Granshaw Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A free-standing double-height Gothic-style Presbyterian Church of pink sandstone on an east-west axis, with square bell-tower; built c.1880 and located north of the Gransha Road in the borough of Castlereagh. Rectangular plan with buttressed pinnacles and three-stage bell-tower to southeast corner; abutted to rear by a single-and-two-storey modern extension.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, raised stone verges and finials; buttressed pinnacles to three sides having masonry offsets. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on cavetto moulded eaves with square downpipes. Walling is rock-faced ashlar pink sandstone laid in rough courses with high chamfered plinth; string course between stages. Windows are paired leaded-and-stained glass lancets with ogee heads in Gothic surrounds with chamfered sills. Geometrical bar-tracery windows to east and west.

East-facing gabled vestibule with square bell-tower at southeast corner. Gabled vestibule has two geometrical bar-tracery windows to gallery level and a double-leaf timber-sheeted entrance door flanked by paired lancets to ground-floor; trefoil window opening to apex. Entrance door in Gothic surround with two semi-engaged colonnettes and a pitted stone medallion to recessed panel above door; surmounted by hood mould with foliated finial and carved label stops. Pinnacle to northeast corner has octagonal cornice to finial and paired Gothic hood moulds to a square base; slender slots to shaft on angled buttresses having offsets and plinth. Bell-tower has three narrow lancets to first stage (trefoil aperture in Gothic surround to south elevation), elongated paired lancets to second stage and paired louvered openings to belfry. Spire with a decorative projecting stone pinnacles to four sides. Marble memorial plaque to south elevation of tower c.1915.

The south elevation is four sets of paired windows wide, divided by buttresses.

The west (rear) elevation has paired geometrical bar-tracery window to gallery level. To right at ground-floor is the outline of a door surround. To left is a single-storey flat-roof modern porch, abutted by a single-and-two-storey extension (of little interest).

The north elevation is four sets of paired windows wide, divided by buttresses. To left is a modern half-panelled double-leaf timber door with ramped access.

Setting:

Prominently sited north of the Gransha Road, on an elevated site with cemetery to south and east. Bounded to road to south by low rubble stone wall and hedgerow. Cast-iron gates with square piers and finial-head railings to splayed entrance at southeast; cast-iron pedestrian gate to southwest entrance. Tarmacadamed pathway leads to large car-park with modern double-height church hall to east. Variety of tombs and headstones to cemetery dating from the latter part of the nineteenth-century.

Roof: Pitched natural slate
Walling: Rock-faced pink sandstone
Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass lancets and geometrical bar tracery
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Gransha Presbyterian Church was built between 1878 and 1879 on the site of an older meeting house, dating from 1801. The architect was Henry Chappell. (Cromie; Irish Builder)

The original congregation was established in 1799 as the result of dissent over the rebellion of 1798 among the congregation of Gilnahirk. A ‘loyalist party’ of 25 families from the parishes of Castlereagh and Moneyrea petitioned the Presbytery of Down for ‘supply of sermon’ and services began, most likely in Lisnabreeny townland, with probationer Mr James Harvey appointed to the work. When the meeting house was built in Granshaw in 1801 [spelling varies historically between Gransha and Granshaw and has settled today on the latter form] the congregation became known by that name. A minister was ordained in 1803 and remained in the post until 1857. (History of Congregations)

The early ‘Meeting House’ is captioned on the first edition OS map of 1833 near the mill complex of ‘Gransha Mills’, appearing to occupy the same footprint as the present-day building. According to the Ordnance Survey memoirs of 1837 the original meeting house was 73 feet in length and 30 feet in breadth. ‘It is a modern, plain, whitewashed and slated building capable of accommodating about 400’. (Ordnance Survey Memoirs). This early meeting house was valued at £6 together with 30 perches of land for use as a grave yard.

On the second edition of 1858 a grave yard is also captioned and the area around the church has been planted with trees. Griffith’s Valuation notes that the land was leased from Hugh Miskelly at a yearly rent of £1.11s.6d. The valuation was raised to £9 due to the addition of an ‘old court house’.

The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 7th October 1878 by Mr H L Mulholland in the unavoidable absence of his father John Mulholland Esq MP of Ballywalter Park. The church was then in a very advanced state being ‘almost ready for the roof’ at the time the stone was laid. (Irish Builder; Belfast Newsletter) The minister who oversaw the building of the new church was Mr Isaac Vance, who was ordained in Granshaw in 1860. He built a new manse in 1863 and the new church was begun some 15 years later. The ‘new church’ entered valuation records in 1879 at a valuation of £49.10s.

The opening of Gransha Presbyterian Church was reported at length in the Belfast Newsletter. The opening services were held on 1st June 1879 when the Rev McCaw of Manchester preached to crowded congregations at both morning and evening service. The Belfast Newsletter commented, ‘It occupies an excellent position and from its neat and artistic design together with the taste and comfort which are everywhere apparent inside, it will form an ornament to the neighbourhood and sufficiently meet the wants of the growing congregation…both minister and people may congratulate themselves upon what they have been enabled to accomplish, as the church is highly creditable to their energy and perseverance.’ (Belfast Newsletter) In his opening sermon the Rev McCaw praised the efforts of Mr Vance in building the church. ‘He was extremely pleased with their new church, as for chasteness of design, excellence in the execution, comfort and commodiousness he considered it a model sanctuary. It would pass down to their children and children’s children as a fitting memorial, a fitting legacy of the tastefulness, the enlightenment and the liberality of their fathers...The architect and contractors had discharged their duties admirably and not a single extra had to be added to the specification.’ (Belfast Newsletter) ‘The extreme moderation in cost created considerable surprise among those who had seen the church for the first time at the opening services, and the more especially so that everything has been “carried out in the most sound, substantial and workmanlike manner, with materials the very best of their several kinds and the workmanship equally good.” (Irish Builder) The Irish Builder gives an engraving of the church as designed which shows that a ‘west wing’ to the rear of the church was never built. A filled-in doorway on the western façade of the church was intended to lead into it. The engraving also shows columns supporting the Lucerne features on the church spire, which have since been removed.

At the time of opening a considerable debt of £800, from an original cost of £1,500, remained on the building despite the generous contributions of the congregation ‘notwithstanding that the times were hard upon the farming interest’. The church was described as being of the ‘second pointed style’ of Scrabo stone ‘the masonry being of a superior description’ with dressings of Dundonald stone ‘finely chiselled’. Mrs Vance had gifted the finial surmounting the tower and the interior of the church was tiled with ‘Minton’s’ tiles. The stone-mason was ‘Mr Horner’ and the glazing was by ‘Mr Crozier’, both of Belfast. The contractor was Mr Hutcheson Keith ‘who has given the greatest satisfaction in the performance of his contracts’. (Belfast Newsletter)

Accommodation was provided for 400 ‘but nearly 600 were seated without inconvenience at the opening services’. In 1890 a further two roods of land was added to the graveyard. An organ was installed in 1923 and replaced with a Compton organ in 1968. New windows were installed in the late 1970s. (Cromie)

In 1956 the stables to the rear of the church were converted to a minor hall and minister’s room and in 1965 additional work was done to create a covered way between this building and the church. (Cromie)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/10/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/10/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/10/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/3/10/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-21
5. PRONI OS/6/3/10/7 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1948-50
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/316B – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/16B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/5A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
9. Irish Builder 15th June 1879
10. Belfast Newsletter, Monday 2nd June 1879

Secondary Sources

1. “A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982” authorised by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982 (available at www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com)
2. Cromie, G “A History of Granshaw Presbyterian Church 1901-2001” 2004

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Granshaw Presbyterian is a Gothic Revival style Presbyterian Church of pink sandstone on an east-west axis with square bell-tower; built c.1880 and located north of the Gransha Road in the borough of Castlereagh. It retains most of its original fabric both internally and externally and displays a good quality of detail. Set on a mature unspoiled site in an attractive rural location, the church is a good example of a Gothic revival style rural Presbyterian church and is of considerable social importance and local interest to the surrounding community.