St. James’ Anglican Church
This church, which is dedicated to St. James, dates from 1816. It was built on land donated by the Rev. Frederick Mullins, and the Board of First Fruits contributed £834 towards the cost. In 1868 it was greatly extended and largely rebuilt. Very probably based on a design drawn up by J.D. Malcolmson, C.E., at Rector William De Moylen’s request in 1854, the building was one of the last Anglican churches to be built in Ireland prior to the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. First fruit funding also included a Glebe house and 11 acres located in Anglont townland.
The Anglican church was known as the “Established Church”, whose building and maintenance costs were met by the Exchequer who also provided its clergymen with a stipend based on the size of the congregation. The state also collected Tithes to provide for the clergy’s transport requirements to administer to the spiritual needs of a geographically dispersed community. In Killorglin the income from Tithes amounted to £645 per annum – the equivalent of £10,000/€12,000 in twenty-first century values.
During the Irish Civil War, Free State Army Captain Donal Lehane chose Morris’s Hotel (now the Bianconi Inn) as his Command headquarters and got permission from Rector George Power to install a machine gun / observation post on the square tower of Saint James’s – Church of Ireland – Church, which could be entered independently of the main church. It was an inspired choice, giving commanding views of both the road and rail approaches to the town and would prove an invaluable part of the garrison’s defences during the Battle of Killorglin in late September 1922.
This church served as the Anglican community’s place of worship for over one hundred and eighty years until its deconsecration in the 1990s. The community relocated to the newly built St. Michael’s Church on Iveragh Road (site of the former Railway Station) in 1997.