St. John’s Church of Ireland

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing Gothic-revival stone Church of Ireland church, dated 1840, to the designs of Charles Lanyon. Cruciform on plan with bellcote to west gable, entrance porch to the re-entrant angle of the south nave and extension to north containing vestry, built 1975. Set back on the east side of St. John’s Road on landscaped site with extensive grave yard to the north, all enclosed by rubblestone wall.

Cruciform-plan pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and lead valleys, set behind slightly raised gables. Replacement metal rainwater goods to ogee-moulded sandstone eaves course. Random coursed squared sandstone walling with tooled sandstone plinth course and quoins. Lancet window openings with projecting chamfered sandstone ashlar surrounds and splayed sills with original cusped iron lattice glazing (tripartite to all gables).

South entrance elevation abutted by south gabled transept and gabled porch to the left. Slightly raised transept gable has weathered sandstone coping with roll-moulded apex stone and resting on moulded kneeler stones, with small lancet opening below the apex. The entrance porch has a pitched natural slate roof set behind a shaped gable with sandstone coping and moulded kneeler stone. The sandstone ashlar front to the porch contains a Tudor-arched door opening with compound moulded reveals, stop-chamfered plinth blocks and replacement sheeted double-leaf timber door with iron furniture. Above the door is a marble date plaque stating: ‘Erected, from the, Free Contributions, of The Marquis of Downshire, and the, Inhabitants of Kilwarlin, aided by the, Down & Connor, Church Accommodation, Society, by the Ven., Walter B. Mant M.A., Archdeacon of Down, 1840’.

West gable, facing the road is surmounted by sandstone ashlar bell gable containing equilateral arch, housing the iron bell on a moulded base course. At eaves level lucarne-like panelled kneeler stones project from the weathered coping to the raised gable.

North elevation abutted by north transept (as per south elevation) with further vestry extension to the right built in artificial stone and natural slate catslide roof falling from the main roof. Tudor-arched sandstone door surround and sheeted timber door with iron furniture (moved from original location).

East chancel gable, as per transepts.

Setting:
Set on a mature landscaped rural site on the east side of St. John’s Road encircled by bitmac driveway with large graveyard to the north containing many marble, stone and iron grave-markers dating from the 1840s to the present, enclosed by rubblestone wall to the road with concrete coping, hedging to the remainder. Short bitmac driveway opens onto the road via pair of tall rendered piers with stepped stone coping supporting pair of wrought-iron gates.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement metal
Walling Squared random coursed sandstone
Windows Lancet iron lattice

Historical information

St. John’s first appears in the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1858 which show a small building on the site of the current church and a ‘graveyard’ which is named, adjoining the church building. There is little change to the church site in the later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps. The second edition map does however show that a ‘parsonage’, a ‘church farm’ and a small school house named ‘St. John’s School’ were built in the surrounding area. Griffith’s Valuation lists the site as ‘Church and graveyard’ and values the building at £14 which remains the value of the church as far as 1930 when the Annual Revisions end.

A stone tablet above the door of St. John’s Church states that the present church was built in 1840 ‘erected from the free contributions of the Marquis of Downshire and the inhabitants of Kilwarlin, aided by the Down and Connor Church Accommodation Society by the Venerable Walter B. Mant, Archdeacon of Down.’ This church was built to accommodate rural parishioners in Upper Kilwarlin that were either too far from Hillsborough, or felt increasingly excluded by the expansion of the town. Barry tells us that before its construction, rural churchgoers had been attending fortnightly services in a schoolroom in the neighbouring Townland of Taughblane (Barry, p. 81). The cost of the church was over £600, the Marquis of Downshire contributed £205 and £234 was supplied by the Down and Connor Church Accommodation Society, the deficit being raised amongst churches in Hillsborough. St. John’s was designed by Charles Lanyon who waived his fee, as he had done with its sister church St. James’s in Lower Kilwarlin. The stained glass windows in the Chancel were installed by Francis Coates, probably at the same time the church was constructed (Casement, p. 57). The first service was held on 28th October 1840; however, the church was not consecrated until the 9th December 1842 (Brett, p. 46).

The burial plot at St. Malachi’s in Hillsborough remains the official parish graveyard so the graveyard at St. John’s contains only a small number of burials dating from 1849. The earliest church burial register was lost in 1922 when the Public Record Office in Dublin was destroyed during the Civil War (Graveyard Inscriptions, p. 98).

Barry states that there were many temporary clergy and few incumbent ministers in St. John’s history, the first incumbent minister was the Revd William Robinson in 1876. By the turn of the century the church was facing financial difficulties and as a result was demoted in rank to a curacy-in-charge. Under the leadership of Rev. R. E. Conn, an attempt was made between 1945-69 to revive the flagging church, however such a small parish could not continue to function alone and in 1969 St. John’s was linked with its old sister church St. James, becoming known as the ‘group parishes of Upper and Lower Kilwarlin (Barry, pp 81-2). In 2001 the church completed a major restoration and today continues to cater to the spiritual needs of a small rural congregation outside of Hillsborough.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/21/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/121/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-1920
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation 1856-64
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14A – Annual Revisions 1864-1879
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14B – Annual Revisions 1880-1889
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14C – Annual Revisions 1890-1908
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14D – Annual Revisions 1909-1928
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14E – Annual Revisions 1928-1930

Secondary Sources

1. Barry, J., ‘Hillsborough: A parish in the Ulster plantation’ (3rd ed.), Belfast, Universities Press., 1982.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of Mid Down: Hillsborough, Dromore, Dromara, Ballynahinch, the Spa, Drumaness and Saintfield’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1874.
3. Casement, A., ‘Irish Architectural and Decorative studies 7’ Dublin: Irish Georgian Society, 2004.
4. ‘Clergy of Down and Dromore’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996.
5. ‘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
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Free-standing Gothic-revival stone Church of Ireland church, dated 1840. This modest rural Church designed by the reknowned architect Charles Lanyon sits on an elevated mature site and retains its original external appearance. It exhibits good proportions and detailing and is enhanced by the gates, gate pillars as well as having group value with the nearby former St John's Primary School (HB19.05.151) which was constructed soon afterwards. Extensively renovated in 2002, the interior has had some joinery replaced. This Church is a local landmark and of both architectural and social importance to the local community..