Templecraney Old Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Templecraney old church is a picturesque ruin of a church and tower perched on a mound off Church street and surrounded by a disused graveyard and an imposing stone wall. The ruins comprise of much of the north (rear) gable wall and broken down portions of the east and west nave walls. The rectangular (bell) tower remains substantially intact. The ruins are now entirely covered in ivy, however, a photograph taken by W.A. Green sometime between c.1910 and 1935, shows the tower completely free of greenery revealing a somewhat crude structure with Romanesque openings to the belfry on the east and west sides and a pyramidal stone roof. A curved buttress wall at the base of the tower is also shown. A description of the ruin, written around this date also, refers a small bell cote on the nave gable wall, however, this is not visible in either photograph, nor is it visible today thanks to the masses of ivy.

The remains of the church and tower are set amidst a now overgrown graveyard which contains a variety of headstones (of all denominations) dating at least as far back as 1704, with some now illegible stones probably dating from the seventeenth century. Many of the headstones are an invaluable source for local social history and shed light on Portaferry’s maritime past and traumatic incidents such the Cholera epidemic of 1832, in which whole families were wiped out. Unfortunately many of these stones are now suffering the ravages of time and detail has been lost.

Historical information

Templecraney is a church whose origins are obscure and whose history appears to be fraught with confusion. The name ‘Templecraney’ suggests a site of great antiquity with possible early Christian origins. But whether a church actually existed at any period during the Middle Ages is unclear. Papal taxation records of 1306 refer to an ‘Ecclesia de Felipton’ (Church of Ballyphilip) which was assessed at six marks, and a ‘Church St. Nicholai de Phelpeston in Le Ardes’ is referred to in records of 1430 and 1482, however, even though Templecraney is within the townland of Ballyphilip it is uncertain if these records concern it or another local church.

The other local church in question once stood on the grounds of the present Church of Ireland rectory. Unfortunately, all trace of this particular building has disappeared, its ruins having been blown up in 1784 by the young Robert Stewart (later Lord Londonderry) and Andrew Nugent of Portaferry, in what appears to have been a bout of youthful high jinks or youthful vandalism. In 1744, however, Walter Harris, author of 'The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down', wrote a description of the ‘Old Church’ of the Parish of Ballyphilip ‘the site of the church being changed to Portaferry’. If Harris’s evidence is accepted as reliable, therefore, it would seem that it was the now vanished church on the site of the rectory which the medieval records refer, and not Templecraney. This conclusion is reinforced if we examine Harris’s description itself, a description which appears to bear little resemblance to the present ruin at Templecraney. Harris makes no reference to a bell tower, for instance, and lists dimensions which simply do not match the ruin we see today. Interestingly also, there appears to be no evidence of medieval burials at Templecraney, whilst there is a local folk tradition (or folk memory) of ancient graves on the rectory site, suggesting that the latter was indeed the ‘Ecclesia de Felipton’.

These arguments notwithstanding, however, it should be pointed out that the authors of various respected surveys dealing with Templecraney simply accept that it was the medieval church of Ballyphilip, and by default apply Harris’s description to it. Some have questioned the reliability of Harris also, and speculate if he actually visited the sites in question or worked from second hand reports, thus explaining the apparent discrepancies between his measurements and those of today’s ruin.

What do we know of Templecraney therefore? A church on this site was in use by Episcopalian Protestants during the seventeenth century, and, except for a Cromwellian interlude when the building came into Presbyterian possession, continued in the hands of the Established Church until the 1780s, when it was replaced by the new Ballyphilip Parish church, situated between High Street and Church Street. Of the church building itself, however, there seems to be no extant record other than the physical remnants of the walls and the oddly shaped tower, and conjectural dates for its construction have ranged from between c.1600 and c.1700. Ultimately, therefore, this church and much of its history remain curious obscurities.

THE GRAVEYARD- The graveyard is, historically speaking, possibly of greater interest than the church and seems to have continued to be used by families belonging to all local churches until the mid nineteenth century, after which time each of the denominations began to make use of their own burial grounds. Interments in certain family plots within Templecraney, however, continued until the 1940s.

References- Primary sources
1 The various medieval
references to the church of St. Nicholas are quoted in, Rev. J.P.O. Barry, "Church of Sti. Nicholai de
Phelpeston in le Ardes" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.6' (1982), pp. 11-14. The reference for the year 1482 is quoted in Rev. J. O’ Laverty, 'Diocese of Down and Connor Ancient and Modern' (1878, reprinted 1980), pp. 397-98
2 Walter Harris, 'The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down' (Dublin 1744), p. 46
3. UFTM WAG 605 W.A. Green Collection: Photograph of Templecraney Church c.1910-35

Secondary sources
1 Bishop Reeves, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore (Dublin 1847), pp. 24-5
2 Rev. J. O’ Laverty, Diocese of Down and Connor Ancient and Modern (1878, reprinted 1980), pp. 397-8
3 D.A. Chart, E. Estyn Evans et al., 'A Preliminary Survey of the Ancient Monuments of Northern Ireland', (Belfast 1940), p. 109 [The authors of this survey assume Harris’s 1744 description refers to Templecraney but wisely point out the discrepancies between this description and the ruin they believe it describes.]
4 'Archaeological Survey of County Down' (Belfast HMSO, 1966), p. 309. [The authors of the Archaeological Survey assume that the extant medieval records refer to Templecraney and make no mention of the former church on the site of the rectory.]
5 G. Philip Bell, C.E.B. Brett, Sir Robert Matthew, 'Ulster Architectural Heritage Survey: Portaferry & Strangford' (Belfast UAHS 1969), pp. 13. [The authors of this survey Survey attribute a description by Walter Harris of the Church of St. Nicholas to that of Templecraney.]
6 R.S.J. Clarke (compiler), ' Gravestone Inscriptions Vol.13, County Down, Barony of Ards' (U.H.F. Belfast [?1975]), pp. X, 34-71. [Clarke notes some headstones with seventeenth century dates. The authors of this survey (carried out June 1997) were unable to find these particular stones, which may now be covered in masses of greenery or may have lost their detailing altogether.]
7 Rev. J.P.O. Barry, "Church of Sti. Nicholai de Phelpeston in le Ardes" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.6'
(1982), pp. 11-14

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Now overgrown ruin of a possibly seventeenth century church with graveyard, on a site of probable early Christian importance.

General comments

This site has been more appropriately protected by Scheduling.