Ballyholme Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double-height Gothic-style Presbyterian church with tower erected c.1960 to the designs of E.P. Lamont. Central nave with side aisles and adjoining halls and extensions to the rear from various periods. Located in a predominantly suburban part of Bangor, approximately 1.5 miles east of the town centre.

Pitched pan-tile roof; cast-iron rainwater goods; concealed gutters with rectangular hopper-heads and circular down-pipes. Red-brick walling; English Garden Wall bonding with projected plinth; three-stage lateral buttressing; reconstituted sandstone block dressings and mouldings. Gothic arched windows with interlacing tracery; long-and-short surrounds and chamfered cills; label moulding; transoms to side and rear windows. Timber diagonally sheeted double entrance doors; gothic arch embraced by three-stage moulded surround; chamfer-stop; label moulding over.

The principal elevation faces south and comprises a symmetrically arranged gable façade with tower to the right. Skew-table buttressed gable with saddle-coping; pitched moulded drip course below. Large single centrally located window. The tower to the right is square plan three-stage with lateral buttressing with mould drip coursing. Front entrance at ground floor on south façade; diminished square-headed window at gallery level to south and east façade; timber louvered openings to all facades at the top stage; billeted course over, rising to parapet with raised corners.

The west elevation comprises a buttressed four window wide nave; abutted at ground floor level by a single-storey aisle; diminished square-headed windows. Saddle-coping to parapets with moulded drip courses. The left is abutted by a blank double-height buttressed projection; further abutted by a two-storey extension built 1993; of no significant interest.

The rear (north) gable matches the front gable abutted by a diminished gable with large central window. The ground floor is largely abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed secondary accommodation linking to the earlier church hall built c.1940. The east face of the single-storey accommodation comprises a recessed rear entrance and adjacent single-stage lateral buttressing and bi-partite square-headed window to the left.

The east elevation matches the west; tower abutting the left (see principal elevation). Gabled double-height projection to the right; matching gable details with large central window.

Setting

The
setting is predominantly two-storey suburban townscape. Immediately north of the site is a two-storey modern townhouse development. To the south east is Ballyholme Primary School. The site is enclosed by a red brick wall with piers and iron gates to pedestrian and vehicular access. Tarmac car park area to the north and east. To the rear of the site adjacent to the earlier church hall is a second hall erected 1978, which now adjoins the church via the two-storey extension to the north; of no significant interest.

Roofing: Pan-tile
Walling: Brick/reconstituted stone
Windows: Leaded/stained glass
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

In 1937 a Presbyterian Church Hall was constructed on the north side of Ashley Drive in the townland of Ballyholme by Thomas Houston (Irish Builder Vol. 79, 18 September, 1937); the congregation met there for 20 years until the construction of the current church to the south of the hall c. 1960. Patton records that Ballyholme Presbyterian Church, a double-height redbrick church, was constructed between 1959 and 1961 by E. P. Lamont, a Belfast based architect who was active between 1930 and the 1960s (Patton, p. 7; Dictionary of Irish Architects). Ballyholme Presbyterian Church’s website tells us that the church was opened on 11th February 1961 and the Rev. William Erskine served as Minister from 1941 until 1978 (Ballyholme Presbyterian Church website). The church and the earlier church hall are connected via a two-storey extension to the north side of the church.

Field inspection has found that the second Church Hall, which was named the William Erskine Hall after the first Minister of the church, was constructed c. 1978 and has recently been interconnected to the church and the earlier hall by a two-storey extension added c. 1993.

References

Primary Sources

1. Irish Builder Vol. 79, 18 September, 1937
2. Ordnance Survey Map 116-9 (1957-58)

Secondary Sources

1. Patten, M., ‘Bangor: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999.

Online Resources

1. Ballyholme Presbyterian Church Homepage - www.Ballyholmepresbyterian.co.uk
2. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A double-height Gothic-style church with tower erected c.1960 to the designs of E.P. Lamont. An usual style for a church of this period, internally the modernity is more apparent in the detailing and materials. The building has been altered little, however, it is late and not among the best examples of the type and the accumulation of additional structures to the rear detracts from its overall appearance.