Finaghy Presbyterian Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double height gabled church in Gothic-revival style dating from c.1935 to designs by the Belfast based architects Tulloch & Fitzsimmons and constructed by J. & R. Thompson Ltd.
Rectangular plan form with a gabled entrance to S and a square-plan tower to SE end, a 1960s pseudo-Gothic style transept and two modern halls to N and W. The church is set on a S-N axis and is located to the corner of Upper Lisburn Road and Kirklowe Drive.

Pitched natural slate roof, of Westmorland slate, with angled black-clay ridge tiles. Painted cast-iron ogee guttering on corbelled cornice discharges to decorated cast iron hoppers and circular downpipes. Raised stone verges to front gable and stone finial to apex.
Walling laid to un-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone from the Ballycullen quarry with Portland limestone dressings and quoins on moulded limestone plinth course. Perpendicular style tracery windows with splayed cills and stained leaded diamond paned glazing (unless otherwise stated).

South elevation:
The principal gabled elevation is symmetrical and faces S with a square-plan tower to E end. Double recessed pointed arch of ashlar Portland limestone to centre flanked by two stage limestone buttresses with tall trefoil niches and decorated gablets. Arched opening has splayed jambs and contains a square-headed door opening with splayed jambs to centre at GF, having a double-leaf timber panelled door opening onto three polygonal stone steps. Four part square-headed fanlight and a carved frieze over. Large five-part tracery window with moulded hood at high level dominates the central arch. Small square headed louvred opening to the top of the gable. Two-part square-headed traceried window to GF and a lancet window to FF to either side of the central arch, all with moulded hoods. Two stage angled buttress with gablet to W end.

Four-stage tower with three-stage angled buttresses to corners. Walling laid to un-coursed rock-faced sandstone with limestone dressings and quoins to first three stages and ashlar limestone to belfry stage. Square-headed door opening to first stage with timber panelled door. Two-part pointed arch traceried window to second and square headed window to third stage. Two pointed arch louvred openings to belfry with five trefoil mouldings below. The tower is topped with a battlemented parapet.

East elevation:
The E elevation consists of the tower to SE end, the E aisle, the 1960s gabled transept and hall to N end.
Four bays to E aisle having pointed arch windows with stone dressings and splayed cills separated by two-stage buttresses. Single traceried window to S bay, blind to lower section, and two part traceried windows with stone transom to the remaining openings.
Projecting gabled E transept dating from 1960s. Main roof of church extended down to lower eaves level of transept with shallow gabled projection having timber bargeboards and pine cone stone finial to apex. Un-coursed hammered sandstone walling with limestone dressings and quoins. A modern tudoresque three-part window to the centre of the gable flanked by small lancet windows.
Five bays to the hall with three part tudoresque windows.

North elevation:
The N elevation is abutted by the later chancel and transepts and the two modern single-storey pitched roof halls forming a quadrangle.

West elevation:
The W elevation consists of the W aisle to S, abutted by a modern single storey 1990s corridor to modern hall to SW, the 1960s gabled transept and the W hall to N end.
Five bays to W aisle having pointed arch windows with stone dressings and splayed cills separated by two-stage buttresses. Single traceried window at high level to S bay, two part traceried window with stone transom, blind to lower section, to bay immediately to N and two part traceried windows with stone transoms to the remaining bays.
Projecting gabled W transept dating from 1960s. Un-coursed hammered sandstone walling with limestone dressings and quoins. A large three-part traceried window to centre.
Eight bays to W hall.

Setting:
The church is located within its own grounds to the N side of Upper Lisburn Road, to the corner with Kirklowe Drive. Modern two storey gabled hall to SW connected to the church with a single storey pitched roof corridor, both dating from 1990s. Lawned to S with a tarmaced driveway, the site is enclosed by a hedge to S and W and has two gateways. Principal gateway to S with double wrought iron gates with rectangular section railings and decorated standards, a second identical wrought iron gate to E.

Materials
Roof natural slate
RWG cast iron
Walling Scrabo sandstone and Portland limestone
Windows stained leaded glass

Historical information

The growth of Belfast’s suburbs in the interwar years led to the building of new churches and formation of new congregations. The Finaghy area was one district that witnessed rapid expansion in the 1920s and 1930s. On 14 March 1930 a wooden hall was opened for worship under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. It stood on the site of the present church on the Lisburn Road. H. S. Carser was appointed to take charge of the fledgling congregation. His work here proved successful and in October 1932 the Belfast Presbytery granted official status to the congregation. It was named after the Rev. Dr William J. Lowe, a leading Presbyterian minister who had died in March of the previous year. In the words of the History of Congregations (p. 164), the name of the new congregation was ‘a worthy memorial to an outstanding Clerk of the General Assembly’.

By this time preparations were underway for the construction of a permanent meeting house. The designs of the architectural firm of Tulloch & Fitzsimons of Belfast were approved and the contract for building the church was awarded to J. & R. Thompson Ltd of Roden Street, Belfast. The value of the contract was £9,350, not including the completion of the tower (another £1,225). The foundation stones were laid on 28 April 1934. Though not completed to the extent shown on the original plans, the new church was dedicated on 16 March 1935 by the Rev. T. M. Johnstone, Moderator of the General Assembly.

Due to a lack of funds, the planned transepts and chancel had not been built by this time. Even the nave was a truncated version of what had been planned. At the chancel end was a temporary apse. The tower, however, had been completed. In 1935 the church was able to seat 350-400 people, though when completed it would be able to accommodate another 200-250 persons. The supervisors of the project were Robert Frater and R. A. Mitchell, representing, respectively, the architectural and building firms. The joining and stone cutting had been handled directly by J. & R. Thompson Ltd (which also built the nearby and contemporary St Polycarp’s Church of Ireland), while the leaded glazing had been the work of Messrs W. F. Clokey & Co. Ltd.

The design of the church was described as a ‘modern interpretation of Perpendicular style’. In discussing the new churches built in this area during this period, Larmour (p. 83) comments, ‘All show the dominance of traditional styles in ecclesiastical work of the time’. The church was built of Ballycullen sandstone with Portland limestone dressings. The entrance steps were of Newry granite. The five-light window over the entrance and the side windows were of hand-made Ambetti glass, while the roof was covered with Westmoreland green slates. The interior woodwork was of pitch pine.

In 1955 the Duckworth Hall, named after S. G. Duckworth, the first secretary of the congregation, was constructed to the rear of the church. It was designed by Robert Frater, who had by this time established his own architectural practice in Belfast. A second hall, the Martin Hall, was built in 1962. In 1962-63 the architect Anthony Frederick Lucy oversaw the completion of the west end of the church ‘in pseudo Gothic style' (First Survey Record). The work primarily involved replacing the temporary apse of 1935 with a new large chancel and building a transept on the south side. The completed church and new ancillary rooms were dedicated in September 1964. In the 1990s a further hall was built on a site to the left of the church’s entrance front and connected to it by a sweeping corridor.

References

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Valuation Books – VAL/3/B/1/15: 1935-1954, Rural District of Lisburn
Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps – OS/6/1/64/6: 1920-1939

Library of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland
Folder on Lowe Memorial Church

Northern Ireland Environment Agency
First Survey Record – HB/26/15/009
HB Records – HB/26/15/009

Published sources
Belfast Newsletter, 16 March 1935
The Witness, 22 March 1935
A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982)
Paul Larmour, Belfast: an illustrated architectural guide (Belfast, 1987)

Online sources
Natural Stone Database: www.stonedatabase.com
Dictionary of Irish Architects: www.dia.ie (which
references the Irish Builder, 30 Dec 1930, 22 April, 29 July, 12, 26 August 1933, 9 March 1935, 18 June 1955, 6 January 1962,12 October 1963)

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

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

Evaluation

An impressive example of a double height gabled church in Gothic-revival style dating from c.1935 to designs by the Belfast based architects Tulloch & Fitzsimmons and constructed by J. & R. Thompson Ltd. Rectangular plan form with a gabled entrance to S and a square-plan tower to SE end, a 1960s pseudo-Gothic style transept and two halls to N.
Although the layout of the church has been significantly altered with the later additions of the transepts, chancel and halls, the impressive gabled entrance elevation and tower ensure that the building remains a landmark within the Finaghy area.
The interior is also of interest having the original timber staircase to vestibule and stained glass windows to nave. It has social interest for the local community.