards the shifting of the congregation back in April 2009. At that time the newspaper intimated that the crisis within the Presbyterian Mutual Society had also contributed to the eventual amalgamation.