St Columbanus

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Freestanding double-height Romanesque church built c.1939 to designs by architect R. Sharpe Hill of Belfast. Irregular plan form comprising nave, single side-aisle, apsidal chancel and tower. Located on an elevated site on the Groomsport Road in the Ballyholme area of Bangor.

Pitched Westmoreland green slate with clay ridge tiles; corbelled stone eaves; cast-iron ogee moulded gutter with circular downpipes. Walling is squared-rubble rock face buff coloured stone with red sandstone banding and plinth course; basalt plinth. Windows are leaded stained glass embedded into timber frames inset into arched openings. Double-leaf arched varnished timber doors each consisting of six flat panels, vertically arranged.

Principal elevation faces north and is asymmetrically arranged. Gabled single storey porch on right, accessed by a series of paved steps with mild steel hand rails. Two windows to aisle with flush gabled transept to the left; centred window with quatrefoil opening over.

The gable ended east elevation with apex cross abutted by a single-storey apse with adjoining double height tower to the right. Four window openings to the apse. The tower is a squat square plan; rear entrance porch on east face, located right of centre, replacement timber arched door, accessed by four stone steps. Access to heating chamber below. Small window located mid-way with louvred opening above, rising to parapet with pyramidal slated roof. North face has a single window at ground floor and louvered opening over.

South elevation has three windows to the nave on the right; gabled transept projecting from the left with central window at ground floor with quatrefoil over. East face of transept has a small window located right of centre.

Gabled west elevation with lean-to gable adjoining right. Single-storey lateral buttress located left of centre. Two ground floor windows, one centred and one to right. Large rose window centrally located over.

Setting

Sited on an elevated site running parallel to the Groomsport road; suburban surroundings. To the rear is a modern church hall and offices with associated car parking. To the east of the site is a vacant modern two-storey commercial premises. To the west are three-storey modern apartments. North of the site are two-storey detached and semi-detached Edwardian housing. The church grounds are small with light vegetation throughout. The site is bounded by modern steel railings and gates fixed to the original double rounded coping stones and piers.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Stone
Windows: Timber / stained glass
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The church is not shown on any early edition maps. However, the church hall that preceded it appears on the fifth edition ordnance survey map of 1939. The church was designed by Robert Sharpe Hill and the builder was Sutherland, Montgomery & Co. The cost was £7,500. The dedication to St Columbanus derives from the fact that Columbanus was the most celebrated missionary saint to be educated at Bangor Abbey. (Irish Builder, www.northdown.gov.uk)

During the 1920s and 1930s Ballyholme underwent a period of sustained growth and a temporary measure was taken to provide for parishioners in the area. The site was purchased by the Select Vestry of Bangor Parish in 1923 and a church hall was built in 1927. This was used until the building of the new church, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1939. The church was consecrated in 1940 and was built using stone from Roxborough Castle in County Tyrone (Dungannon and Locharbriggs sandstone). The bell, cast in 1670, is from Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin and the Conacher organ was installed in 1949. A church hall built in 1957 to designs by WDR and RT Taggart has been replaced by a Parish Centre which opened in 2006 (Clergy of Down and Dromore, p.43; www.stonedatabase.com; Patton, p.89, Information Leaflet, www.ballyholmeparish.co.uk)

The church was initially a daughter of Bangor Parish but in 1955 achieved parochial status, as the parish church of Ballyholme. (Clergy of Down and Dromore, p.43)

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/2/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2.PRONI OS/6/3/2/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3.PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901
4.PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26
5.PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
6.PRONI VAL/1/A/3/2 – Townland Valuation Map (1828-40)
7.PRONI VAL/1/B/31 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
8.PRONI VAL/2/B/3/2 – Griffith’s Valuation Map (1856-64)
9.PRONI VAL/2/B/3/1C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
10.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7A-K – Annual Revisions (1866-99)
11.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/8A-C – Annual Revisions (1894-1923)
12.PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
13.Irish Builder, Vol 81, 22 July 1939, p.637-41

Secondary Sources

1.“Christian Heritage in North Down and Ards” Information Leaflet
2.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999
3.Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. “Clergy of Down and Dromore” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996
4.www.ballyholmeparish.co.uk
5.www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online
6.www.northdown.gov.uk
7.www.stonedatabase.com

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A freestanding double-height Romanesque church built c.1939 to designs by architect R. Sharpe Hill of Belfast. Irregular plan form comprising nave, single side-aisle, apsidal chancel and tower. The detailing and materials reflect the character of the building. Its history as a chapel-of-ease prior to achieving parochial status is of interest and the church represents the development of Ballyhome in the early Twentieth century.