Helen's Bay Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double-height rubble stone Presbyterian church with unfinished three-stage tower with spire, of which only the first stage was completed, built c.1896 to designs by Young and Mackenzie with large modern extension to rear, and located in a residential area west of Church Road, Helens Bay.

Pitched natural slate roof with raised sandstone verge with kneeler and finial to gable' shallow pyramidal roof to tower. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting sandstone eaves. Walling is rubble stone with sandstone dressings and quoins; chamfered plinth and buttresses (west elevation is smooth rendered); vestibule with decorative ashlar block quoins. Windows are paired leaded stained glass lancets with splayed sills in ashlar sandstone surround (unless otherwise stated).

The principal east gable has centered geometric bar-tracery window over three small lancet windows; gilded cast-iron clock to apex. The entrance tower abuts to left; Romanesque-styled portal entrance having semi-engaged half columns, bead moulded and dog-tooth pattern Gothic arch with label mould and carved head-stops. Heavy timber-sheeted entrance door with decorative cast-iron hinges and handle. Diminutive lancet window over. South and west elevations have diminutive lancet windows lighting vestibule.

The south elevation is four sets of paired windows wide, each separated by buttress with sandstone offsets (right end obscured by tower).

The west (rear) elevation is abutted by modern extension (of no interest).

The north elevation is detailed as the south elevation.

Setting
Located in an attractive residential street with houses dating from the early 20th century. Hedgerow and decorative cast-iron entrance gate to front; bound to north and south by hedgerow and timber fencing. Lawned to all sides with paved car-park to south.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Rubble stone
Windows: Stained and leaded glass
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Helen’s Bay Presbyterian Church was built between 1896 and 1897 to designs by the Belfast partnership, Young & Mackenzie. The laying of the foundation stone by the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava was reported by the ‘Builder’ in October 1896 and the publication also reported the opening of the finished building in May 1897. The builder was William Kerr. (Builder) A plan, section and elevations by Robert Young and John Mackenzie, dated 1896, has survived and shows that the original conception for the church included a three-stage tower with spire, of which only the first stage was completed.

The church enters valuation records in 1897 as a ‘Presbyterian church and land’ valued at £38 and £1 for the surrounding land. (Annual Revisions) The building is first shown, captioned, on the third edition OS map of 1900-02.

Helen’s Bay was established around the turn of the twentieth century in an area of coast formerly known as ‘The Sea Park’ and was named after the mother of the 1st Marquess of Dufferin, Helen Selina, Lady Dufferin, later Lady Gifford. The Marquess of Dufferin conceived Helen’s Bay as a seaside resort with superior villas ‘diversifying the landscape’, as was reported in the Belfast Newsletter in 1896, and had begun to encourage building there from about 1870. (Garner, p.5-6)

Dufferin was at first unwilling to lease a piece of ground for a mission hall and a tent was acquired in 1883 in order to provide services during the summer months. From 1892 services were conducted in the Helen’s Bay Temperance Hall.(Garner, p.6; History of Congregations) However the need for a more permanent building was increasingly felt and by 1893 discussions were taking place between Dufferin and the residents of Helen’s Bay with regard to a possible site. Lord Dufferin donated a site, free of all rent, in 1895, and a congregation was formed the same year. (Dufferin correspondence, History of Congregations)

According to Garner, Thomas Workman of Craigdarragh (HB23/16/017) was instrumental in arranging for the building of the church in Helen’s Bay, having removed himself from Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church following a disagreement with the minister. The Workman family had played a large part in the building of several churches: May Street, Elmwood, Fitzroy and Belmont. Thomas Workman subscribed £100 towards the church fund, the total cost being £1,600. (Garner, p.7-8, 26)

At the time the memorial stones of the church were laid in October 1896, Church road, on which the building now stands, did not exist in its present form and the golf club had not yet been established. The church was surrounded by fields and the grounds of large villas and Garner points out that the builders had considerable faith in the future growth of Helen’s Bay to have embarked on the building of a church capable of holding 200 people. (Garner, p.15)

Contemporary reports by the Belfast Newsletter show that the church consisted of a simple hall with attached first stage tower, the intention being to add further stages to the tower and transepts at a later date. “A portion only of the contemplated cruciform edifice is now erected…A neat portable pulpit is provided, which can be shifted when the temporary rere gable wall is removed and the church enlarged.” The stone used was greywacke, from quarries in Ballygowan and sandstone from Scrabo. (Belfast Newsletter, www.stonedatabase.com, Garner, p.25)

A number of stained glass windows have been added to the church, a pair on the south side being the work of E Burne Jones RA (Garner, p.62). The organ, communion table and a pair of bog oak chairs were presented by the children of Thomas Workman in memory of their father. Garner does not give a date for the electric clock, positioned on the front façade of the church, but appears to indicate that it was a reasonably recent addition in 1958. (Garner, p.61-3)

A new church hall was built in 1954-5 to designs of Mr J C Stevenson of May Street, Belfast on land acquired to the rear of the church that had previously formed part of Lord Dufferin’s private driveway from Clandeboye house to the sea at Grey Point. The hall was built by Messrs David Boyd of Ballymiscaw and cost over £3,000 (OS maps, Garner, p.54).

In 2008 a new extension was opened, connecting the old church hall to the church building itself. During the building of the extension, the former vestry to the rear of the church was demolished and a new recessed pulpit area created at the front of the church. (www.helensbaypresbyterian.org)

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
2.PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
3.PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
4.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/8A-C – Annual Revisions (1894-1923)
5.Belfast Newsletter, 26th October, 1896
6.Builder, Vol 71, 31st October 1896, p.361
7.Builder, Vol 72, 15 May 1897, p.446
8.PRONI T3020/91 – Plan, section and elevations by Young & Mackenzie, 1896
9.PRONI D1071/A/K/1/C/14/1 – Dufferin correspondence 1890
10.PRONI D1071/H/B/H/186/2 – Dufferin correspondence 1894
11.PRONI D1011/H/B/S/412/7 – Dufferin correspondence 1893-6

Secondary Sources

1.“A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982” authorised by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982 (available at www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com)
2.Garner, Margaret A K “A History of Helen’s Bay Presbyterian Church, 1896-1958”
3.www.helensbaypresbyterian.org – Helen’s Bay Presbyterian Church website
4.www.stonedatabase.com

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

A double-height rubble stone Presbyterian church with unfinished three-stage tower with spire, of which only the first stage was completed, built c.1896 to designs by Young and Mackenzie with large modern extension to rear. Good architectural detailing to the exterior, including a Romanesque-style entrance portal with carved head-stops, all intact, and some high quality stained glass windows. Helens Bay Presbyterian Church is a good example of its type with some good examples of stone masonry.