Holy Trinity Church Hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two storey stone building of rectangular plan, built possibly along with the main church in 1840 and so likely designed by Stewart Gordon, in a simple late Gothic Revival style. It forms a stop to the east side of Main Street before the set back of the grounds of Holy Trinity Church on the corner of Church Pass.

Roof of natural slate with sandstone coped gables with moulded stops and pointed trefoil finials; the lower west gable has been covered in lead. Rainwater goods are uPVC. The walls are roughly cut black stone built to rough courses, quatrefoil cut stone decorations to the apex of the main gable apexes. The windows are generally flat arches with rendered reveals; those to the south have moulded render hoods (some damaged); those to the west are square-headed with chamfered dressed stone surrounds. The door openings are flat pointed arches; the western one with dressed stone surround matching that of the windows. The windows are uPVC. The doors are plank doors, the entrance door off the street has an original tracery overlight with leaded, stained glass.

The street west elevation is a gable, extended by a lean-to to the north, set forward and off centre to a higher gable. The first floor has a central bi-partite window, the ground floor has an entrance door in the lean-to and a single window towards the opposite corner.

The side north elevation is abutted on the ground floor by the adjacent single storey building, the first floor is a blank rendered wall.

The rear east elevation has a symmetrical gable with a central window to each floor. Set back to the north is a single storey, flat roofed section with a single window.

The taller section of the side south elevation is symmetrical, three windows wide. The lower, set back section to the west has a doorway in the inner corner.

Setting:

The gable of the building sits hard on the pavement of the east side of Main Street, the south side faces the lawn of the grounds of Holy Trinity Church (HB03/10/017A). Attached to the southwest corner of the front gable is a wrought iron gate which connects with the low rendered wall surmounted by iron railings forming the perimeter of the church grounds. The building faces HB03/10/18, HB03/10/19, HB03/10/20 and further along Main Street are many other listed buildings.

Schedule:
Roof: natural slate
Walls: stone
Windows: uPVC
RWGs: uPVC.

Historical information

The church hall of Holy Trinity was constructed, probably as a school house, at the same time as the church itself c1840 and is likely to have been designed by the same architect, Stewart Gordon, Surveyor for the County of Londonderry (ww.dia.ie; www.holytrinityportrush.org.uk). The building is first shown, captioned ‘School Ho[use]’ on the second edition OS map of 1853, occupying much the same footprint as today. The church, tower and parish school house are listed in Griffith’s Valuation of 1856-64 at £50 and no significant changes are recorded to the valuation before the 1930s.

The church history suggests that the building was first used as a residence for the church sexton.

In the 1930s the school house was in use as a ‘working mens’ club’ with membership confined to members of the parish. The position of the stairway in the club was altered in 1937 and it can be seen that the roofline of the building at the south-western end has changed since photographs were taken c1900 (McDonald and Anderson).

The building is currently in use as a Sunday School and by various church groups for meetings and fundraising events (www.holytrinityportrush.org.uk).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/2/1 First Edition OS Map 1831-2
2. PRONI OS/6/1/2/2 Second Edition OS map 1853
3. PRONI OS/6/1/2/3 Third Edition OS Map 1906
4. PRONI OS/6/1/2/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1921-31
5. PRONI OS/6/1/2/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1946-50
6. PRONI OS/8/42/1-2 – Town Plans of Portrush (1895-6)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/30B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2A-E – Annual Revisions (1859-1895)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/4/22A-D Annual Revisions (1895-1930)
10. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/30 First General Revaluation 1933-57
11. PRONI VAL/3/D/1/15/A/33 First General Revaluation 1933-57

Secondary Sources

1. McDonald, T and Anderson, R “Memories in Focus: NE Ulster from old photographs 1850-1950 Volumes 1 to 4” 1981-83
2. Milner, T W R “A History of the Church of Ireland in the Parish of Ballywillan (Portrush)” 1972
3. www.holytrinityportrush.org.uk
4. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A two storey stone building, probably built in 1840 in a simple late Gothic Revival style. Despite some replacement fabric, much of the original interior remains; the original layout also remains intact. It has group value with Holy Trinity Church (HB03/10/017A), forming part of the northern boundary of the church grounds and connecting with the church’s street boundary wall. It is an important landmark in the Main Street and is of local interest as part of the social fabric of Portrush.