St. Aidan's Church of Ireland

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A non-symmetrical, detached double-height Gothic Church of Ireland church,, located to the north side of Blythe Street, to the west of Sandy Row; built c.1895 to designs by Samuel P Close. Rectangular on plan, facing south; semi-circular (apse) chancel to north gable; re-entrant angles of chancel occupied by, at west, lower gabled organ void, and at east, by lower gabled vestry, with semi-basement below; double-gabled transepts to east and west elevations; re-entrant angle of transept at west occupied by single storey porch with hipped roof; single-storey gabled porch to south-east corner; three-stage tower to south-west corner.

Roofs are pitched natural slate with roll-top red clay ridge tiles, raised red sandstone moulded verges with kneeler stones at base, mid-point and apex; stepped brick chimney with clay pots to north gable; moulded cast-iron gutters on cavetto moulded sandstone eaves cornice. Walling is English garden wall bonded red brick with chamfered plinth and cornice, buttresses with offset between windows. Windows are pointed arch-headed containing leaded stained glass (galvanised security screens fixed over all windows) in chamfered brick reveals with flush chamfered stone sills and heads surmounted by double brick voussoirs, unless otherwise stated.

Principal gable faces south and contains three windows with cusped heads (larger window to centre); diagonal buttressing with offsets to corners.

West elevation is abutted at left by transept and at right by tower; at centre left, west elevation is abutted by single-storey porch containing double-leaf vertically sheeted timber door in chamfered reveal surmounted by red sandstone shouldered lintel and single square-headed window to south elevation; exposed section contains small window above porch and, at right, two pairs of windows separated by buttressing. Transept contains pair of windows surmounted by multifoil oculus to each gable; south elevation is blank and is abutted at right by single storey porch; north elevation of transept is abutted by organ room.

Three-stage tower abuts south-west corner. First stage has angel buttresses at lower level; south elevation contains central square-headed vertically sheeted door in chamfered reveals surmounted by red sandstone lintel and pointed segmental-arched-headed voussoirs; two windows to west elevation; single window to north elevation. Second stage contains single window to each elevation surmounted by flush chamfered sandstone string to third stage. Third (bell) stage consists of three pointed-arched-headed openings containing timber louvers with brick voussoirs, set within recessed panel surmounted by corbelled brick cornice and crenulated parapet with sandstone cops.

North gable is abutted by chancel containing three cusped windows to centre separated from single cusped window to left and right by buttressing. West re-entrant angle abutted by organ room containing single window to west gable; north elevation is blank; south elevation abuts north elevation of west transept. East re-entrant angle abutted by vestry containing central window surmounted by sandstone quatrefoil oculus and flanked at left by square-headed vertically-sheeted timber door surmounted by transom light, accesed via five stone steps bounded by brick walling, and at right by single window (sheeted over); north elevation contains vertically-sheeted timber door at left (to boiler house) and square-headed window at right; south elevation abuts east transept.

East elevation is abutted at left by porch and at right by transept; exposed section to centre contains three pairs of windows separated by buttressing. Transept contains pair of windows surmounted by multifoil oculus to each gable; north elevation abutted by vestry; south elevation contains single window. Porch contains pointed-arched-headed double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber doors in rebated red sandstone opening surmounted by hood-mould with label stops and brick voussoirs; oversized diagonal buttresses to left and right; north and south elevations each contain single square-headed window.

Church set within private grounds with small garden to east. Site bounded at west, north and east by brick walling containing recessed panels and surmounted by concrete coping; bounded from road at south by red brick plinth wall with flush painted sandstone coping surmounted by wrought-iron railings. Vehicular access at south-west through double-leaf wrought-iron gates supported on brick piers; pedestrian access at south-east through narrow double-leaf wrought-iron gates supported on brick piers.

Roof: Pitched natural slate
Walling: English garden wall bonded red brick
Windows: Pointed arch-headed containing stained glass in chamfered brick reveals
Rainwater Goods: Moulded cast-iron gutters and round downpipes

Historical information

St Aidan’s Church was built in 1894-5 to designs by Samuel P Close as part of a church extension movement undertaken by the Church of Ireland into working class areas. The contractor was T McMillan and the cost £3-4,000. (Belfast Newsletter) Close designed a number of churches, including Fisherwick Presbyterian Church and St Peter’s Church of Ireland in the Antrim Road. (Larmour)

Toward the end of the nineteenth century Sandy Row had become well-developed with terraces housing workers for the local mills and commercial enterprises. Informal bible classes had been held in the area for some years, followed by open air services and Services for Divine Worship in Linfield Mill School which were being held in June 1893. In July 1893 the Diocesan council decided on the formation of a new parish. A site was secured in Blythe Street and a Parochial School was erected opposite the site and opened in April 1894, the school house serving as a place of worship during the construction of the new church. (Parish History; Belfast Newsletter) The building of the church was part of an extension scheme in which four new churches were built in Belfast, St Aidan’s being the first to be completed. It was initially thought that the church would eventually be extended by the addition of aisles. (Belfast Newsletter)

The site chosen for the church had, only a few decades before, been undeveloped gardens and through the years of Church Extension was said to ‘unmistakably [retain] the appearance, if not entirely the outstanding features, of an orchard.’ (Parish History) The foundation stone was laid on 27th October 1894 in the presence of the architect Samuel P Close and the builder, Thomas McMillan. The church was intended to seat 800 worshippers and the estimated cost was to be £3,000 of which the greater part had still to be raised. (Irish Builder) At the time of the ceremony the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor and Dromore drew attention to the growth of Belfast which had been so rapid that church provision had been left behind, “In 1871 there was a church population of 46,423 and there were then 15 churches in the city. Ten years afterwards, in 1881, the church population had increased to 58,410 and there were then 18 churches. In 1891 the church population had increased to 81,106 with only 19 churches available. However through there efforts a new constructed schoolhouse in the area provided public worships . People, he was told, crowded into the schoolhouse, and were often obliged to go away from the doors because there was no room for them and, therefore, it was that they were so earnestly desirous that that church should be built as speedily as possible.” (Belfast Newsletter)

The church was dedicated on 23rd March 1895 at which time the Belfast Newsletter commented that ‘The building is most conveniently arranged and is an ornament to the locality’. A carved oak pulpit had been presented to the church by William Baird Esq of Avonmore in memory of his mother. The church is first shown on the 1901-2 edition of the ordnance survey and enters valuation records in 1895 at a valuation of £180. No significant changes are recorded in Annual Revisions. (Annual Revisions)
A later addition to the church is a memorial window commemorating Thomas Moore who was killed in France in 1918. Fundraising in 1922 allowed the church to purchase an organ and, in addition, the site on which the church stood from the Ulster Spinning Company Ltd, owners of Linfield Mill. (Parish History)

In 1935 the upper portion of the church tower was rebuilt under the supervision of James Corden Stevenson. (www.dia.ie)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1931
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/D/1-22 – Annual Revisions (1862-1930)
6. Irish Builder, Vol 36, 15th November 1894, p.252
7. Belfast Newsletter, 29thOctober 1894
8. Belfast Newsletter, 25th March 1895

Secondary Sources

1. Larmour, P “Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987
2. “Parish of St Aidan, Belfast, It’s Origin and Progress – An interesting chapter in church extension” Belfast, 1930
3. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

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

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

Evaluation

A detached asymmetrical Gothic Revival Church of Ireland church, built c.1895, located to the north side of Blythe Street, to the west of Sandy Row. This church has retained much of its original detailing and character both externally and internally with original timber panelling and decorative work still largely intact. Notable features of the interior include decorative hammer-beam roof trusses, the curved timber roof structure over the chancel and large double-gabled transepts. The interior is enhanced by original intricate leaded stained glass windows to the chancel. This church is a significant building in the area and is of considerable social importance and interest to the community it serves.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply-R-Age, S-Authenticity