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| St Mary's Portclare, County Tyrone |
I recently visited Favour Royal forest park, which is located between Augher and Aughnacloy in County Tyrone.
The former proprietors were the Moutrays, said to be the biggest landlords in the Clogher Valley.
They owned 6,554 acres of land in the county.
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| Favour Royal House (Irish Architectural Archive) |
Favour Royal House is, it is thought, in a terrible state today, having suffered at the hands of mindless arsonists in 2011.
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| Photo: Timothy Ferres, 2026 |
The old mansion is private, so I was unable to gain access to it or its grounds; instead I ambled along the main road to the former estate church, where Sunday Service had just ended.
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| Photo: Timothy Ferres, 2026 |
I chatted to some of the parishioners, who very kindly gave me a tour of the little church and its memorials to the Moutrays.
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| Stella Moutray (Timothy Ferres, 2026) |
They told me that Stella Moutray was deeply in love with a local police constable, and wanted to marry him; the family disapproved; and tragically she took her own life.
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| (Timothy Ferres, 2026) |
The erstwhile private family pew is today a children's play area.
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| Mrs Frances Vesey Moutray (Timothy Ferres, 2026) |
St Mary's Church, Errigal Portclare, formerly within the Favour Royal demesne, County Tyrone, is described in the Topographical Dictionary of Ireland thus:-
Mr [John Corry] Moutray has erected a handsome cruciform church, in the later English style, with a square tower rising from the north-eastern angle, forming an interesting and beautiful object in the grounds, and corresponding in character with the house.
It is built of the freestone procured on the estate, and was completed [1834] at an expense of £1,000, for the accommodation of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who have no other church within a distance of three miles.
The church was consecrated in 1835, and is designated St Mary's, Portclare.
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