Church of the Sacred Heart, Doagh Road, Ballyclare, Co Antrim, BT39 9BG

Church of the Sacred Heart, Doagh Road, Ballyclare

A substantial detached Roman Catholic church built in 1911, situated prominently on the Doagh Road to the south of the town. The building was designed by architects E & J Byrne in the Romanesque style and remains a well-preserved and noteworthy example of their work. The church was constructed from stone quarried at Ballycarry, with costs of £6000 entirely funded by subscription. Land was donated by Edward Hill, a local Protestant solicitor, whose father had also donated adjacent land for the parochial house.

The rectangular single-cell double-height church has a sacristy and porch to the south-east and a further porch to the west, with an engaged round tower to the north-west. The roofs are pitched and slated with fretted ridge tiles and stone verges. There is a St John's cross to each gable. The walls are constructed of squared-and-snecked rock-faced basalt with sandstone quoins, plinth, sill course and window surrounds. The eaves feature sandstone machicolation moulding with cavetto moulded verge and kneeler stones. The windows are round-arched with stepped masonry surrounds.

The principal elevation faces north and is gable ended with the circular tower positioned to the right. A quatrefoil sandstone oculus window is set to the apex. To the upper level, three windows with sandstone surrounds (the central one larger) are grouped together, separated by a cavetto moulded string course below. The ground floor contains a centrally located round-arched opening surmounted by a triangular hood-moulding with label stops. The entrance is set beneath a moulded archivolt and impost, within which is a secondary arch resting on marble colonnettes that terminate at top and sill level in decorative sandstone capitals. The entrance doors are double-leaf square-headed raised-and-fielded timber panelled with cast iron handles and a panelled tympanum.

The three-staged round tower forms a distinctive landmark. The first stage has a single window to the upper level, above a stepped string course, with a diminished window in the second stage. The third stage is a sandstone belfry with Ionic columns supporting a round-arch-headed colonnade, surmounted by a conical roof and ironwork cross.

The east elevation contains six pairs of windows, each set within a recessed bay with machicolated cornice and separated by pilasters with quoins. The sacristy and porch abut the leftmost bay. The sacristy contains three timber casement windows with masonry surrounds and is entered from the north through a pair of double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors within a shouldered chamfered masonry surround, accessed by modern paved steps.

The south elevation features a grouping of three windows with sandstone surround (the central one larger) to the upper level, and a blind oculus to the apex. The sacristy, abutting to the right, contains two square-headed windows.

The west elevation mirrors the east with six pairs of windows. The tower abuts the left corner, and a gable-ended porch abuts the fourth bay from the left. This porch contains two windows, with an entrance door to the north and a single window to the south.

The walls throughout are squared-and-snecked basalt with sandstone dressing. The windows are leaded stained glass with cast-iron ogee profile rainwater goods.

A previous Roman Catholic chapel stood on the site, recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 and the Townland Valuation Fieldbook of 1834, where it was noted as 50 feet in length, 28 feet in breadth, 16 feet in height, and valued at £12. An earlier church had been built in 1832 with a capacity of 170, replacing two Mass Rocks that had served the parish before Catholic Emancipation.

The Catholic population of the parish had grown significantly by the early twentieth century to around 500, compared with only 90 recorded in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1832. Father James O'Boyle was the driving force behind raising funds for the new church, collecting subscriptions from neighbouring parishes and travelling as far as Glasgow to secure financial support. The building was completed under the direction of Father James Marmion and was dedicated on 11 June 1911 by Bishop Tohill.

Upon opening, the church lacked a pulpit, font and Stations of the Cross, all of which were subsequently acquired through donation. The side windows were given by an anonymous donor, and the main and side altars were donated by Miss McMullan, who was well known for her charitable works in the diocese. Electric heaters were not installed until the 1940s, at which time the church was being used by American and Belgian soldiers billeted in Ballyclare.

The church was recently renovated, though there has been significant loss of historic fabric internally. It remains a landmark in the town, with the round tower serving to indicate its prominence in the local area.

The church is sited within a residential area in a modern churchyard with car park and a modern parochial house to the east. It is bounded to Doagh Road by modern squared-and-snecked rock-faced masonry walling surmounted by steel railings and supporting modern double-leaf gates with a cross motif.