Parochial House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached, three-bay two-storey parochial house built c. 1890, located to south of Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church, Moneyglass, to the west side of Moneyglass Road. The plan is rectangular with two-storey returns to north and south on east elevation. There are two roughcast outbuildings used as church buildings to the east.

The roof is hipped and pitched with terracotta finials to ridge and decorative ridge tiles. There are two rendered chimneys to the main block and one to each return, each with moulded cornice and decorative clay pots. The walls are painted render over banded plinth with plain cill course to ground floor and first floor. The main block has corbelled eaves. Windows are segmental- arched-headed to first floor, square headed to ground floor. All windows are 2/2 sliding sash with horns and have rendered surround with keystone and label-stops unless otherwise stated.

The principal elevation faces west. The ground floor is abutted by single-storey flat-roofed porch with moulded cornice. There is a centrally located round headed arch entrance opening with rendered archivolt, resting on fluted collonettes and containing a round headed door set within a further recessed rendered opening contained within surround. The north and south cheeks of the porch each contain a single segmental headed 1/1 sliding sash window. The porch is flanked to each side by a flat roofed projecting rectangular bay with moulded cornice, containing two windows. At first floor, each bay and porch is surmounted by single window. The central window has fixed leaded stained glass with Mary motif.

The north elevation has two windows to first floor. The left window has coloured margin lights with etched glass in the centre and to corners. There is a round-arched-headed door opening to the left with render surround and keystone and a window to the right. The replacement door is diagonally sheeted with cast iron strap hinge and keyhole. The return eaves are lower than the main block with projecting rendered band to eaves, and sill course to ground floor only. There are two windows to first floor and three on the ground floor, one to the left and two to the right, centred beneath the upper window. The elevation is abutted to the east by a rendered wall with saddle backed coping and square gate pillars supporting diagonally sheeted replacement gates.

The east elevation is abutted by returns. The return to the north has a single square headed timber top-hung casement window with painted masonry sill to the ground floor. The south elevation of return has a square headed timber casement window to first floor left and replacement entrance door to right. The exposed section of the east elevation is small two-storey stairwell return with round- arched-headed window with masonry sill to half-landing level. The window has coloured margin lights and etched starbursts to corners, the main lights have a mixture of etched and frosted glass. There is a single square headed window to ground floor.

The south return has a single square headed window to first floor and a replacement square headed timber casement window to the left of the ground floor, with entrance door to the right. There is a small lean-to store and a single-storey lean-to extension abutting the north of the return, with a single window to first floor above. The return is abutted to the east by a later addition canopy supported on slender columns, and to the south by rendered walling enclosing the yard.

The south elevation is blank to the left, to the right of the main block it is abutted by canted bay containing windows to both levels. The return has three windows to first floor and three to ground floor, the window to the right of the ground floor is diminished in size.

Setting

The building is set to the south of the church within the church grounds, surrounded by gardens. The building is separated from the graveyard to the south by a hedge. There are two slated roughcast buildings to the east with timber framed windows. The west outbuilding is two storey with a half hipped roof and lean-to extensions to the east elevation and loop holes to the ground floor. The building to the east is single storey with a pitched roof with an extension to the west elevation. To the south of the yard a random rubble stone wall with circular gate pillars leads to the graveyard. To the west, the site is bounded to Moneyglass Road by an uncoursed black stone wall and church gates.

Roof: Pitched natural slate
Walls: Painted render
Windows: Timber 2/2 sliding sash
Doors: Timber panelled
Rainwater goods: Ogee cast-iron

Historical information

The parochial house first appears on the 1903 OS map, providing a date range for the building construction of 1857-1903. Stylistically, the building appears to be c.1890.

The marble fireplaces in rooms G09 and G10 were removed from the Sacristy in Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel (HB20/01/015A) and Moneyglass chapel and installed in the parochial house when the church was renovated in 1992.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/42/2, 2nd edition OS Map, Co Antrim, sheet no 42, 1857
1. PRONI OS/6/1/42/3, 3rd edition OS Map, Co Antrim, sheet no 42, 1903

Secondary References

1. Information from Very Rev P McWilliams
2. Brett, C. E. B ‘Buildings of County Antrim’, UAHS, 1996

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

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached, three-bay two-storey parochial house built c. 1890. An attractive mildly Italianate symmetrical house constructed during the late nineteenth century and typical of the building type. The building makes a positive contribution to the setting of Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church (HB20.01.015A) and to the wider context of Moneyglass. The layout and detailing of the house remains largely unchanged. The house retains original windows with decorative stained glass. Interest is added by the secondary staircase within the return, and the differing floor levels of main house and return, creating a somewhat complex interior. It is of interest as a well-preserved example of the type.

An attractive mildly Italianate symmetrical parochial house constructed during the late nineteenth century and typical of the building type. The building makes a positive contribution to the setting of Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church (HB20.01.015A) and to the wider context of the rural hamlet of Moneyglass. The layout and detailing of the house remains largely unchanged. The house retains original windows with decorative stained glass. Interest is added by the secondary staircase within the return, and the differing floor levels of main house and return, creating a somewhat complex interior. The parochial house is backed by outbuildings which also play an important role in the social life of the church.