St John's C of I Church, Main Street, Crumlin, Co Antrim

St John's Church of Ireland at Crumlin is an Edwardian church built in 1903 to designs of architect George H. Sands, with T.A. Irvine of Glenavy as contractor. Carved stonework and woodwork were executed by Purdy & Millard, and leaded windows and stained glass by Ward & Partners. The pulpit, lectern, prayer desk and chancel furniture were presented by J.M. Boyle-Glover, Vicar of the Parish. The church retains its original features internally and its original appearance externally, and together with its lychgate forms an attractive and picturesque group on a prominent corner site within the village.

The building is a small church in Gothic Revival style comprising a nave and chancel with a gabled porch and bell-cote. The main entrance faces north. The north elevation displays a four-bay nave with a projecting gabled porch in the right-hand bay, with a lower roofed chancel set back to the left. The roofs are of red tiles in regular courses carried on exposed rafter ends with tongued and grooved soffits; cast iron gutters with rectangular cast iron downpipes are fixed with trefoil iron brackets. Terracotta finials crown the oversailing east gables of both nave and chancel. The walls are cement rendered with pebble dash finish, which replaced the original pebble dash, on a smooth cement rendered plinth. Buttresses with smooth cement rendered weatherings divide the nave bays. Nave windows are segmental arched with smooth cement rendered reveals and chamfered sandstone cills. The windows are timber three-light with cusped heads and leaded glazing incorporating a metal framed opening vent in the central light; the glass is tinted translucent. Protective wire grilles are mounted over all windows. The main entrance is set in a rectangular opening with rounded shoulders, featuring an original ledged timber door with decorative wrought iron hinges, original iron handle and escutcheon. The doorway is dressed in modern smooth cement, lined and blocked. The apex of the gable is half-timbered with woodwork painted white. Oversailing eaves feature white painted barge boards, tongued and grooved soffits, and shaped brackets. A terracotta finial crowns the porch gable. The east side wall of the porch is blank. The east gable of the chancel has a triplet of Gothic arched windows dressed in sandstone with blocked surrounds and leaded glazing incorporating stained glass medallions. Oversailing eaves feature curved brackets and plain timber barge boards, with diagonal buttresses to the extremities. Set back to the left of the chancel gable is a small vestry gable containing a semi-circular headed ledged timber door with original ironmongery, set in a semi-circular arched opening dressed with modern smooth cement rendered block surrounds. The eaves match those to the chancel gable, and two concrete steps provide access.

The south elevation comprises a four-bay nave with four nave windows matching those on the north elevation, and a projecting gabled vestry to the right positioned in the angle between nave and chancel with a roof continuous with the main nave roof. One window in the south face of the vestry is a segmental arched timber two-light with tinted translucent leaded glazing. Concrete steps lead down to a basement storey which contains a rectangular ledged timber door. A modern tubular metal railing and modern iron gate protect the basement well. The west gable contains a large three-light window in a steep Tudor arch, dressed in sandstone with block surrounds and containing tinted translucent glazing with medallions; storm proof glazing is set against each lancet. Buttresses project from each extremity of the gable with shaped sandstone kneelers to the raking copings, which ramp up to a belfry surmounting the gable. The belfry is finished in smooth cement render and comprises a Gothic arched opening hung with a bell, flanked by angled pilasters which rise from a pair of foliated sandstone corbels. A datestone high in the gable between the pilasters is inscribed '1903'. Extending to the left-hand side is a low gabled entrance porch containing a segmental arched window in the west side; the timber two-light window matches that in the vestry.

The church stands on a corner site in its own grounds facing the main road. A gabled lychgate stands in line with the entrance porch. A concrete path runs around the perimeter of the church with lawns beyond. Trees and shrubs within the grounds enhance the picturesqueness of the setting. The south and east boundaries are formed by a thick hedge and chickenwire fence. The west and north boundaries, facing the main roads, are formed by a low wall finished with wet and dry dash of crushed stones, surmounted by plain modern spiked iron railings. At the east end of the north boundary is a vehicular entrance with a modern iron railed gate mounted on plain piers. To the west, in line with the porch, is a small pedestrian gateway with plain piers containing an original ornamental wrought iron gate. A concrete path leads from this gate through the free-standing lychgate.

The lychgate is a large gabled structure of robust oak construction, painted but rotting badly in places, on rendered base walls which are smooth finished to inner faces and copings but pebble dashed to the exterior. The roof is of red tiles carried on projecting rafter ends with cast iron gutters and cast iron downpipes on painted fascias. The timberwork to front and rear faces comprises Gothic arched doorways with cusped heads to open sidelights. The timberwork to the side faces comprises four cusp-headed traceried openings in a rectangular panel, surmounted by curving timbers to open gables. An original timber gate in the front face is ledged and braced timber with fretted balusters.

Church walls were re-rendered and the roof re-tiled during the 1980s. The original exterior wall finish was pebble-dashed and the original roof covering was Peak's red mottled tiles.