Dissolving the ‘Sacred Union’? The Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, 1869

The Armagh Robinson Library.

A hundred and fifty years ago, Parliament disestablished the Church of Ireland, dissolving what Disraeli called the ‘sacred union’ of Church and State in Ireland. Disestablishment involved fundamental issues – the identity and purpose of the established Church, the religious nature of the State, and the union of Ireland and Britain – and debate was carried on at a high level. With disestablishment, the Church of Ireland lost much of its property, but it recovered, now as an independent Episcopal Church with a renewed mission. The idea of the United Kingdom as a Christian State, however, was…


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