Annahilt Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing double-height rendered Presbyterian Church, dated 1889, with central raised and pedimented shallow breakfront. Rectangular on plan facing north located to the south of Windmill Road on an elevated site at the junction with Beatties Road, with single-storey extension to rear, built c.1980.

Pitched natural slate roof with a hipped section to either side of the raised central breakfront. Roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles, synthetic to the hips. Stone coping to the central pediment with weather-slating to the cheeks of the raised pediment. Replacement metal box guttering on timber fascia to eaves and metal downpipe. Painted rough-cast render over rubble and redbrick walling with projecting plinth course. Round-headed window openings with leaded coloured glazing and exterior storm glazing on painted sandstone sills.

Two-storey front elevation with raised and pedimented shallow breakfront having Neo-classical stucco detailing. To either side of the breakfront are diminutive round-headed window openings with smooth render surrounds and render aprons, paired to the upper storey and repeated to both side elevations of the vestibule only. The full-height breakfront surmounted by full pediment with stucco entablature and raking cornice containing a keystoned oculus. Soldier quoins to the breakfront become vertical panels above eaves level to either side with stepped capitals to the pediment’s entablature. The upper floor contains three round-headed tall window openings with single stucco surround on continuous sill course with three panelled aprons. Moulded archivolts rising from impost mouldings and a keystone to each. Date plaque below window stating: ‘1889’. Round-headed central door opening flanked by pair of stucco pilasters with raised fluted plinth blocks, fluted capitals and moulded archivolt with keystone. Double-leaf stop-chamfered panelled doors with lintel cornice and fanlight with leaded coloured glazing. Door opens onto concrete steps and pair of concrete ramps to cobble-lock front area with stainless steel guarding.

East nave elevation is five windows wide with the two-storey vestibule section to the right defined by smooth render pilasters.

Rear gable abutted by single-storey extension having hipped natural slate roof, plastic rainwater goods and uPVC windows.

West nave elevation as per east elevation.

Setting:
Set on an elevated site facing north on the south side of Windmill Road with its east nave facing onto Beatties Road. Large cobble-lock forecourt to the northwest with the remainder of the site occupied with the cemetery containing upstanding stone and marble grave-markers dating from the late seventeenth-century to the present. Church Hall to the northwest, built 1977 and Manse built c.2008. Cobble-lock forecourt opens onto the road via pair of iron gates on iron piers flanked by S-curve low render wall with matching railings.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Replace uPVC
Walling Painted rough-cast render
Windows Round-headed with leaded coloured glazing

Historical information

Although the current church is dated 1889, the congregation of Annahilt was first established in 1662 and has worshipped in three separate Meeting Houses (Kelly, p. 144). All three Meeting Houses were built on the current site at Ballykeel Edenagonnell one mile outside of Hillsborough. The first Ordnance Survey map (1834) shows the second Meeting House which replaced the former 17th century church building, although it is not clear when this occurred. This Meeting House is noted on the first Ordnance Survey map as ‘Meeting House’ and then ‘Presbyterian Meeting House’ on the second edition in 1858.

The Townland Valuations for Ballykeel Edenagonnell surveyed in 1834 record the building as a ‘Presbyterian Meeting House and Graveyard’ located on a site measuring 1 Acre 2 Roods and 20 Perches. The building was valued at £9.6s. after ‘one third being deducted.’ The first Ordnance Survey map of 1834 shows a moderately sized church building and one small out-building beside it. A Sexton’s House, mentioned in Griffiths Valuation, may exist at this time situated along the Windmill Road.

The Presbyterian Meeting house is mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs for Hillsborough (1834-37), then under the leadership of the Rev. Mr Wright and commonly known as ‘Annahilt meeting house.’ The memoirs also state that the meeting house accommodated around 1200 attendants. This seems an exaggerated figure as the later church was designed to seat 600, however in the years before the Presbyterian Church was built at Hillsborough in 1833 the Presbyterian population of the town would travel out to Annahilt, Drumlough, Dromore, Loughaghery, Moira and Lisburn for Sunday services (Gravestone Inscriptions, p. x-xi).

During the period of Griffith’s Valuation the ‘Meeting House, Sextons House and Graveyard’ were valued at £15., however by this time the valuation records show that Church holdings had increased to 2 Acres 1 Rood and 10 Perches. The Presbyterian Meeting also owned a small plot of land and a building for use of by the Church Committee.

In 1889 the Committee of the Presbyterian Meeting House at Ballykeel Edenagonnell decided to build a new church on the same site. The August 1889 edition of the Irish Builder stated that ‘the building ... will be in the Italian style, will occupy the site of the old church, and accommodate over 600 sitters.’ The work was carried out under Lurgan based contractor Joseph Quinn and the architects were Robert Young and John Mackenzie (Young & Mackenzie). The cost for the construction of the new church was estimated at £1170. In his estimate sent to the Rev. Josias Mitchell on 23 September 1889 Joseph Quinn stated that £73. would be needed to install a new heating apparatus to the building and that the building would be complete ‘within the period of six months from the date of getting possession of the premises.’ Whenever construction began, by April 1890 James Quinn wrote to Young and McKenzie’s office confirming to them that work had been completed at Annahilt.

In 1891 the Church’s value increased to £40 reflecting the extent of the reconstruction and the expansion of the church from the modest old meeting house. The new value of the Church had not changed when the Annual Revisions ended in 1929. In 1939 a new organ and an electric lighting system were installed; electric heating followed in 1946. Further recent changes include the installation of new windows in 1955 and a new pipe organ in 1972. In 2002 the sexton’s house was torn down and a more modern building erected (Kelly, p. 144).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI VAL/1/B/344 A-B - Townland Valuations 1834
2. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/14 - Field Map 1834
3. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
4. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858
5. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-1903
6. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-1920
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation 1856-64
8. PRONI VAL/12B/20/5A – Annual Revisions (1866-1879)

9. PRONI VAL/12B/20/5B – Annual Revisions (1880-1892)
10. PRONI VAL/12B/20/5C – Annual Revisions (1893-1914)
11. PRONI VAL/12B/20/5D – Annual Revisions (1915-1929)
12. PRONI D2194/45/11 – Specification Papers for building Annahilt c.1880s
13. Irish Builder, Vol 31, 1 Aug 1889, p. 204

Secondary Sources

1. Kelly, D., ‘Lisburn’s rich church heritage: Churches and places of worship in the Lisburn city area’ Lisburn: Impression Print and Design, 2009.
2. ‘Gravestone Inscriptions: Vol. 18 Co. Down’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1979.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Double-height rendered Presbyterian Church, dated 1889, with central pedimented breakfront, designed by reknowned architects Young and McKenzie. Set on an elevated site, facing north on the south side of Windmill Road. An austere pedimented church with a restrained Neo-classical breakfront and mildly Gothic Revival interior. The interior and exterior retain most original fabric and and is complelented by an extensive setting including a graveyard with historic grave memorials attesting to the long tradition of worship on this site.. The church has social interest for the local community.