Church of St Patrick, 113 Jordanstown Road, Jordanstown, Co Antrim, BT37 0NQ

Church of St Patrick, Jordanstown

A detached double-height Celtic Revival Church of Ireland building, erected 1866–68 on the north side of Jordanstown Road to designs by the celebrated Ulster architect William Henry Lynn, working in partnership as Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon. The church remains an outstanding example of its type, exceptionally well-maintained with all detailing intact both externally and internally. It has been described as one of the prettiest Celtic Revivalist churches in Ireland.

The inspiration for the design is said to derive from the twelfth-century round tower and church of St Finghan at Clonmacnoise. The building comprises a rectangular nave with an apsidal chancel to the east end, an engaged round tower over the vestry, an aisle and porch to the south, a porch to the north-west, and a return to the north-east. The pitched natural slate roof features clay ridge tiles and corbelled eaves with lead flashing to raised verges. Two chimneysstacks are present: a square example to the east gable and another to the north-east surmounted by a circular chimney with coping.

The walls are constructed of squared-and-snecked white sandstone with a moulded sandstone sill course and red sandstone string courses over a rubble basalt plinth. Round-arched windows contain leaded stained glass in rebated white sandstone surrounds with sandstone voussoirs throughout.

The principal elevation faces south. The entrance porch contains a round-arched rebated chamfered opening with bead-moulding, its sill course forming a hood moulding over ashlar stone voussoirs. Inset into this is a red sandstone archivolt with chevron carving, supported on red sandstone colonnettes whose capitals display Celtic motifs. The white sandstone base features leaf carving at sill height, and a blind oculus in the apex contains a cross motif. An aisle extends to the centre, two windows wide, with a gabled end containing a single window surmounted by a timber-framed rose window in an ashlar stone surround with bead moulding, and a small window in the apex. To the right, the round tower contains a single window to the first stage where the sill course forms a hood moulding, string courses at eaves height, stair windows at intervals around the tower to upper levels, and a final belfry stage with six round-arched-headed openings surmounted by a conical roof on bead-moulded eaves. The rear is abutted by the chancel.

The west elevation is gabled, comprising a pair of windows above a moulded sill course surmounted by a central rose window with ashlar stone surround and bead mouldings, and a small window to the apex. A recent porch with sloped parapet containing a single window abuts the left side. An aisle to the right contains a single window, separated from the nave by a buttress. The main porch contains a single window to the right.

The north elevation is abutted on the left by a return with a catslide roof containing single windows to each elevation, separated from the nave by a buttress. A recent porch abutting on the right contains a single window to the left and a square-headed timber-sheeted entrance door to the right. The exposed section of the nave comprises three pairs of windows above a moulded string course, with the chancel abutting to the left.

The east elevation is abutted by the apsidal chancel, which features chevron carving below corbelled eaves. Four windows above a moulded string course are each flanked by red sandstone colonnettes on plain bases with decorative square capitals displaying Celtic motifs. These are surmounted by archivolts with chevron carving and bead moulding springing from a further moulded string course. The round tower connects to the chancel via a link block containing a vertically-sheeted timber door with decorative cast-iron strap hinges in a shoulder-headed chamfered opening flanked by colonnettes detailed as the chancel windows and accessed by seven stone steps. Above this is a moulded string course surmounted by semi-circular voussoirs containing a blind oculus.

The interior features Clayton and Bell windows portraying the Irish Saints Patrick, Comgall, Brigid and Columba. The South West entrance contains a splendid tympanum by Rosamund Praeger dating from 1932, which illustrates St Patrick as a shepherd boy on Slemish Mountain.

The church is set within a churchyard and mature gardens. The site is bounded to Jordanstown Road by coursed rubble walling surmounted by a hedge. To the south, a pair of cast-iron gates with a cross motif are supported by square sandstone pillars with bead moulding to the corners and chevron carving to the top surmounted by pyramidal coping. A further alcoved entrance with square rubble pillars is situated to the south-east. To the west, a single-storey Victorian red brick church hall is bounded by a hedge. A modern car-park and rectory are located to the north.

The church is first recorded on the third-edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902 as 'St Patrick's Church'. Charles Lanyon, one of the architectural partners and resident at nearby Abbey House, was a parishioner. The archdeacon of Connor at the time was Charles Chichester Smythe, whose brother General James Smythe, a noted antiquarian, is credited with helping to instigate the building of the new church in the Celtic style. The church exemplifies the nineteenth-century Celtic Revival movement, an attempt to rediscover a 'forgotten' Ireland, enthusiasm for which was partly fuelled by the 'Ossian' poems translated by Scottish poet James Macpherson in the late 18th century. The church is of major significance and high architectural and historic interest.