St Patrick's RC Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical gabled blackstone Roman Catholic Church in the Gothic-Revival style, built c.1850 and located to the east side of Causeway Street in Portrush town centre. Rectangular plan with double transepts to northwest and southeast, apse to northeast and sacristy with entrance porch to southeast.

Pitched natural slate roof with leaded ridges, raised stone verges and kneeler stones to gables; cross final to northeast gable and bell-cote (sans bell) to southwest; ashlar chimneystack to sacristy. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on cavetto moulded eaves. Walling is rock-faced squared blackstone built to courses on a chamfered stone plinth with diagonal buttresses having stone offsets and smooth rendered painted string course to eaves level. Windows are bipartite leaded-and-stained glass lancets in painted ashlar surrounds with chamfered sills and stone voussoirs.

Southwest-facing with central entrance flanked to each side by a window comprising two cusped lancets vertically arranged and divided by bipartite blind tracery central panel, surmounted by hood mould. Surmounting entrance is a carved stone figure of St Patrick on a plinth in a Gothic niche with hood mould breaking string course at eaves level. Relieving arch over entrance which comprises smooth rendered painted doorcase surmounted by label mould; replacement double-leaf two-panelled timber door in Tudor arch-headed opening transom light over carved trefoil detailing to spandrels. Door accessed via a single stone step.

The northwest elevation is four evenly-spaced windows wide; to left are double transepts, each lit by a paired bipartite lancet, abutted at far left by flat-roof entrance porch with square-headed window to left cheek and a replacement four-panelled timber door with leaded glass transom in a pointed-headed surround.

The northeast (rear) elevation has apse to centre of gable with pointed-headed leaded-and-stained glass lancets; abutted at left by the flat-roof extension to sacristy (see below). Windows all with grilles over.

The southeast elevation is detailed as at northwest; abutted at far right by the projecting single-storey sacristy with projecting porch to southwest face, opening with a replacement four-panelled timber door surmounted by leaded glass lancet in a pointed-headed surround; lancet to right cheek. Sacristy has two square-headed windows to southeast face and chimneystack to right east corner; extended to northeast.

Setting:
Situated on a plot to the east side of Causeway Street, adjacent to the East Strand Beach. Sharing the site is the one-and-a-half-storey parochial house and primary school, both to north and a one-and-a-half storey gate lodge to southeast, all gabled and in blackstone with slated roofs. The parochial house, similarly detailed as the church, has rendered chimneystacks and raised stone verges. Windows are replacement square-headed timber casements in pointed-headed painted surrounds; replacement entrance door accessed by a set of four stone steps. The school comprises a double-height gabled hall with rendered chimneystacks to gables and a four-pane cusped lancet window to southwest. To east is a detached mid-twentieth century double-height rendered building housing classrooms; to south (at a 180 degree angle) is a two-storey gabled former dwelling, partially of blackstone rubble and partially smooth rendered, having three timber casement windows to first floor at northeast and two modern timber doors to southeast gable; rendered chimneystack to right of centre at ridgeline. Lawned to south with burial plot containing three twentieth-century gravestones; tarmacadamed playground to east. Site is bounded by blackstone rubble wall with coping stones; polygonal ashlar piers with pointed caps to southwest entrance, supporting original cast-iron gates. Pedestrian entrance has square brick piers with stone coping supporting a timber-sheeted latch gate. Grounds to school at north accessed via a set of blackstone piers with pointed caps supporting cast-iron gates. The neighbouring site to south has an unfinished four-storey concrete block building.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Rock-faced squared blackstone
Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass lancets
RWG: Cast-iron / Replacement Upvc

Historical information

The Church of St Patrick, Portrush was built between 1845 and 1851 with additions dating from 1936-7 to designs by Patrick B Gregory. (O’Laverty; Irish Builder) The church, consisting of a simple nave is first shown on the second edition OS map of 1853, occupying a previously vacant site on the outskirts of Portrush. A school and parochial house were added to the site in the later 1850s and are first shown on the third edition OS map of 1906. A small lodge was also present by this date.

The church was erected in 1845 by Father Kearney but was not completed for some years. As was common in this period, the church was constructed as funds became available and the building process was sometimes protracted as a result. A tablet over the door (now replaced by a niche) used to read “Erected by subscriptions AD MDCCCXLV”. The church was dedicated to St Patrick by Dr Denvir on 17th August 1851 and Rev Henry Marshall of Oxford spoke at the ceremony where a collection of over £55 was made. (Freeman’s Journal; O’Laverty) The school was built in 1855 and the parochial house in 1859. A teacher’s residence was subsequently erected by Father McKenna by means of a loan from the Board of Works. (O’Laverty)

The church was listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) at a valuation of £22, the ground being leased from the Earl of Antrim at a nominal rent. Dimensions are given for the church and school house. No further changes are made to the valuation during the period covered by Annual Revisions.

Valuation notes of the early 1930s give a plan and dimensions of the church which then accommodated 300 people. However, shortly after this a large extension incorporating chancel and transepts was built to the rear to designs by Padraig Bernard Gregory. The foundation stone was laid in 1936 and the church was re-opened in September 1937. The contractor was Hugh Taggart. (Irish Builder)
Historic photographs show that there have been some minor changes to the front elevation since the church was originally built. A niche has been added over the entrance doorway and the tracery of the two lancet windows has been altered to accommodate the gallery which was subsequently added internally. (Historic photograph – National Library of Ireland)

Since the first survey (1973) the bell has been taken down from the bellcote and a lodge to the south of the church on Causeway Street is being renovated at the time of writing. The school has been much extended since originally built, but the other buildings in the grouping appear relatively untouched externally. Windows were replaced in the parochial house in 1984 (HB file).

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
12. HB File – 03/010/037
13. Freeman’s Journal 29th July 1851
14. Irish Builder Vol 78, 5th September 1936, p801
15. Irish Builder Vol 79, 17th April 1937, p361

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W D “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in North Antrim including the towns of Portrush, Ballymoney and Bushmills” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1975
2. O’Laverty, Rev James “An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor Ancient and Modern, Vol s I to V” Dublin: M H Gill & Son, 1880

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A symmetrical gabled blackstone Roman Catholic Church in the Gothic-Revival style, built c.1850 and located to the east side of Causeway Street in Portrush town centre. A good example of a mid-Victorian Roman Catholic Church in the Gothic-Revival style with a cruciform plan form. It has good proportions and detailing and its original architectural character is largely intact. St Patricks Roman Catholic Church makes an important contribution to the architectural character of Portrush and is of significant local interest and social importance to the surrounding community.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R - Age, S - Authenticity