400th Anniversary Publication Launch
Monday 2nd March 2026 will be a very special night for Donaghadee! The Parish Church begins a year of celebration marking its 400th Anniversary. To honour the occasion, the Rector and Select Vestry have commissioned local historian Dr Tom Neill to write the first history of the town’s historic church which stands sentinel over the town of Donaghadee, famed for its historic harbour, its lighthouse and its views across the waves to Scotland and beyond to the Hills of Galloway.
With contributions from its present rector the Revd. Ian Gamble, Tom Neill’s book recounts the history of the Parish Church up to the present against the background of some fifteen centuries since the first Christian settlement in Donaghadee.
Tom Neill is a Donaghadee man himself, born and reared, renowned as a walking, speaking and writing archive of local history. In this book, he offers readers a compendium of fact, legend and myth, more than enough to satisfy the most inquisitive of readers. His style is ever clear, his material supported by a fascinating and colourful array of illustrations. A book that is a must for all who treasure this fabled shoreline of North Down.
You are warmly invited to his book launch in Donaghadee Parish Church Monday 2nd March 2026 at 7.30pm, refreshments afterwards.