Agherton Parish Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A freestanding Gothic-style rock-faced blackstone Parish church with pinnacled and crenellated three-stage square tower; built 1839 and altered 1879 to designs by Thomas Drew; located to north of The Diamond in Portstewart town centre. Rectangular plan with tower to west, entrance porch and single-storey vestry to north, and Romanesque-style chancel, (1879), to south (lower).

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rock-faced stone chimneystack having single clay pot; raised masonry verges (slated to south gable of nave); trefoil finial to gables of chancel. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is uncoursed rock-faced grey stone on a chamfered sandstone plinth with Ballycastle sandstone dressings including flush quoins and string course to north elevation; smooth render to exposed section of south gable; chancel has red sandstone dressings. Windows are generally a variety of replacement leaded-and-stained glass lancets in sandstone surrounds with chamfered sills; those to nave are surmounted by hood moulds.

West elevation has tower to centre, flanked to either side by two tall lancets. Tower is crenellated with slender polygonal corner pinnacles and insteps slightly at each stage. Belfry has pointed-headed louvered openings in Gothic-headed surrounds with hood moulds, over clock to north and south (blind roundel to west). Square leaded lattice window with margin panes to second stage; single lancets to base. Entrance at south face has been altered; narrow modern timber door in chamfered sandstone reveal with drip mould, surrounded by rock-faced stone infill; accessed by a single stone step with modern metal handrail.

North gable comprises cinquefoil tracery rose window over a flat-roof porch. Porch opens to west with a modern panelled-and-glazed double-leaf timber door surmounted by leaded glass transom light, in a Gothic sandstone surround with hood mould. Porch is accessed via a set of modern stone steps to north and west with modern metal handrails to walls. Window to north elevation of porch; east elevation is abutted by the vestry. Vestry has modern timber-sheeted door to north elevation in a smooth painted surround, accessed via two stone steps; east gable has a modern square-headed leaded-and-stained glass window in a smooth painted surround.

The east elevation has three pointed-headed windows (that to centre is wider); abutted at far left by slated lean-to abutment.

The south gable is almost entirely abutted by the later gabled chancel (lower); round-headed window over a group of three to south elevation; extension under steeply-pitched cat-slide roof set-back to east; abutted at west by gabled extension (lower) which is flush with the nave to left and has, to right, a lean-to porch opening to south with a modern timber-sheeted door in square-headed red sandstone surround.

Setting:

Situated on an ‘island’ site between Church Street and The Promenade, with Church Pass to north and The Diamond to south. Slightly elevated above street-level, with steps at northwest entrance and lawned to all sides. Bounded by roughcast-rendered wall with cement coping surmounted by cast-iron railings. To southwest corner and entrances to west and northwest are square roughcast rendered piers with gabled caps; those to entrances support original cast-iron gates.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Uncoursed rock-faced blackstone with sandstone dressings
Windows: Replacement leaded-and-stained glass lancets
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Agherton Parish Church was built in 1839 using the stone from the previous parish church dating from 1826. (Thomas) A chancel was added in 1879 to designs by the diocesan architect Thomas Drew. (Irish Builder)

The first edition map of 1830 shows no buildings on the current site and the parish church is situated out of town to the south-east on the parish glebe lands, next to the ancient church of the parish which was then in ruins. By the second edition of 1856 the former parish church had been demolished and the present church is shown as a simple nave with tower and vestry/porch. The third edition of 1904 shows the remodelled building with chancel added to the south elevation.

The first reference to this parish is in 1262 when the town of Ohathran or Ohaterhan is listed as part of the deanery of Twescard. The ecclesiastical taxation of c 1306 suggests that there was a church by this date, although a fairly modest one. By 1622 the church of ‘Ahorton’ was said to be ‘decayed’ and it is thought to be the remains of this church that can still be seen opposite Flowerfield House containing a ‘piscina’ a feature typical of churches dating from the middle ages. The oldest tombstone in the surrounding graveyard is dated 1713. OS Memoirs date this early church to c1535 and state that it was built by the the O’Neills of Flowerfield demesne nearby. (Thomas; OS Memoirs)

The church built on the same site in 1826 cost just under one thousand pounds, most of the cost being advanced by the Board of First Fruits and reduced by annual instalments until it was cancelled in 1833 by its successor the Commissioners of Church Temporalities. The building was consecrated on April 25th 1827. (Thomas; Lewis)

The original church was found to be much too small as Portstewart’s popularity as a bathing resort began to grow. The competition from the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, both in the town of Portstewart, may have also been an impetus and by 1837 a curate was holding services at a school-house in the town. A decision was taken to move the church, stone by stone, to a new site offered by Mr Cromie within the town, quite an unusual undertaking. Moving provided an opportunity to expand the church from 200 to 280 seats but the constraints of the site meant that the traditional east-west orientation was not possible and the church is aligned north/south. An architect was involved in the construction but his name is not known. Some rearrangement of the plan of the former church took place, for instance the porch/vestry took the site of the tower of the earlier building. The external stonework was basalt with contrasting dressed stone for quoins and architraves. The west side of the church is laid in courses of carefully dressed stone while away from the main promenade the stone is more roughly dressed. A ground plan of the 1839 church comprising, nave, tower and entrance porch has survived and this shows a pulpit at the north end and an altar at the east end. The church was laid out in box pews with a stove in the centre beside which was the font. The congregation entered through the tower and the rector through the north porch/vestry. (Thomas) The estimated cost of the new church was nearly £1200 of which a proportion was raised by subscription. The Irish society gave a grant of £100 towards its construction. (Report of Irish Society Deputation)

The new church opened on 18th December 1839 and was dedicated on 15th July 1841. An early engraving of c1850 and photographs of c1900 show that the doorway into the tower was altered in the second half of the nineteenth century. Crocketed finials originally on the tower were replaced and the tracery in the tower window at ground floor altered. The church and yard are valued in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) at £35 and there are no significant changes in Annual Revisions.

The Freeman’s Journal of 1856 records that a ‘beautiful circular tablet’ (still present) had been placed in the church, on 16th January of that year by William W Campbell Esq of the Castle. The memorial was to Captain John Robinson of the 84th regiment who was killed at Sebastopol on 18th June 1855 at the age of 29.

A memorial tablet, of Carrera marble and carved by the Fitzpatrick Bros of Belfast, to the memory of Col and Mrs Cairnes and their son Lieutenant Cairnes was placed in the church in April 1858. Lieutenant Cairnes fought with Lisburn man and Victorian hero John Nicholson during the Indian rebellion of 1857 and survived the assault on Delhi near the Kashmir Gate in which Nicholson and many others perished. Cairnes fell ill and died of cholera shortly afterwards. (Belfast Newsletter)

As the gothic revival entered its full flowering in the later nineteenth century, a chancel was thought a necessary addition to the church. Designs were sought from Thomas Drew the diocesan architect and Emily Cromie offered to finance the project in memory of her husband who had provided the site forty years previously. The construction took place during the winter of 1878/9 and cost £1100. The congregation was turned to face south towards the new chancel and the pews were re-grouped in two rows with a central aisle. The pulpit and reading desk of the former triple-decker pulpit were separated and placed on either side of the entrance. A small vestry was provided to the east but this was altered in 1880 when proceedings were threatened as it encroached on the road. (Thomas; Irish Builder)

The north porch was slightly altered in 1899 and then in 1961 more radically extended to provide a robing-room for the choir. A new stone pulpit of Caen stone was installed in 1893. In 1933 an organ was purchased from the Liverpool firm of Rushworth and Dreaper for £1175 (renovated in 1990) and a gabled extension added to the west of the chancel to house it. Work continued on the chancel during the 1920s to 40s including terrazzo flooring, oak pannelling and the upgrading of seating and furniture mostly by Belfast firm of Purdy & Millard. The walls, railings and gates were commissioned in 1905 from the architect Samuel Close of Belfast and were made by Cockburn and Company. A new set of four bells were cast in Dublin foundry in 1919 as a war memorial (replacing the former single bell) and recast there by M F O’Byrne in 1982. New choir pews were installed in 1947. (Thomas)

Major renovations including work to the roof took place in 1981-2 in anticipation of the church’s 150th anniversary. The glass of the lancet windows (which had been renewed in 1936 by Clokey & Company of Belfast) was replaced with modern stained glass motifs on biblical themes, all gifts of parishioners. The designs were by George Nicholl and the maker was Caldermac of Lisburn. A new memorial east window was fitted in 1993 and a new opening made for a window in the west wall of the nave in 2001. (Thomas; HB file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/3/1 First Edition OS Map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/5/3/2 Second Edition OS map 1856
3. PRONI OS/6/5/3/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/3/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1922-39
5. PRONI OS/6/5/3/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1939-50
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/539A-B Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/10 Griffiths Valuation (1861)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17A-E Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/18 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/8/A/22 First General Revaluation 1933-57
11. Report of the Deputation Appointed by the Honourable the Irish Society to visit the City of London’s Plantation in Ireland in the year 1838. London: 1838
12. The Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser 18th January 1856
13. Belfast Newsletter 3rd April 1858
14. Irish Builder Vol 21 1 May 1879 p130
15. Irish Builder Vol 21 15th December 1879 p389
16. HB file – 03/08/001

Secondary Sources

1. Day, A., P. McWilliams, English L., eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Londonderry XII, 1829-30, 1832, 1834-6, Vol. 33.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1995.
2. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co.,
3. 1837.
4. Thomas, A “Agherton Parish, Portstewart – A Brief History” 1996

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A freestanding Gothic Revival style rock-faced blackstone Parish church with pinnacled and crenellated square tower; built 1839 and altered 1879 to designs by Thomas Drew; located to north of The Diamond in Portstewart town centre. Additions include a Romanesque-style chancel to south (1879) and vestry to north. Extensively refurbished c.1980, loss of some historic fabric includes the original fenestration, entrance doors and roof structure to nave. Despite this, the church retains much of its early character, including a large round-headed stone arch which remains the focal point of the interior. Of particular interest is Drew’s decision to build in the Romanesque style for his addition, rather than the pre-existing Gothic. A good example of the work of a prominent local architect, Agherton Parish Church continues to have social interest for the local community and is a landmark building in the town.

General comments

Listing criteria R - Age and S - Authenticity also apply.