Holywood Methodist Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double-height red-brick Methodist church dated 1870 and located south of Church Road in Holywood town centre. Rectangular on plan with double-height hall and single-storey extension to rear (of no interest); single-storey porch to side elevations.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and spiked finial to apex of gable; raised sandstone verges with decorative carved pinnacles to gable ends. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on decorative stepped brick eaves. Walling is Flemish-bonded red brick with sandstone courses and chamfered plinth. Windows are a variety of slender Gothic-headed leaded-and-stained glass in recessed brick surrounds having sandstone keyblock and cut brick at springing level; sandstone band to continuous sills.

Principal elevation faces northeast comprising central breakfront dominated by three Gothic-headed windows (that to centre is taller), flanked by narrow side bays each with a single window and dated roundel (that to left reads AD; that to right reads 1870). Central entrance comprising a pair of replacement timber doors with transom lights, set in a double-Gothic-headed ashlar sandstone surround with label moulds having carved stops and ornate finials, supported by semi-engaged colonnettes on chamfered plinths with acanthus leaf capitals. Vented lancet to gable.

The southeast elevation is five windows wide having two buttresses with sandstone offsets; abutted at left by the single-storey flat-roof porch opening to southwest with two windows to northeast elevation.

The southwest gable has projecting chimney flue; abutted at centre by modern double-height hall which is further abutted single-storey extension.

The northwest elevation is five windows wide having two buttresses with sandstone offsets; abutted at right by early single-storey porch under catslide roof having modern timber-sheeted door with sidelight to right; segmental-headed window to northeast elevation.

Setting

Prominently situated on the corner of Church Road and Church View in a commercial and residential area of Holywood town centre. Facing is a terrace of mid-twentieth-century houses; earlier terraced houses to rear on Church view. Low red-brick boundary wall with masonry caps to north and west, surmounted by replacement cast-iron railings; pedestrian entrance to northwest and vehicular access to north corner each having red brick gate piers with chamfered plinth and pointed sandstone caps, supporting replacement cast-iron gates. Boundary hedge to east and private lane to rear. Gravelled car-park to front and southeast.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: brick
Windows: Leaded and stained glass
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The Methodist church, school and sexton’s house are dated 1870 and were built to designs by James Kendall, an architect local to Holywood. The cost of construction was £1,553 and the contractor, ‘Mr Nimick’ was also of Holywood. (Irish Builder, www.dia.ie)

Primitive Methodists were worshipping in Holywood from at least 1818 but their first chapel, in High Street (now gone) was not built until 1838. In 1857 they joined with the Wesleyan Methodists, active in the town since 1830 and meeting in various hotels and private houses, but by 1870, due to the amalgamation of the two churches and the increase in the population of Holywood, a new church was found to be necessary. A plot of land was purchased from John Harrison of Mertoun Hall and the foundation stone was laid in December 1870. The opening ceremony was performed on 17th June 1871. (Merrick, p.31, 64)

The Methodist church and Sunday School are captioned on the third edition OS map of 1900-02 and the building first enters valuation records in 1872 valued at £138 and £2 for the yard in which it stands. It is initially described as a Wesleyan chapel but by 1911 is known as the Methodist Church. (Annual Revisions) A church history carries an engraving of the church as it appeared when first built. A spire was present on the ridge line of the roof and the church was entered by two side entrances, rather than from the front. (Holywood and the Society of People called Methodists, p.18)

In 1874 the spire on the main body of the church was taken down, at the suggestion of the architect as it was deemed to be ‘injuring the building’. (Holywood and the Society of People called Methodists, p.16) The interior of the church was gradually felt to be ill-adapted for its purpose, complaints being made about its ‘barn-like walls, violent draughts and speaking echo’ and a major remodelling took place in 1884-5. Among the changes made were a lowering of the ceiling (which has since been raised again), the opening of the present doorways in the front of the building and the closure of the side doors and introduction of a vestibule into the interior. A pair of short side windows over the old entrances were then lengthened to match the remaining windows on the side facades. (Auld, p115-6; Holywood and the Society of People called Methodists, p.16)

In 1936 an Evans and Barr organ was installed, replacing an earlier organ of 1899 by Gray and Davis of London and alterations to the choir, pulpit and communion rail were also made at this time. Stained glass was fitted in eight windows inside the church. In 1966 a new tile floor was fitted in the vestibule and seven ribbed-glass windows at the front and sides of the church were replaced. A Centenary Hall was added to the site in 1971, replacing the original school and sexton’s house, and a complete refurbishment of the church buildings was undertaken in the early 1990’s (Holywood and the Society of People called Methodists, p.41-61; Auld, p.115-6)

References:

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/1/A/3/1 – Townland Valuation Map (1828-40)
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/318 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
7. Irish Builder, Vol 12, 15th October, 1870, p.251

Secondary Sources

1. Auld, C. “Holywood Co Down, Then and Now” Holywood: Con Auld, 2002
2. “Holywood and the Society of People called Methodists” Holywood: Holywood Methodist Church, 1971
3. Merrick, Tony “Buildings of Holywood” Holywood: Holywood Advertiser, 1986
4. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A double-height single-cell red-brick Methodist church dated 1870. Typically Victorian in style and proportion, the church is well-detailed but has been compromised by the large extensions to rear and replacement entrance doors and railings. The proportions are awkward, it is of a late date and not one of the best examples of the type.