Methodist Church, The Entry, Doagh, Ballyclare, Co.Antrim

A single-cell Methodist Church in the rural village of Doagh, dated 1844. The church is built in Greek revival temple style and is plainly detailed with a prominent portico to the principal elevation. The rectangular-plan building has been much altered and extended, with a modern two-storey hall attached to the south, which has compromised the original design by changing the main access point.

The pitched roof is slated with cement ridge tiles. Walls are roughcast over a smooth rendered plinth, except for the principal elevation which is ruled and lined. Round-arched-headed stained glass windows have rendered surrounds and masonry cills throughout. The east-facing principal elevation is gable-ended and comprises a pedimented portico supported on cast-iron Tuscan columns in antis, with rusticated antae to the edges. The columns rest on panelled pedestals. The central round-arch-headed entrance opening features a moulded architrave and vermiculated keystone, with a replacement square-headed double-leaf door of raised-and-fielded panels and a fanlight with margin lights above. A datestone reads 'Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Holiness becometh thine house O Lord forever, 1844'. The south elevation is obscured by the modern church hall. The west elevation is gable-ended with two central windows. The north elevation has three windows to the right and rusticated quoins to the left. The site is bounded to The Entry by rendered walling with coping, supporting a modern steel pedestrian gate and double gates to a car-park. Pathways lie to the north and west with hedging to the site boundary. Cast-iron half-round guttering is installed throughout. The interior is virtually modern with loss of original plan form and detailing.

The church was first recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1857, though an earlier Methodist building is shown slightly to the west on the 1833 map. Local tradition, supported by Cox's 1959 parish history, suggests the present structure was rebuilt over an earlier meeting house. The Methodist Conference gave permission in 1800 for a small meeting house, sixteen feet square, to be erected on this site. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records a 'Methodist Chapel and yard' valued at £12. According to local accounts, William Galt of Doagh established the first Sunday School in Ireland in 1768, initially as an adjunct to his Doagh Book Club. The Methodist Society in Doagh dates to 1778, and there are substantial grounds for believing that John Wesley himself visited the village in June 1778 whilst travelling to Carrickfergus. The church was substantially funded by J. Hunter and family, who in 1892 donated £1000 to Irish Methodism on condition that services would continue in Doagh. The church was re-opened for public worship on 26 June 1959 and was first registered for marriage on 26 August 1941.