Dunbarton Street Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached double-height Presbyterian Church, dated 1845, located on an elevated site to the north side of Dunbarton Street, Gilford. Rectangular-on-plan with single-storey extension to north, built c.2000.

Roof is pitched natural slate with blue-black clay ridge tiles over corbelled eaves; raised verge parapet to south gable; rendered chimney to north gable; painted cast-iron gutters. Walling is ruled-and-lined render over projecting plinth; painted roughcast render to south elevation. Windows are square-headed 10/10 timber sliding sashes at ground floor; round-arched at first floor; all have stone sills, unless otherwise stated.

Principal gable faces south and comprises central entrance bay containing double-leaf timber panelled entrance doors with glazed overlight in square-headed opening with moulded stone reveal surmounted by flat pediment supported on console brackets; single window at first floor; flanked by double-height pilasters; left and right bays each containing single window at each floor and again flanked by double-height pilasters; gable surmounted by plain frieze, with datestone reading ‘1845’, to moulded cornice; triangular pediment over breakfront central bay.

West elevation is five windows wide.

North gable is abutted at ground floor by extension; exposed section at first floor contains single window at left and right.

East elevation is five windows wide.

Setting:

The church is set on an elevated site bounded to Dunbarton Street at south by coursed reconstituted stone boundary walls with concrete coping; access through double-leaf cast-iron gates supported on square piers, to ramped approach to principal entrance. Site bounded to east and west by rubble stone walling; bounded to north by timber fencing.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Gilford Presbyterian Church was completed in 1846 to serve a congregation that had grown up in the wake of the establishment of Gilford spinning mill in the late 1830s. The architect is not known. (History of Congregations)

The history of Gilford in the nineteenth century is inextricably linked with the fortunes of the spinning mill, one of the largest in Ireland in the 1840s and the driver of economic growth and social development in the nineteenth century. Hugh Dunbar was the descendant of a linen family, his grandfather having leased a property at Huntley from the Whyte’s of Loughbrickland, where Hugh was manufacturing thread and his hand-loom weavers produced linen cloth. In 1834 the competition from mill-spun yarns, produced by the new wet-spinning process was such that Dunbar was compelled to start his own spinning mill or go out of business. Dunbar chose Gilford as the centre of his new enterprise and the Dunbar McMaster & Co spinning mill opened in 1839. It was an immediate success and attracted large numbers of workers to the town. Between 1841 and 1851 the population more than quadrupled, from 643 to 2,814, contrasting strongly with other areas in Ireland at this period which were experiencing mass emigration due to famine conditions. (Cairns; Logan)

According to OS Memoirs in 1834 there were only two Presbyterian meeting houses in Tullylish parish and these were some distance away from Gilford in Drumnascamp and Ballynagarrick. Some time around 1840, Presbyterians, who by this time numbered about 60 families, began to hold meetings in an old corn mill on Mill Street. In 1843 the Banbridge Presbytery formally recognised the congregation and in 1844, Hugh Dunbar the proprietor of the mill was approached for a site. (Graham; Logan)

The building was completed in October 1846 at a cost of £750 and generous contributions were made by other County Down congregations and Hugh Dunbar. The church is first shown on the second edition OS map of 1858 captioned ‘Presb[yteria]n Meeting Ho[use]’ and is listed in Griffith’s Valuation as a Presbyterian church and yard valued at £45. No further changes are noted in valuation records up to 1935. (Graham)

As church membership continued to grow, a gallery was fitted in May 1861 at a cost of £234.16s.10d. An organ was first installed in 1914 together with circular choir pews and new seating in the session room. The organ cost £81 and was supplied by Messrs Crymble of Belfast. In 1938 a major refurbishment of the church building took place which included re-roofing and redecoration work costing £1,500. Wooden panelling behind the pulpit was installed at this time, together with a terrazzo floor in the vestibule. In May 1987 a special service was held to officially open the church after redecoration and the laying of carpet. (Graham)

In 1998 a large extension was opened to the rear of the church which contains a kitchen, minister’s room, toilets, a meeting room and a boiler room. (Graham)

References:
Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2 Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3 Third Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/48E – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/25A-H Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/12/F/4/2/5 – Annual Revisions (1930-35)

Secondary Sources
1. “A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982” authorised by the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982 (available at
www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com)
2. Cairns, A “The Church and Community of St John the Evangelist Gilford, Sesquicentennial 1850-2000” Lurgan: Inglewood
Press, 2002
3. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Down III, 1833-8, Vol. 12.” Belfast: Institute of
Irish Studies, 1992.
4. Graham, F “The History of Gilford Presbyterian Church and other articles of local interest” 2006
5. Logan, R A “A Window on the Past, A History of Gilford County Down” Banbridge Chronicle, (n.d.)
6. www.dia.ie

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Detached double-height Presbyterian Church, dated 1845, located on an elevated site. Rectangular-on-plan aligned north-south with single-storey extension to north, built c.2000. Although extended to the north the church has retained its original plan form and historic characteristics of the façade and interior. It is a good example of the restrained classical form of Presbyterian hall church.