Brigh Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An early 20th century church with roughcast walls and artificial stone dressings, of hall-and-tower type in a simple Gothic Revival style.

It stands on an elevated site forming a local landmark in a very rural area.

The main entrance faces east, located in the base of the tower which stands set back at the north end of the nave, with a low single-storey ancillary block at the south end.
The nave has walls of roughcast with artificial stone plinth, eaves course, dressings, gable copings, and two-stage buttresses which are of diagonal type at the corners. Some of the individual artificial stone blocks show signs of cracking.
The nave roof is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses.
Rainwater goods are of cast iron, with moulded gutters and circular downpipes.
There are five windows in the nave, simple Gothic arched lancets with timber frames and tinted glazing in lozenge pattern lead cams, except for the central one which contains stained glass.

The tower is of three stages of similar materials to the nave surmounted by octagonal corner pinnacles joined by crenellated and pierced parapets in artificial stone.
It also has diagonal buttresses which rise through two stages. The bottom stage contains the main entrance which consists of a pair of rectangular timber sheeted doors with an elliptical sheeted timber tympanum, set in a moulded and stop chamfered elliptical arched surround.
Above the doorway a segmental headed polished marble foundation stone dated 1909, set in a moulded label surround with shaped brackets, rises into the second stage. Above it also in the second stage is a small pair of blind Gothic headed slits giving the appearance of lancet windows.
Above a moulded cornice the third stage contains a simple Gothic headed opening filled with timber louvres surmounted by a moulded stringcourse which arches over it within a rectangular recess.
Similar louvred openings appear in the other faces of the third stage.

The south gable of the nave, surmounted by a simple chimney which has three pots, contains three narrow Gothic lancets in the centre, with a low ancillary block projecting below. Gable walling is of roughcast finish. The lower block has hipped roofs slated as previous.
Walls are of roughcast except for a later portion of smooth cement render, lined, and blocked, below a new window on the west side inserted in a former doorway. Windows are modern rectangular upvc fixed lights and vents. There is a modern rectangular timber glazed and panelled door in the east side and a flush timber door in the west side. Rainwater goods of this block are as previous to the nave.

The west elevation of the nave is similar to the east except there is no stained glass. Abutting the right hand corner buttress is a short flight of concrete steps and plinth walls leading to the former doorway in the ancillary block.
The west elevation of the tower is similar to the east except there is no foundation stone and the slope of the ground requires a short flight of three concrete steps, and a plinth wall, to the doorway. This doorway is no longer in use.

The north elevation comprises the north gable of the church which contains one tall Gothic headed lancet window of tinted leaded glazing to each side of the projecting tower.
In the bottom stage of the tower is a triplet of narrow trefoil-headed lancets of tinted leaded glazing surmounted by a drip moulding with decorated stops, all set below a shallow two-centred Gothic relieving arch. In the second stage is a gothic headed lancet glazed as previous, with a blind segmental opening and drip moulding above it.

SETTING: The church stands within its own grounds on an open site, near the junction of two roads. The grounds are grassed and contain burial plots and a few mature trees, with a tarmac path leading up to and along the east side of the church. The area immediately outside the main entrance is laid with modern concrete pavings ramped up from the tarmac path and flanked by modern tubular steel handrails afixed to the church. Between the graveyard area and the road on the north side is an extensive tarmac carpark bounded by low modern roughcast walling and chain link fencing. The gates from the carpark to the churchyard are modern. The boundary wall to the east side of the graveyard is of roughcast and contains a small plain original iron gate at the south end which is now blocked on the church side by stonework, and also a slightly ornamented original gate near the north end, which is set in plain artificial stone piers.

Historical information

Built in 1909 to replace a previous church on the site which had been built in 1781 and repaired in 1834. Designed by Young and Mackenzie (tender of William Dowling, Belfast, accepted). Foundation stone laid on March 1909. Completed by October of the same year.
Three memorial windows by Ward and Partners.

References - Primary Sources
1. Irish Builder Volume 50, 17th and 31st October (1908), pp640, 672.
2. Irish Builder Volume 51, 3rd April (1909), pp209, 626.
3. Irish Builder Volume 51, 2nd October (1909), 629 (for Ward and Partners windows)

Secondary Sources
1. A.J. Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North-West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979), p 119.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

An early 20th century church with roughcast walls and artificial stone dressings, of hall-and-tower type in a simple Gothic Revival style. This is a church which retains most of its original character and detail intact despite some minor alterations of inappropriate type to the ancillary accommodation. It is a consciously proportioned example of its type, with a typical hall-and-tower plan form, though somewhat pedestrian in appearance. It forms a prominent landmark in a rural setting as well as having local social importance.