Seaforde Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Simple single storey Presbyterian church of c.1830, with flat roofed extension to N and modern window frames throughout. The church is set on the N side of Demesne Road.

The front gable faces W and has a relatively small pointed arch doorway with panelled double doors and a fanlight with the ‘burning bush’ emblem in stained glass. The S façade has four large pointed arch windows with PVC frames. The rear gable is blank. The N façade has a large flat roofed extension to the left (with large windows with metal frames). To the right of this (on main façade) is a timber sheeted door. The N façade is finished in rough cast, the rest of the building in dry dash with smooth cement base, wall edges and as surrounds to most of the openings.

The gabled roof is covered in natural slate with narrow rendered parapets. There is a gravel covered car park surrounding the church. To the S side is a very low rendered wall with simple iron railings.

Historical information

This church was built around 1830 and is shown on the 1834 OS map as ‘Seceder’s Meeting House’. The valuation returns of c.1836 state that the building was not finished at that point and that ‘£20 would lath and plaster it’. The OS memoirs of December 1836 state that the church was built by subscription and could hold a congregation of around 250.

By 1858 the extension had been added to the N side.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.366 Forde papers
2 PRONI MIC/IP/355 Records relating to Seaforde Presbyterian church, 1826-1936
3 PRONI OS/6/3/37/1 OS map, Down sh 37, 1834
4 PRONI VAL/1B/387 1st valuation, Loughinisland, 1836
5 Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Parishes of Co Down IV’, (QUB 1992) [1836]
pp.94, 96
6 PRONI VAL/1D/3/19 Valuation plan of Seaforde, 1836-38
7 PRONI 2nd valuation, Loughinisland, c.1860 [in print]
8 PRONI VAL/2D/3/14 Valuation plan of Seaforde, c.1860
9 PRONI OS/8/152/1 OS plan of Seaforde, 1904
10 PRONI VAL/3G/95/1 Valuation plan of Seaforde, 1935-56

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Simple single storey Presbyterian church of c.1830, with flat roofed extension to N and modern window frames throughout. It is of limited architectural interest.