St Andrew's Church of Ireland Hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single storey rectangular hall of masonry construction with hipped slated roof and a gabled porch projecting to the front. It stands in a rural area on the east side of a minor public road, with the church which it serves, and its former rectory both standing on the opposite side of the road a short distance away.

Walling is of random rubble blackstone with moulded plinth and block dressings and quoins of hammer dressed sandstone.
Roofs are of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with a shaped timber finial to the apex of the porch, and a diagonally placed timber ventilation turret of square plan, with timber louvres and steep lead-dressed cap. Barge boards and eaves boards are of timber. Rainwater goods are of moulded metal with circular cast iron downpipes.

The main south elevation has two windows to each side of a central gabled porch. The main entrance is located in the side of the porch, facing west. Windows in the main wall are rectangular two-light metal lozenge-paned casements. The south gable of the porch contains a pair of coupled Gothic arched windows, glazed similarly to the main windows, with a rectangular sandstone datestone in the apex above it, inscribed 'Erected by J.G. Beresford, Lord Primate, A.D. 1860'. In the east side of the porch is a single light casement similar to the main windows, and in the west side is the main entrance comprising a two-centred arched ledged timber door recessed in a chamfered arched block surround.

The west gable of the main block contains a three-light window similarly glazed to the entrance front, but surmounted by a two-centred relieving arch of sandstone, with a narrow blind Gothic arched lancet in the apex of the gable above it.

The north or rear elevation has a slated roof to the main block similar to the front, but this elevation is degraded by the original wall being covered by a full-length later lean-to extension in smooth cement render which has been crudely scratched to give the appearance of rubble stonework. It has a metal roof covering and uPVC rainwater goods. Windows are modern rectangular metal fixed lights and opening lights. There is a modern rectangular flush timber door in the west side while the east side is blank.

The east gable of the main block is similar to the west.

SETTING:
The building is set back slightly from the road with a cement paved area immediately in front of it, open to the roadway, and to the west side. To the rear is a small grassy plot. The site is bounded to the east by a hedge and to the west by a concrete post and wire fence, with fields beyond that.

Historical information

Built in 1860 as a school at the expense of J.G. Beresford, the Lord Primate of Ireland. Designed by William Joseph Barre. Contractor: Dunns.

References - Primary Sources
1. Dublin Builder Vol. 2(1860), p352
2. OS Map of 1909.

Secondary Sources
1. A.J. Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North-West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979), pp 218-219.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A single storey rectangular hall of masonry construction with hipped slated roof and a gabled porch projecting to the front. This is a small mid-19th century building, formerly a school but now a church hall, in a simple Gothic Revival style, nicely proportioned and picturesque in appearance. It retains the essential elements of its plan form, which is characteristic of a small school of the period, and also retains most of its original exterior appearance and character despite a later inappropriate extension to the rear. It is of local interest and social importance as well as having historical significance as a small building project of the Lord Primate at the time, as recorded in its datestone. It enjoys a pleasant rural setting and with the church which it serves and its former rectory both on the other side of the road, a short distance along, it forms part of an interesting group of associated buildings which stand in comparative isolation in this particular locality.