St Simon's Church of Ireland

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double-height gabled red brick built Gothic-revival style church, dated 1923-1930 to designs by architect Richard Mills Close and constructed by local firm D. McCune & Son. Rectangular plan form set on an east-west axis with single-storey flat-roof porch to east, gabled chancel to west and a square-plan tower to north. The site is located at the corner of Donegal Road and Nubia street.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled red-clay ridge tiles, raised stone verges and apex to gables. Chamfered red brick corbels to eaves supporting ogee moulded sandstone cornice, ogee cast-iron guttering discharging to rectangular-section cast-iron downpipes. Walling laid to English garden-wall bond with Runcorn stone dressings and chamfered plinth course. Two stage angled buttresses with cut-stone coping. Round-arch windows with sandstone sills and arch above, with stained leaded glazing and fixed external mesh (unless stated otherwise).

The gabled principal elevation faces east and has a full width projecting single-storey three-bay porch and a square-plan four-stage tower to northeast. Three round arched windows set within recessed semi-circular brick arch, central taller, to gable. Three-bays to porch with raised parapet, separated by two-stage buttresses. Round-arched doorways with stepped recessed surround in red brick with sandstone to arch having panelled timber doors to end bays and three-part windows to centre. Doors open onto concrete platform with stairs and ramp. Single windows to side of porch facing north and south respectively. The tower has an abutting stair tower facing east and a single window to north and west face to second stage. Small round opening to third stage. Shouldered louvred openings to belfry. Raised parapet and slated spire with metal finial.

The north elevation consists of the five-bay north aisle, single-bay gabled outshot to west and the tower to east end. Paired windows to each of the four bays of the aisle, a round arched doorway with red sandstone hood to the fifth gabled bay. Two-stage buttresses separate each bay. Paired windows to gabled outshot with circular stone moulding above and a diagonal buttress to south end; two windows to the south elevation. Rounded arch windows at high level to nave.

Double-height single-bay gable to west elevation with three round-arched windows, taller to centre. Single window to north and south elevations and diagonal buttresses to corners.

The south elevation consists of the five-bay south aisle, a single-storey gabled outshot to east and a double-storey gabled outshot to west with a small lean-to extension to west end. Paired windows to each of the five bays of the aisle with two-stage buttresses separating each bay. Single window to gabled outshot to east, a single window to its west elevation and diagonal buttresses to ends. Single window to gabled outshot to east. Square-headed door opening to lean-to outshot with sheeted timber door and a small square-headed window to its south elevation. Rounded arch windows at high level to nave.

The church is located within its own grounds. Landscaped to north and east, with tarmac car park to south. The site is enclosed by coursed rock-faced sandstone walling and cast-iron and gates to north and east, fencing to south and west.

Materials:
Roof natural slate (green)
Walling red brick with stone dressings
RWG cast iron
Windows stained glass

Historical information

The origins of this church can be traced back to the late 1890s when the curate of St Anne’s Church (now Cathedral) began to hold services in a house in Lecale Street in the Donegall Road area. In anticipation of housing developments in this area, a site for both a church and a school was purchased on the Donegall Road in 1900 for £829. The school opened in 1903 and was used as a Sunday School and as a venue for religious services. Later an iron church that had formerly been used in St Donard’s parish was acquired and re-erected on the site of the present church for £400. It was used for services from 27 August 1911.

In the early 1920s, due to an increase in attendance to over 500, the Rev. A.G. Johnston, the curate-in-charge, and the select vestry decided to proceed with plans to build a new church. The new building was constructed in two main stages. On 9 July 1923 the foundation stone of the chancel was laid by the Marquess of Londonderry, the Minister of Education in the Northern Ireland government. At this time it was anticipated that the cost of the new church would be around £10,000, with the chancel costing £2,000. The chancel, consecrated in June of the following year, was joined to the iron church, but it would be several more years before further building work was undertaken.

St Simon’s was the first church to benefit from the passing of the Belfast Additional Churches Act in 1928 by the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, receiving in all some £10,481. The foundation stone of the nave was laid on 9 July 1928 and the iron church was moved to a nearby site where it would be used as a parish hall.

The architect of St Simon’s was Richard Mills Close (1880-1946), son of Samuel Patrick Close. He was taken into partnership by his father in 1910 and five years later was effectively running the business. He was appointed architect to St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast in 1923. As St Anne’s was the ‘mother church’ of St Simon’s, this led to his involvement in the design of the latter. The building contractors were D. McCune & Son of Arbour Street, Belfast, while the stonework was carried out by James Jamison & Son of 27 College Park Avenue, Belfast.

The work having been completed (with the exception of the stone spire, noow slated, which was still in the process of being erected), the church was consecrated on 24 May 1930 by the Bishop of Down and Connor. This was a period of considerable expansion for the Church of Ireland in Belfast and St Simon’s was one of ten churches dedicated in the period 1930-33. The total cost of the church amounted to some £15,000; it provided seating for 500 people. The organ was brought from the Chapel of the Resurrection in north Belfast, while the marble font was from St Anne’s, having been originally presented to it by William Spiller in 1868.

As a memorial to those who served in World War II, the new reredos and oak panelling in the chancel was dedicated in March 1960. At this time a new heating system was also installed. The Jefferson Memorial Window in the chancel, dating from 1965, was erected in memory of Robert Jefferson, the first principal of St Simon’s School, who went on to become the bishop of Ottawa in Canada. The window shows St Simon the Zealot, Christ the King with the eleven disciples, and St Patrick. In 1972 the organ was destroyed in a fire and replaced with a new one.

The church is regarded as an important landmark on the Donegall Road in an area that has few other listed buildings. It was built of red brick, with Runcorn stone dressings. (The extensive use of Runcorn stone can be seen in Liverpool and Chester cathedrals.) The pillars and arches of the nave are also in Runcorn stone, while the arcaded pulpit is of Scottish sandstone. Newry granite corbels support braces to the King post trusses of the open roof of pitch pine. An unusual feature of the church when first opened was the fact that it was originally fitted with concealed lighting. In 2007 an application was made to provide a new ramp and steps at the entrance to the church.

References

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Valuation Revision Books – VAL/12/B/43/C/35 (1906-14), /39 (1913-25), /44 (1924-30)
Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps – OS/6/1/60/4 (1920-1931)

Northern Ireland Environment Agency
First Survey Record – HB/26/23/002
HB Records – HB/26/23/002

Published sources
Belfast Newsletter, 10 July 1923, 24 May 1930
John Frederick MacNeice, The Church of Ireland in Belfast (Belfast, 1931) – includes an interior perspective view by the architect
John Frederick MacNeice, Some Northern Churchmen and Some Notes on the Church in Belfast (Belfast, 1934)
Ernest V. Scott, Churches of the Diocese of Connor: an illustrated history (no date or place of publication)

Online sources
Natural Stone Database: www.stonedatabase.com
Dictionary of Irish Architects: www.dia.ie (which
references the following editions of the Irish Builder: 19 May 1923, 4 August 1928, 5 January, 30 March 1929, 4 January, 12 April, 24 May, 7 June 1930, 10 September, 19 Nov 1932)

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

Evaluation

A good example of a Gothic-revival style church, dated 1923-1930 to designs by architect Richard Mills Close. It has a fine interior with some good examples of stained glass windows. This well detailed and proportioned church is situated on a prominent corner site and the tower forms a landmark on Donegal Road. It has social interest for the local community.