C.S. Lewis at St Mark’s Church
St Mark’s Church is a parish church of the Church of Ireland, which is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. In 1874, C.S. Lewis’s maternal grandfather, Rev Thomas Robert Hamilton (1826–1905), arrives in Belfast as the first Rector of St Mark’s. Services are then hold in a coach house in Sydenham Park and in what now is Strandtown Primary School. In May 1876, construction works for St Mark’s Church begin. The church is designed in the Gothic Revival style by the English architect William Butterfield (1814–1900), who also designed Keble College in Oxford. The foundation stone of the church is laid on 13 October 1876. The tower and nave are consecrated by Robert Knox (1808–1893), Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore, on 22 August 1878. The church’s chapel and transepts are built in 1891, made possible by a donation from the Ewart family, friends and relatives of the Lewis family. From 1887, the Hamilton family lives in The Rectory on the south side of St Mark’s Church.
The Lewis family’s links with the church go back to its beginnings when Albert Lewis (1863–1929) becomes the first head of the Sunday school. Here, he meets the Rector’s daughter Flora (1862–1908), 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.
On 29 November 1898, C.S. Lewis is born as the second son of Albert and Flora and brother of Warren (1895–1973). On 29 January 1899, he is baptised in the font at the west end of St Mark’s by his grandfather. As a child, Lewis visits the church regularly and listens there to his grandfather’s sermons. When he is sixteen years old, he is confirmed on 6 December 1914.
In 1935, the Lewis brothers donate a stained-glass window depicting the saints Luke, James, and Mark in memory of their parents (the second from the back on the right).
› Read more about St Marks Church
Sources
David Bleakley, C.S. Lewis. At home in Ireland
Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis. Companion & Guide
Jeffrey Schultz & John West, The C.S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia
Photo by St Mark’s Church