Eskylane Presbyterian Church, Steeple Road, Eskylane, Antrim, Co Antrim

Eskylane Presbyterian Church is an early 19th century building constructed in 1842, though a plaque on the exterior is inscribed with the date 1760, which refers to when the congregation was formed. The building does not appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833. It has undergone significant alterations and renovations, particularly in 1959 and 1978, and a hall was added to the rear in 1992. These changes have resulted in the loss of some original character and features.

The church is a rectangular rendered building with a tall half-hipped slated roof and lower flat-roofed and pitched-roof extensions to the rear. The main entrance faces north in the north gable, featuring a central rectangular entrance flanked on each side by a rectangular window. The entrance contains double doors with a modern metal handle, set in a modern timber frame and surrounded by a rusticated rendered surround. A shaped raised rendered plaque above the main entrance is inscribed 'Erected 1760. Renovated 1959'.

The windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 8 over 8 with horns, with exposed sash boxes set in raised rendered surrounds and projecting concrete cills. The walling is rendered in wet dash of small stone chippings, painted, with a slightly projecting smooth rendered plinth. Rusticated rendered quoins appear at the extremities; a smooth rendered platband runs at side wall head level; and a projecting plain rendered coping finishes the gable.

The half-hipped roof is covered in Bangor blue slates in regular courses. A moulded gutter with a PVC downpipe at the right-hand end is angled back to discharge onto the main roof on the west elevation. The east elevation is three windows wide, with windows similar to those on the entrance front. The walling is similar to the entrance front, with quoins only at the entrance front corner. The roof is Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with cast iron guttering and a cast iron downpipe.

The rear gable is half-hipped and slated. The walling is smooth cement rendered, lined and blocked. Two windows with Gothic arches are set with rendered horizontal drip moulding over them. These are timber fixed lights comprising a rectangular pane surmounted by plain Y-shaped tracery.

Projecting from the gable below the windows is a single-storey flat-roofed later extension with an asphalt roof covering. The walls are roughcast and painted, with modern rectangular timber fixed lights and some top-hung vents. Modern double glazed doors with modern metal handles are set on the east side, and a timber fascia runs above, with a PVC gutter and downpipe.

A further modern extension extends to the south of the flat-roofed section, taking the form of a taller gabled hall with similar roughcast walling and modern rectangular windows. Timber barge boards finish the gables, and sheeted rectangular doors provide access. The roof is covered in synthetic slates. In the south-west angle between the main rear gable of the church and the later extension stands a small lean-to roughcast shed with synthetic slates to the roof and PVC rainwater goods.

The west elevation of the church is similar to the east elevation.

The building stands in a very rural location on a corner site in the angle between two roads. The ground immediately in front and to each side is laid with tarmac and forms a parking area. Boundaries to the front are formed by hedges, with bushes and grass to the rear. The main gateway on the west boundary is formed by low roughcast walls with wrought iron gates of no special merit. A pedestrian gateway of similar materials stands on the east boundary. The gates were presented in 1963.