C.S. Lewis at St Mark’s Church
At St Mark’s Church, C.S. Lewis is baptised on 29 January 1899 and confirmed on 6 December 1914. As a child, he visits the church regularly and listens there to his grandfather’s sermons. When his grandfather, Rev Thomas Robert Hamilton (1826-1905), arrives in Belfast in 1874 as the first Rector of St Mark’s, services are held in a carriage house nearby. The foundation stone of the church, designed by William Butterfield (1814–1900), is laid on 13 October 1876. The tower and nave are consecrated on 22 August 1878. In 1891, the Ewart family build the chapel and transepts. The Lewis family’s links with the church go back to its beginnings when Albert Lewis becomes the first head of the Sunday school. Here, he meets the Rector’s daughter Florence, whom he marries on 29 August 1894. The Lewis family donates the communion silver that bears their name. The brass lectern is also associated with them. In 1935, the Lewis brothers donate a stained-glass window in memory of their parents (the second from the back on the right).
Sources
Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis. Companion & Guide
Jeffrey Schultz & John West, The C.S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia