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Take the time to walk around the graveyard of this small church. well worth the time.
One grave stone is erected by a Bavarian Prince!
www.ballintoy.connor.anglican.org/index.html
No precise record exists of the date of the formation of the parish cemetery, but data taken from the gravestones themselves indicates that this place has been used as a burial ground since the seventeenth century, and probably much earlier, given the antiquity of the religious settlement here. The oldest stone appears to be one marking the graves of 'James Boyd, the son of Andrew, Bishop of Lismore and his wife Christina Campbell'. It is dated December 1665. There are both Protestants and Roman Catholics interred in the St Thomas' churchyard, people of foreign extraction, and members of the naval forces and others who have perished at sea. A large number of memorials to the Gage family adorn the walls of the church and more than a dozen people of that surname are buried within the cemetery. Indeed, the Gage name is almost synonymous with Rathlin, the island itself having been in their possession since it was acquired by Prebendary John Gage in 1746. This link between parish and proprietor was strengthened when Robert Gage became curate of St Thomas' in the early 1820s, and rector in 1824. A very distinct and much celebrated wall memorial is dedicated to the memory of Reverend John Martin, 'First Pastor Of This Church' who passed away in 1740; its legend fittingly cautions: 'Remember You Must Die'. It was erected by his son George.