Balligan Church of St. Andrew (C of I)

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Simple single storey gabled church of 1704, with a slightly later porch with lower roof pitch, set within a graveyard enclosure within the tiny hamlet of Balligan two miles SW of Ballywalter.

Front W side has centred gabled porch with heavy, plain, unframed, double sheeted timber door in centre with simple pilaster surround, square head and keystone. Directly above door is small window set in gothic arch with diamond leaded panes, some with coloured glass. Window has stone architrave, now painted. North side of porch blank with small ‘Georgian’ window, with horizontal and vertical astragals, to S side. Rest of gable wall of main church is blank, with stone bellcote at apex of gable.

N side of main church has two narrowish rectangular window openings with diamond leaded windows with hopper openings.

S side matches N side of main building.

E rear gable has large semi-circular arch head window with mullions and transome and small leaded square panes. Small enclosure with low wall with simple railing to rear gable.

Walls rough cast with ‘smooth’ (almost flat) quoins. Roofs pitched with Bangor blue slates and stone parapets.

Historical information

This church was built in 1704 to serve the needs of the newly combined parishes of Ballyhalbert, Ballywalter and Inishargy. The churches of the two former parishes had fallen into disrepair, whilst that of Inishargy had lain in ruins for many years. It served as the sole church for this whole area until 1843-50 when new churches were built at Ballyhalbert and Ballywalter and a new parish created at Kircubbin. The porch, with slightly jarring lower pitched roof, was added some time prior to the 1830s, perhaps in the late 1700s, while the whole church was renovated in 1886. It was probably at this stage that the side windows (with hopper openings) were installed. There are eight headstones in the small graveyard around the church, the earliest dated 1802.

References- Primary sources
1 Montgomery’s MSS ‘History of the Ards’ (1688), p. 6-7. [Original MS in the Linenhall Library, Belfast]. Montgomery was writing prior to the building of this church, but he does mention the poor state of the other churches in the area.
2 Walter Harris 'The Ancient and Present State of The County of Down' (Dublin 1744), p. 68.
3 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Edition, 1834, Co. Down 18.
4 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st revision, 1860, Co. Down 18.

Secondary sources
1 R.S.J. Clarke (compiler) 'Gravestone Inscriptions Vol.14, County Down, Barony of Ards' (U.H.F. Belfast 1975), pp. 1-3.
2 J.C. Beckett, Francis Jackson et al 'St. Andrews Inishargy, Balligan' (?Belfast 1966).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Simple, single storey parish church of 1704 with small porch of c.1800 and window frames of c.1880s. The candle-lit interior still retains its rustic simplicity.