The story of Maghera Old Church
St Lurach founded a religious community here in the 6th century, most likely a monastery, and he became the patron saint of the town that grew around it. The settlement was important enough to be raided by Vikings in 832, when the Annals of Ulster record the site being plundered and abbots killed. A fire in 1135 caused serious damage to the church.
The oldest part of the surviving ruin, the nave, is thought to date to around the 10th century. The celebrated west doorway, with its carved Crucifixion lintel and Romanesque ornament, was probably added in the 12th century, possibly during repairs after the 1135 fire. From the mid-12th century until 1245 Maghera was the seat of a bishop, after which it served as a parish church.
A tower was added in the 17th century, possibly after damage during the Williamite war. The old church was finally abandoned in 1819 when a new St Lurach's Church was built nearby. After the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland the ruin passed into state care around 1880, and a major conservation programme was completed in 1984.
Today it is a scheduled monument and a Monument in State Care, free to visit in its leafy graveyard. In the churchyard stands a carved ringed cross pillar stone, traditionally said to mark the grave of St Lurach himself.