Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Simple single storey gabled church of 1834 set on the side of a country road a few miles NW of Ballyhalbert.

Front NW gable has central narrow timber double door set within gothic arch opening with painted raised stone surround and chamfered reveal. Window either side of door, at higher level, set in similar openings and surrounds but with simple apron with drop ends below cills. Windows have timber frames consisting of twin gothic arches (‘Y’ tracery) with horizontal and vertical astragals. Gable as broken pediment with simple date panel ‘1834’ in break.

Three windows to NE side of church as front but without raised stone surround.

SW gable as NE side.

SE rear gable same as front but without door and with no surrounds to windows. Large rendered grave crypts attached to rear gable.

Walls now rendered in rough cast over rubble. Some render has come away revealing stone dressings to windows to SW and rear. Eaves course, cast iron gutters and down spouts.

Roof pitched with Bangor blue slates and tiny octagonal chimney with single pot on ridge near front.

Three small headstones of past ministers on SW lawn. Rubble wall to road side to NW and SW.

Historical information

This church was built in 1834/5 and is shown on the OS Map of 1834 marked ‘Presbyterian Meeting House’. The establishment of Non-subscribing Presbyterian congregations in Ulster grew out of the controversy within the synod of Ulster during the 1820s between the Remonstrance or ‘New Light’ party, led by Dr. Henry Montgomery and the rest of the Synod, led by Dr. Henry Cooke.

In 1829, Montgomery and 17 other ministers broke away and formed the Remonstrance Synod. The actions of these ministers attracted many supporters in the Ballywalter, Ballyhalbert and Kircubbin areas, who in 1833 were accepted into the Remonstrance Synod, and a church built the following year at Ballyhemlin.

During the first few years of its existence the congregation was energetically lead by Rev. William Hugh Doherty who entered into a lively theological debate with local Presbyterian ministers, defending the stance of the Remonstrants through two pamphlets published in 1836 and 1837. The OS Memoirs of c.1836 wrote: ‘[The] Presbyterian Meeting House, situated in the townland of Ballyhemlin, was erected in 1835 and not yet finished. Expenses paid for by public contributions. The house is slated and of the plainest architecture, dimensions 60 feet by 33 feet. Would accommodate 200 persons; about one half that number generally attend’.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Edition, 1834, Co. Down 18.
2 Rev. William Hugh Doherty, 'Plain words for plain men. A letter to the Presbyterians of Glastry, Kircubbin and Ballywalter; containing a short reply to several false charges made against the people known as Remonstrants', (Belfast 1836).
3 PRONI VAL 1B/312 1st valuation, St. Andrews, c.1835.
4 Rev. William Hugh Doherty 'More plain words for plain men. A second letter to the Presbyterians of Glastry, Kircubbin and Ballywalter, containing a review of several orthodox arguments, also the anatomy of a limb or two of Calvinism', (Belfast 1837).
5 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p. 5.
6 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st revision, 1860, Co. Down 18.
7 PRONI 2nd valuation, St. Andrews, c.1863.

Secondary sources
1 Rev. W.D. Bailie 'The Story of Glastry Congregation' (Belfast 1977), pp. 26-7.

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

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

Evaluation

Plain, simple neat and unassuming Non-subscribing Presbyterian church of c.1834 with a certain rustic charm. Typical of its type and date this building has remained largely untouched.