What it is
St Macartan’s, known locally as the Forth Chapel, is a small country chapel in the heart of the Clogher Valley that punched its way to UK Church of the Year in 2022 on the back of a community restoration, and took a Heritage Angel Award in 2021 for the same work. It stands on Springtown Road outside Augher, County Tyrone, on the site of an old ringfort, or rath, which is where the name ‘the Forth’ comes from. The reason to go is inside: four stained-glass windows by the Clarke Studio, and the story they carry. If you have half an hour and a guide is on hand, the windows are the thing to see.
The windows and their story
The four windows were all installed in 1922, and three of them commemorate the Kavanagh family, prominent parishioners here. One honours Rose Kavanagh (c. 1859–1891), a writer and editor whose poetry drew the notice of W.B. Yeats; another, depicting St Patrick, remembers her sister Katharine Campbell.
The fourth is the one that carries furthest. It commemorates Archbishop John Joseph Hughes (1797–1864), born in this parish, who emigrated and became the first Archbishop of New York. It was largely through his push that St Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue was built. That a window in a small Tyrone chapel links directly to the most famous Catholic cathedral in America is the kind of connection the volunteer guides are best placed to unpack, and it is worth catching one of them to hear it.
What else to see
- The graveyard. Rose Kavanagh is buried in the surrounding cemetery. A large bush near the boundary carries a local tradition that it hid the lanterns of Catholics coming to secret services in the Penal era, when this elevated spot is said to have been used for Mass.
- The bell. A historic bell, silent for many years, was restored and rung again in 2022 as part of the same community effort.
- The crucifix. Behind the altar hangs a brass crucifix made by Geraldine McKenna, a former volunteer guide, a modern piece in an old setting.
- The valley. The chapel sits high enough on Springtown Road to give open views across the Clogher Valley, and it is on both the Carleton Trail and the Ulster Way, so it works as a stop on a longer walk.
The catch
This is a volunteer-run, Grade B+ listed chapel, not a staffed visitor centre. The doors are usually open daily, but the guided tours that make the windows come alive depend on a trained volunteer being available, so for a group or school visit ring or email ahead. The chapel was built between 1838 and 1846 and is dedicated to St Macartan (d. 506), traditionally said to have founded an early monastery at nearby Clogher on St Patrick’s instruction.
Practical information
- Opening: daily, 9am to 5pm; the doors are typically unlocked during these hours.
- Admission: free, with donations going to maintenance. Pre-booked group tours are also free.
- Contact: phone 07818 181 6979, email forthchapel@gmail.com.
- Mass: Sunday at 11.15am; observe the usual church etiquette if you visit during a service.
- Getting there: Springtown Road, Augher, BT77 0EA, off the A5, with free on-site parking a short walk from the door and disabled spaces near the car park. Public transport is thin: the nearest bus stop is in Augher village, about 1km away, with services to Dungannon and Omagh.
Nearby
Link the chapel to the wider Carleton Trail, which follows the ground the 19th-century novelist William Carleton knew, or drive on to the Knockmany Passage Grave, a Neolithic tomb on a wooded hilltop a short distance away.