St Lukes Church

Open 10am to 8pm

Full wheelchair access

The present church was consecrated in August 1875. The previous church, built in 1785, had been demolished to make way for a more impressive building. Led by Canon Samuel Hayman, a noted antiquarian and historian, the wealthy members of the parish gathered £3000 (£1.3m today) to build their new church.  The church is built in Early English style, an architectural style that strives for simple, austere lines and elegant proportions.

Noted parishioners who fundraised indefatigably for the church included the Reeves sisters – Mary, Henrietta and Susannah – of Tramore House on the Douglas Road. The women donated a fine stained glass window in the North transept, over the organ, to commemorate their family members. The beautiful glass in this church enlivens an otherwise restrained interior with colour and drama. Some windows are attributed to William Burges, the architect of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral. The loveliest contemporary window, showing Christ as the Good Shepherd, is by Túr Gloine artist, Catherine O’Brien.

Rachel Finnegan will give an illustrated talk from 6pm to 8pm on the Reeves family who occupied Tramore House, Douglas, during the nineteenth century. She will focus on the Reeves women, particularly the matriarch, Mrs Rebecca Reeves, who was a reclusive figure known for her religious fervour, and her three more exuberant spinster daughters, Susanna, Henrietta and Mary Reeves, who inherited Tramore from their father in 1868 provided they remained unmarried and in residence. Their gifts and memorials beautify St Luke’s Church interior, while their graves surround the building.