Ebrington Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Stucco Presbyterian Church, of neo-Classical style, built in 1897 to the designs of William Barker, temple-fronted three-bay pediment centre, slated pitched roof. The church is set on a plinth and approached by a broad set of steps leading to the principal entrance behind a low boundary wall with decorative wrought-iron railings above, square piers with chamfered corners to either side of entrance gates. Church hall of similar design, by M.A. Robinson c.1899, set to the East-end of the Church at the rear, accessed from May Street.

The front elevation to Limavady Road has three semi-circular headed windows with moulded surround and diamond-headed keystones to main gallery, recessed timber panelled double entrance doors below central window and four square fluted Corinthian order columns on pedestals to central bay, flanked by lower balustrades to side bays with square-headed aedicule windows and Corinthian order pilasters which return either side and projecting cornice resting on dentils to central pediment and side bays. Central pediment has symmetrical plaster scrolled relief with 'Ebrington Presbyterian Church' enclosed. Side bays each have decorative circular plaster reliefs over windows displaying AD and 1897 respectively.

Side elevations: First bay, north and south, is return of front ballustraded side bay, each with square-headed aedicule windows and Corinthian order pilasters which return either side and projecting cornice resting on dentils. Flanking returns each display decorative circular plaster reliefs as front (no lettering). North and South have further five square-headed windows to ground floor and Pseudo-three-centred arch headed windows to first floor with Corinthian order columns between bays resting on projecting plinth.

To the rear at the East elevation the Church abuts the Hall (HB01.07.007B) at ground floor level with two semi-circular arch headed windows to first floor, dentilled cornice above and circular vent with mould surround to attic level. The gable wall rises above the roofline with stone coping and kneeler at eaves level with small chimney at apse end.

Setting:
Set in an urban area of the city to the east of the Foyle River, the church faces North West onto Limavady Road, with south western elevation of church and hall facing onto perpendicular May Street, with entrance elevated from street level and approached by broad steps flanked by Renaissance ballustrade. Limavady Road and May Street elevations bound by low walling with ornate cast iron railings; matching gates hung on stone octagonal pillars immediately in front of steps, with matching pillars to NE and SW corners of site.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron
Walling Render
Windows Stained glass with storm glazing fixed tight to reveals

Historical information

The rapid expansion of Derry’s Waterside in the late nineteenth century necessitated the establishment of a second Presbyterian congregation in this area – the first having been Waterside Presbyterian Church, founded in the mid 1860s. In the autumn of 1894 the Derry Presbytery invited a young licentiate, Leslie Rankin, to begin organising a new congregation in the Waterside. The first Sunday morning service was held in the Temperance Hall (later Victoria Hall) in Spencer Road in January 1895. In June of that year the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church sanctioned the construction of a church building.

On 3 March 1896 Leslie Rankin was ordained minister of the new congregation. A large site was secured at Bond’s Field on the Limavady Road and the foundation stone of the church was laid on 20 August 1896 by John Cooke JP of Foyleview. A glass vessel was placed in a cavity of the foundation stone which contained the then coins of the realm, and copies of local and national newspapers and Presbyterian publications.

The church building was opened on 3 October 1897 when the guest speaker was the Rev. George Davidson of Edinburgh. It cost around £3,400 and could hold 800 people. Its architect was William Barker, an experienced practitioner in north-west Ireland. In 1899 a hall was completed at a cost of £1,200. Barker died before it was finished and its completion was supervised by M. A. Robinson, who had recently established a practice in Derry; just before this he had been clerk of works for the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle, County Down. The contractor was Robert Colhoun of Strand Road, Derry.

The new church initially received a rateable valuation of £100, though this was raised to £122 on the completion of the lecture hall. The church and hall were, of course, exempt from rates, but the figure gives an idea of the value placed on the structures. In 1901 the hall began to be used as a day school and continued to be used as such until December 1960 when a new school building was erected nearby.

The 1904-05 Ordnance Survey map marks both church and hall, the latter named ‘Ebrington School’ and represented as a rectangular structure adjoining the rear of the church (Irish Historic Towns Atlas, facsimile no. 4). The church itself is shown as a rectangular structure, with front steps, facing Ebrington Barracks across the Limavady Road.

Jack Tosh’s history of Ebrington Presbyterian Church is a good account of the congregation, but has surprisingly little information on the buildings. He does, however, quote from a memoir of the first minister, Rev. Leslie Rankin, written after he had completed 40 years in Ebrington, which refers to the hall having been enlarged three times at a cost of £1,500. In 1962-63 the Rankin Hall was built to the rear of the church building and alongside the existing hall; it cost £20,000.

References

Primary Sources:
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Valuation Revision Books: PRONI, VAL/12/B/33/4C (1898-1909)

Northern Ireland Environment Agency
First Survey record - HB01/07/007

Secondary sources:
Published sources
Irish Builder, 1 April 1897, p. 71; 15 November 1899, p. 185; 15 Aug 1900, p. 451
Belfast Newsletter, 21 August 1896
W. S. Ferguson, A. J. Rowan and J. J. Tracey, List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the City of Derry (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970)
Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979)
A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982)
Jack Tosh, The Church at Ebrington: One hundred years of worship (1994)
Avril Thomas (ed.), Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 15, Derry~Londonderry (Dublin, 2005)
Dan Calley, City of Derry: An Historical Gazetteer to the Buildings of Londonderry (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013)

Online sources
Dictionary or Irish Architects: www.dia.ie
Church website: www.ebringtonchurch.co.uk

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
T. Historic Importance
S. Authenticity
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Substantial stuccoed Presbyterian church, of neo-Classical style, built in 1897 to the designs of William Barker, facing NW onto Limavady Road in an urban setting, east of the Foyle River and facing on to the former Ebrington Barracks. Broad flight of steps to an imposing three-bay pedimented temple-front. The ornate interior is of considerable interest and incorporates classical elements such as the Corinthian order columns supporting the timber gallery, and stained glass windows. Both the interior and exterior have retained much of their character, style and proportions. The church shares group value with its adjoining hall (HB01.07.007B) and the two buildings are significantly enhanced by the boundary wall, railings, pillars and gates to the NW and SW frontage, although a 1960s extension to the NE detracts somewhat from the character of their setting. Still in use as a church, it is of social importance to the local community.

General comments

Please note this record was previously recorded under HB01/07/007. It is now split in to two separate records, namely the Church, HB01.07.007A and the Hall, HB01.07.007B