Banbridge Road Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double-height stucco Presbyterian church in the neoclassical style; built c.1840 with later alterations and refurbished c.1950; located to the south side of Banbridge Road in Dromore. Rectangular on plan.

Natural slate roof, gabled to north, hipped to south. Plastic rainwater goods on rendered eaves-band. Walling is stucco to facade and painted roughcast render to remainder; continuous sill course and impost course to windows at facade. Windows are a variety of leaded-and-stained glass casements dating from the c.1950 refurbishment; round-headed to all but ground floor of facade, with moulded archivolts from impost mouldings and keyblock; moulded and lugged surrounds to ground floor with cornice over reeded frieze.

The principal elevation faces north and is surmounted by a decorated dentilled pediment; facade is symmetrically arranged with three openings to each floor divided by four Giant order pilasters having moulded caps and inverted consoles to plain frieze. To centre at ground floor is a replacement double-leaf three-panelled timber door surmounted by leaded-and-stained glass round-headed transom light with moulded archivolt and keyblock.

The east elevation has three evenly spaced elongated round-headed windows; to far left is a modern six-panelled timber door with transom light and a square-headed window.

The south (rear) elevation has a round-headed window to centre at gallery and a square-headed window to ground floor. To left are two smaller leaded-and-stained glass casement windows.

The west elevation has three evenly spaced elongated round-headed windows; at right are two-round-headed windows to first floor, ground floor has a modern four-panelled timber door with transom light and a square-headed window.

Setting:

Set back from the road and accessed via a set of metal gates supported on painted square rendered piers with plinths and corniced caps. Rendered stepped boundary wall to north topped by painted saddleback coping stones and metal railings. Church hall to west in similar style as the church, abutted to west by a large modern extension. Surrounded to three sides by graveyard, with the earliest noted headstone c.1850.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Stucco and roughcast
Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs state that Presbyterianism was the predominant religious denomination in the parish of Dromore; prior to c. 1840 there were two Presbyterian congregations within Dromore’ urban centre. These were First Dromore Presbyterian Church (HB 17/14/010), the congregation of which had been first established in the mid-17th century, and First Dromore (Non-Subscribing) Church (HB17/15/020) which formed in c. 1725 as a result of a theological split in the congregation of First Dromore (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 73).

Banbridge Road Presbyterian Church in Dromore was erected in 1843 on the current site and was established as a seceding congregation under the Secession Synod of Ulster. The church first appears on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1859 which depicts a rectangular-shaped building captioned ‘Presbyterian Meeting House’ occupying the current layout of the site; the contemporary Griffith’s Valuation valued the church at £30. There was no subsequent alteration to either the layout of the site on the later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps (1903; 1919-20), or to the value of the church in the Annual Revisions, which ended in 1930.

The Church hall, situated to the west side of the Banbridge Road Presbyterian, was erected in 1930-32 at a cost of £2,500. The hall was designed by Hobart & Heron, an architectural partnership between Henry Hobart (1858-1938) and Samuel Heron (1872-1957) that was established in 1904 and continues to operate today as ‘Hobart Heron.’ Hobart & Heron designed a number of local dwellings and also designed Dromore’s Public Elementary School in 1938; the builders contracted to carry out construction of the Church Hall were ‘Gardiner & McAllister’ (Irish Builder, p. 479; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Kirkpatrick states that prior to the construction of the current church on the Banbridge Road, the seceding congregation of Dromore met in the town’s court house. The current church was completed in 1843 after around six years of deliberation and fundraising. When first opened the church was known as ‘Second Dromore;’ Moore states that ‘the congregation was small, the people poor, but the enthusiasm was great’ that by 1857 the congregation stood at 200 members. In 1843 the gallery of the church was originally accessed by stone steps that were outside the building; this entrance and the stone steps were removed during a major renovation of the church in 1953. The hip-roof construction to the rear of the church is the result of the erection, early in the history of the church, of a Sunday school room and an additional preparation room (Kirkpatrick, p. 235; Moore).

During the ministry of the Rev. John McKee, the ministers own dwelling at No. 17 Princes Street was utilised as the church’s manse; however in 1859-61 a new two-storey manse was erected in the townland of Ballymacormick (HB17/14/001) and was utilised by the ministers of the church until it was sold in 1982. In 1908 the name of the congregation was changed from Second Dromore to Banbridge Road Presbyterian and in 1916 the Dromore Gas Company and Dromore Electric Company installed the first artificial lighting fittings within the church; electric lighting was installed in the 1920s (Moore).

The first permanent organ was installed in 1929 but there was no other alteration to the site by the outbreak of the Second World War, save the construction of the church hall in 1930-32. During the war the church hall was commandeered by the army and utilised by the 202 Field Ambulance from Wrexham in England. With the end of the conflict a major renovation of the church was carried out during the 1950s; George Hobart (of Hobart & Heron) was employed as the architect. The main hall was gutted as a new gallery and furnishings, including the current communion table, pulpit, baptismal font and reading desk, were installed. The current memorial organ, which was valued at £30,000 in 1988, was gifted to the church by a member of the congregation. The church was reopened on 14th November 1954 after over £20,000 was expended on the renovation (Moore).

Later changes included the extension of the church hall in 1969-70 at a cost of over £10,000; the installation of memorial choir stalls in the church in memory of a number of congregation members who were injured or killed in terrorist attacks during the Troubles. Banbridge Road Presbyterian Church was listed in 1977 and in 1982 the manse in Ballymacormick was sold in order to raise funds for the construction of a new modern manse in the same townland; the new manse was completed in 1984 and continues to be occupied by ministers of the church. Due to erection of new housing in Dromore in recent years the church continues accommodate a thriving congregation which today stands at over 400 families (Kirkpatrick, p. 235; Moore).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/21/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/21/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-20
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38A – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10A – Annual Revisions 1864-1878
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10B – Annual Revisions 1879-1891
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10C – Annual Revisions 1892-1898
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11A – Annual Revisions 1899-1910
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11B – Annual Revisions 1911-1919
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11C – Annual Revisions 1920-1930
12. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down III, Vol. 12 (1834)
13. Irish Builder (Vol. 72, 24 May 1930)
14. First Survey Record – HB 17/15/028 (1969)
15. Ordnance Survey map – 202-4SW (1973)

Secondary Sources

1. Kirkpatrick, L., ‘Presbyterians in Ireland: An illustrated history’ Booklink, 2006.
2. Moore, H. R., ‘A short history to celebrate the Sesquicentennial of Banbridge Road Presbyterian Church Dromore’ Dromore: Banbridge Road Presbyterian Church, 1988.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://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

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A double-height stucco Presbyterian church in the neoclassical style; built c.1840 with later alterations and refurbished c.1950. The original portion of the church (c.1840) comprises the sanctuary, altered to include extensions to front and rear. Modernised c.1950, the building now houses a 1950s interior; the original fenestration has not survived. However, much original fabric survives and it is a good example of the type demonstrating developments in use and in its original setting with boundary wall and adjoining graveyard, including headstones dating from the middle of the nineteenth-century.

General comments

New listing criteria R & S to be added when available. NO'R 11.10.13