St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A large free-standing Gothic-Revival stone Roman Catholic Church with square bell-tower, built c.1935 to designs by Padraic Gregory and located on the west side of Woodstock Road east of Belfast City centre. Set on an east-west axis, comprising double-height nave with clerestory and side chapels; three-stage square bell-tower and polygonal stair-bay to north, baptistery to south, sacristy and robing room to west, and entrance porch to north and south.

Pitched natural slate roof having raised stone skews and kneelers with cross finials. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on moulded eaves with dentilled eaves course. Walling is uncoursed sandstone, with chamfered plinth and pinnacled buttresses having masonry offsets and caps. Windows are pointed-arch-headed cusped leaded-and-stained glass in ashlar surrounds with chamfered sills (unless otherwise stated).

Entrance to east comprises gabled vestibule with slightly projecting entrance porch to ground floor flanked with diagonal buttresses, containing paired entrance in Romanesque-style stone portal. Replacement double-leaf timber-panelled doors with Gothic transom lights divided and flanked by collonettes on chamfered bases; stone statue of Virgin and Child on a stone plinth to centre at tympanum; carved Latin inscription over chamfered archivolt with hood mould. To gallery level is a four-paned Gothic tracery window with hood mould and stops, surmounted by diminutive opening.

The south elevation is seven sets of paired windows wide to clerestory. Baptistery to extreme right and side chapel to left of centre; adjoining section has projecting entrance porch. Sacristy to extreme left. Baptistery has three small windows; adjoining section is two sets of paired windows wide. Porch contains a Gothic-headed double-leaf timber-panelled door, opening to south and having a window to the east elevation. Side chapel projects further with four sets of paired windows wide with parapet. Sacristy has two sets of paired windows and a metal-sheeted door at left accessed by three enclosed masonry steps; west elevation is four windows wide.

The west (rear) elevation has a multi-paned Gothic-tracery window.

The north elevation has seven sets of paired windows to clerestory; abutted to left of centre by the three-stage bell-tower which is further abutted to north by the projecting entrance porch. Almost full-height polygonal stair-bay to extreme left with lower adjoining section; side-chapel and sacristy (lower) to right of tower.

Bell-tower has small window over porch at north elevation; window to second stage and three louvered openings to belfry on all four sides; surmounted by dentilled frieze and castellated parapet with corner pinnacles. Porch has a replacement Gothic-headed timber-panelled door in chamfered recess with stepped gable having carved stone cross to centre; window to east elevation; to east of porch are metal railings and latch-gate enclosing steps to undercroft. Two-storey polygonal stair-bay at far left has irregularly arranged windows at each floor; adjoining section is two sets of paired windows wide; side chapel to right of tower is four sets of paired windows wide; sacristy has a set of paired windows to either side of slightly projecting entrance bay containing double-leaf timber-panelled door with Gothic-headed transom light; accessed by three enclosed masonry steps.

Setting:
Set on a large site between Willowfield Parade and Willowfield Crescent, lawned to all sides with mature trees to three sides. To west is a row of modern housing and stone boundary walling. The remaining boundaries are enclosed by three sides by curved stone boundary wall topped by cast-iron railings having fleur-de-lis detailing, and ashlar stone piers having decorative pinnacle detail to caps. To north and east are cast-iron gates on polygonal stone piers with dentilled and moulded cornice, and having carved cross detailing to shaft.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Rock-faced stone
Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church was constructed between 1936 and 1938 to designs by Padraic Gregory (1886-1967), a Belfast based architect who designed a large number of Catholic churches in Ireland and was also known as a poet and art critic (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The Irish Builder records that St. Anthony’s was designed as a Neo-Gothic Church which could accommodate a congregation of 800. It was constructed by P & F McConnell of Belfast who used Ballycullen stone; the stained glass windows were by Earley & Co. of Dublin (Irish Builder, Vol. 78, 21 Mar 1936, p. 2; 30 May 1936, p. 250, 391, 481; Vol. 80, 29 Oct 1938, p. 914). The new Church was finally opened in 1938 after a disruptive building period; on 20 April 1936, the date construction work had begun despite the delays.The church was opened on 16 October 1938 (St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church Pamphlet). St. Anthony’s church escaped damage during the Belfast Blitz in 1941 and after the war had ended was included in the Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland. At that time the church was valued at £975, however under the 1957 Rent and Valuation Act the value of the church was reduced to £780 at which it remained until the end of the revaluation in 1972.

St. Anthony’s Church was the second Roman Catholic chapel to be constructed in the townland of Ballymacarrett which, until the 1930s, was served by St. Matthew’s Parish Church on the Newtownards Road (HB26/08/007). Patricia Kernaghan states that St Anthony’s Church was erected due to the expansion of the Catholic congregation in the area. Construction of a new church had been planned from the 1910s; however, financial problems resulted in a delay of almost 20 years until a mass house was built in the Willowfield area in 1931 at the cost of £1,300. The mass house was planned as a temporary structure and in June 1936 the foundation stone of St Anthony’s Church was laid (the mass house was later used as the Parochial Hall).

St. Anthony’s Church was originally part of the Parish of St. Matthews, but in 1955 the Church on the Woodstock Road was separated from St. Matthews and made a Parish in its own right. (Kernaghan, p. 71-73; 86). Another change during this time was the construction of a new parochial house which was completed in December 1957 (St. Anthony’s Church Website). An arson attack in the 1970s led to the front of the church being damaged, however the church was sympathetically restored and was listed in 1990. Recently St. Anthony’s Church celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2008.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-21
2. PRONI OS/6/3/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1931
3. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/25 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
4. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/ - Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
5. Irish Builder, Vol. 78, 21 Mar 1936; 30 May 1936; Vol. 80, 29 Oct 1938.
6. St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church Pamphlet (c. 1936)

Secondary Sources

1. Kernaghan, P., ‘Watching for daybreak: A history of St. Matthew’s Parish, Belfast’ Belfast: Universities Press Ltd., 2000.
2. First Survey Record – HB26/04/002 (1990)

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. St. Anthony’s Church Website - http://www.saintanthony.co.uk

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A large free-standing Gothic-Revival stone Catholic Church with bell-tower, built c.1930 to designs by Padraic Gregory and located on the west side of Woodstock Road east of Belfast City centre occupying a relatively unspoiled site. However a modern housing development to the rear of the church has detracted slightly from its setting . The Gothic-Revival church makes an important contribution to the architectural and character of the area and is of architectural interest. Internally the church is relatively well-preserved with a Gothic Revival style interior. St Anthony's Catholic Church is of social importance to the community it serves and of local interest.