The Dolmen Centre, the registered address of Omeath District Development was the original St Lawrence’s RC Church. The church was a replacement for the old Mass House at Cillidh Cam (The Crooked Church) in the old graveyard along the shoreline
Records show that building works commenced on the church in 1836 and works were completed in 1866 with the bell installed in the bell tower in 1867. The reason why the building took 30 years to complete was the Great Famine of 1845 – 1848.
In the Lewis Topographical Directory of 1837 there is a note stating that the land on which the church was built was donated to the people of Omeath by The Marquis of Anglesey with a contribution of £30 towards the cost of building the church.
In 1870 the church was extended by the parish priest of the time Fr John Campbell to form “a small T plan building with single alter gallery, plastered ceiling, slightly gothic reredos, switchboard tracery and bellcote and exterior cemented finish” as described by William Garner in the Foras Forbatha Report.
In 1930’s the church underwent further renovations including the installation of a central heating system and Italian terrazzo flooring that was installed by Italian refugees.
The new St Lawrence’s church was built in 1987 and renovations began on the former St Lawrence’s Church until Omeath District Development established the Dolmen Centre in the building in 1993, where it continues to the present day as a community centre.
