St. Mary’s C of I hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single storey former school house of 1822 (now a parish hall) with ‘gothick’ windows and hipped roof. The hall is set on the W side of the Church Road in the tiny hamlet of Kilmood, c.3 miles NW of Killinchy. This building is still used.

Front (E) facade has a left of centre gabled bay with double timber sheeted doors with a pointed arch fanlight with fine ‘gothick’ tracery. Above this (to the gable apex which cuts through the main roof line) is a small roundel [?which once held a bracket for a lamp]. To the left of the bay are to pointed arch windows with sash frames with fine tracery (as fanlight). To the right of the bay are two similar windows, with a similar but blocked ‘opening’ to the far right. The render has been removed from the front facade revealing a rubble contraction with sandstone quoins and brick dressings to pointed arches.

The short S facade is blank and finished in rough cast. The N facade is also finished in rough cast and has a window (now with modern frame) to the left. This facade merges with the N facade of a small single storey gabled toilet projection which has a sash window with Georgian panes, to the N facade and a six pane window and sheeted timber door to the S facade. The rear facade of the main building has two windows as front. The rear facade is finished in rough cast and painted, but unattractive. The small rear projection has lost most of its render, revealing a rubble construction.

The main roof is hipped with an overhang and boxed in eaves. Small cast iron skylight to rear. Chimney stacks have been removed. Metal rw goods.

Low rendered wall to front with simple wrought iron railings and gate (all of which should be included in the listing). Concrete brick gate post built against left side of N facade.

This hall is one of a group of early nineteenth century ‘gothick’ buildings in the Kilmood area.

Historical information

This school was originally established by the Erasmus Smith foundation and was built c.1821-22 with the assistance of local landlords David Gordon and Lord Londonderrry. The valuation returns of c.1835 suggest that the building also contained a teacher’s dwelling as well as the schoolroom, and in 1837 the OS Memoirs recorded that 45 pupils were taught there by a James Lamont, with catechism instruction from the local minister.

At what point the school closed is unclear. In 1972 the building was renovated and converted to a parish hall. It may have been at this juncture that some of the original detailing was removed.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.4204 Gordon Family Papers Grant of school ground in Kilmood, Marquis of Londonderry and David Gordon to Lord Bishop of Down and others, 1821.
2 PRONI D.4204 Gordon Family Papers Letter to the Rt. Rev. and Hon. Trustees of Friends of Erasmus Smith, 1822.
3 PRONI OS maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 16.
4 PRONI VAL 1B/320 p.17 1st valuation, Kilmood parish, Kilmood Td., c.1835.
5 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p.96.
6 PRONI OS maps 1st rev. 1859-60, Co. Down 16.
7 PRONI 2nd valuation, Kilmood parish, Kilmood Td., c.1861.

Secondary sources
1 Honor Rudnitsky 'Killinchy Parish Church' (Killinchy 1980).
2 Rev. T.C. Burrowes 'St. Mary’s Parish Church, Kilmood…' (Local publication ?c.1990)
3 C.E.B. Brett 'Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of East Down' (UAHS 1973), pp.44-46.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Single storey gothic former school house of 1822 (now a parish hall) with pointed arch openings and hipped roof with large overhang. This hall is one of an important group of early nineteenth century gothic buildings in Kilmood.