St Comgall's Church, Castle Street, Antrim

St Comgall's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Italianate style, built between approximately 1866 and 1870 and consecrated on 30 October 1870 by Reverend Dr Dorrian. Its construction was largely due to the efforts of Reverend H. O'Loughlin, Parish Priest of Randalstown. The bell for the tower was presented by Mr Ross of Belfast. The church replaces an earlier building on the same site erected in 1818, which was also of cruciform plan and had galleries around three sides. In contemporary newspaper reports of the consecration, and as inscribed on the gate piers, the church is referred to as St Congal's. It stands as a prominent landmark on the northern side of the town.

The church is of cruciform plan, comprising a nave, chancel, transepts, and a prominent western tower. It retains its original ornamental plasterwork to the interior. The main entrance faces west.

The walls throughout are of coursed basalt rubble with a granite plinth and sandstone dressings. Roofs are of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with metal gutters and downpipes to the curved bays flanking the tower base.

The west elevation presents the nave gable with a central projecting tower. The nave gable has clasping buttresses of squared basalt rubble rising to orb-and-cross finials, with moulded coping to the gables. The tower is square and rises in three stages marked by stringcourses and set-backs. At each corner are clasping buttresses of squared basalt rubble, which rise through three weathered stages to frieze-blocks with circular sunkings, then a moulded cornice surmounted by a parapet and blocking course, the parapet having circular piercings and being surmounted by orb-and-cross finials.

The tower contains four principal openings. At ground-floor level there is a semi-circular arched doorway with a recessed moulded arch and keystone, housing a pair of rectangular timber panelled doors with an arched fanlight containing margin lights above. At first-floor stringcourse level there is an ocular window containing plate glass, with a moulded surround over which the stringcourse arches with a keystone. At the first floor or second stage there is a semi-circular arched niche with block surrounds and a bracketed cill, containing a sculptured figure of a male saint. At the second storey or third stage there is a semi-circular arched window with block surrounds and a bracketed cill, containing timber louvres. The other faces of the top stage have similar louvred openings, and the first-floor sides of the tower have similar surrounds but are filled with arched timber fixed windows with margin lights. At ground-floor level the sides of the tower contain curved bays returning back to the main nave gable, with lead dressing to their roofs.

The north elevation of the main body of the church is two storeys. The nave is three windows wide. The upper windows are semi-circular arched with block surrounds and projecting cills, containing arched timber fixed lights with margins of modern tinted glass. The lower windows are small rectangular timber three-light units, each comprising a central bottom-hung vent flanked by margins with modern tinted glass. The walling matches the entrance front gable but lacks the plinth.

The projecting transept on the north side has similar roof and walling, with clasping buttresses. It presents a two-storey gable with a central projecting single-storey porch with a parapet roof. The transept gable has a Venetian window at first-floor level set below a segmental relieving arch. This Venetian window is composed of a semi-circular headed central light with keystone — glazed as the upper nave windows — coupled with rectangular sidelights, all with block surrounds. There is an empty semi-circular headed niche in the apex of the gable above a stringcourse, and the gable is surmounted by a stone cross. The west side of the transept is two storeys and one bay, containing windows similar to those of the nave. The east side of the transept is similar but has a later single-storey ground-floor projection built in snecked rock-faced concrete blocks painted to match the stonework of the church, with a concrete coping to a flat parapet roof, a cast-iron hopper and downpipe, a PVC soil pipe, and a modern rectangular flush timber door with louvres.

The north side of the porch has walling of snecked basalt rubble with a sandstone plinth, a moulded stringcourse, a moulded cornice, and a blocking course to the flat parapet roof, with sandstone ball finials to the corners. Its doorway is square-headed with a lugged sandstone moulded surround containing a pair of rectangular timber panelled doors. The east side of the porch is blank; the west side contains a pair of coupled semi-circular arched timber windows in a square lugged and heeled sandstone surround with stop-chamfered reveals.

The north elevation of the chancel is two storeys, with similar roofing, walling, and rainwater goods to the nave. There are two arched windows at first-floor level matching those of the nave. At ground-floor level there is a modern rectangular flush timber door with a plain glazed fanlight and wired glazing to the side lights, set in a sandstone block surround with a keystone, curved corners, and stop-chamfered reveals.

The east elevation of the chancel has similar walling with a projecting moulded stringcourse at main eaves level. The base of the gable coping has orb-and-cross finials on stepped pedestals, with a stone cross finial to the apex. It contains a large semi-circular arched window in a block surround matching those elsewhere, with radially spoked glazing to the head and a central horizontally pivoting opening light.

The south elevation of the chancel end is similar to the north, except that the ground floor contains a rectangular timber fixed window of two panes plus margin glazing, set in stop-chamfered block surrounds of horizontally tooled reconstituted stone with modern steel bars affixed. To the left of this is a later flat parapet-roofed projection similar to that on the north elevation but with no openings.

The south elevation of the main body of the church is similar to the north, except that the niche in the transept gable contains a sculptured figure of a female saint rather than a male one.

The church stands in its own grounds, which it shares with the presbytery to the north and other associated buildings, on a corner site facing the main road but set back from it. There are tarmac paths around the church with steps and paving to the west, a burial ground to the south, and a grassy slope to the east. The western boundary is formed by a low basalt rubble wall backed by a hedge. In front of the main entrance is the original gateway, comprising four cast-iron pillars of square section with ornamented panels to the main piers, moulded bases, and pyramidal caps. The name 'St Congal' is inscribed on each pillar, and the bases carry a name plaque reading 'Riddel & Co. Belfast'. The gates consist of a pair of central vehicular gates flanked by pedestrian gates, all in ornamented ironwork.

The presbytery is of mid-to-later 19th century date, built in red brick with painted quoins and dressings and hipped roofs, though its original windows have been replaced by inappropriate modern glazing. The grounds are maintained with well-kept lawns and trimmed shrubs. The church lies within a conservation area.