Author Topic: Plymouth Brethren in Dromore area (Read 5336 times)

Elwyn Soutter · « **Reply #9 on:** Sunday 14 October 18 09:31 BST (UK) »

Quote from: Roy_L on Saturday 13 October 18 21:52 BST (UK)

What i always wondered was how and when there came to be such numbers of them here in N. Ireland. Where did they originally come from and why?

There are a number of Brethren Meeting Houses around Co Antrim where I live. As with Dromore, they just call themselves Brethren, not Plymouth Brethren. The denomination was largely founded in Ireland and in this area many of the original members were Presbyterians who sought a stricter interpretation of the gospels, and so switched to the new denomination.

As Presbyterians, most would originally have been settlers from Scotland in the 1600s, but the main switch to Brethren appears to have taken place in the mid to late 1800s.

howgreen44

I am researching my sister-in-law's family, the Stewarts, from Dromore. There is a Stewart family living on Gallows Street listed in the 1901 Census. They give their religion as "Brethern" [sic]. John Nelson Darby who founded the Brethren did significant work in Ireland, really founded the movement there.