A Presbyterian Church once stood in Kilpedder, in the townland of Johnstown, approximately 300 metres north of the village of Kilpedder and 2km north of the village of Newtownmountkennedy.
History
The church was founded in 1851 by John Clark and his wife Helen Clark (née Davidson). The Clark’s had left Paisely in Renfrewshire, Scotland, where they owned a thread factory, to settle in Kilpedder. They bought land in Tinnapark Demesne along with Helen’s brother, William Davidson, and established a farm and a mill, for the supply of reels and bobbins for their factory in Paisley. They employed a number of Presbyterian workers, hence, how the church came into being.
When John Clark died, his wife Helen moved back to Paisley and much of the remaining Presbyterian community moved to Greystones. A Presbyterian Church opened there in 1887, uniting the Kilpedder and Greystones congregations into one.
The church in Kilpedder remained opened until sometime in the 1950’s, when all services were moved to Greystones. After lying unused for three decades, the church was demolished in 1988.
Present Day
Nothing remains of the church today, and the exact location of the church is divided by three back gardens of two houses at the eastern end of Johnstown Avenue and one house on the north side of Kilpedder Grove.