‘Appreciating Enniskillen’s Ecclesiastical Heritage’ is the theme of a walking tour taking place in Enniskillen on Wednesday, September 24.

The Ulster Historic Churches’ Trust, in collaboration with Enniskillen Churches, is running a tour of local churches designed to appreciate the rich legacy of the town’s fine ecclesiastical heritage, followed by an informative talk aimed at how best to maintain these buildings for future generations.

The programme is set to begin at 2.30pm at Darling Street Methodist Church and then 3.15pm St. Michael’s Catholic Church, 3.45pm St. Macartin’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, 4.30pm Scots Presbyterian Church, followed by refreshments at 5pm at the Bridge Centre. At 5.45pm there will be an address by Manus Deery, Assistant Director, NIEA.

Those unable to join them for the entire walkabout are advised to feel free to join at whatever point is convenient. “If you are solely interested in the talk on church maintenance issues, you are welcome at the Bridge Centre, Scots Presbyterian Church, Church Street from 5pm,” said a representative. Publications relevant to church maintenance will be available for sale.

The Ulster Historic Churches Trust was formed in 1995 and is supported by the four Church leaders who appointed trustees representing the Church of Ireland, Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic Churches. Its purpose is to develop an understanding and appreciation of Ulster’s historic churches and to provide information on how best to ensure their maintenance.

Since its formation, the Trust has sponsored five conferences on church maintenance as well as producing and distributing to every church in Ulster a Maintenance Schedule and Good Housekeeping Guide in 2002. The Trust’s most successful publication has been A Short Guide to Maintaining our Churches which was originally issued in 2004 and has just been reprinted. In addition the Trust has published conference papers and the highly praised guide: Historic Ulster Churches by Simon Walker, Belfast, IIS, 2000.

In 2006 the Trust organised with UTV and NIEA the very successful Church Maintenance award scheme. In 2009 it organised a walking tour of local churches, designed to increase appreciation of the rich legacy of Cookstown’s ecclesiastical heritage, followed by an informative talk aimed at how best to maintain these buildings for future generations. This event was very successful and similar tours were organised in Newtownards in 2010, Portadown in 2011 and Derry/Londonderry in 2013. 2012 saw a major publication ‘New Life for Churches in Ireland – Good Practice in Conversion and Reuse’.

For further information about the walking tour, open to anyone interested in church buildings, people can contact jenniferstutt@gmail.com or telephone 079 7953 0379 or visit the website: www.ulsterhistoricchurches.org .