St Catherine's C. of I. Church, Seacash, Crumlin Road, Aldergrove, Crumlin, Co Antrim

St Catherine's is a Gothic Revival church comprising a nave and chancel, with a gabled porch on the north side and a gabled projection on the west front. The main entrance is through the north porch.

North Elevation

The north elevation of the nave features four Gothic arched lancet windows, with a large gabled porch projecting at the western end. The nave wall is finished in smooth cement render, lined and blocked to resemble stonework, with raised quoins at the left-hand end. A projecting plinth steps down from left to right at the second lancet from the left, below a projecting eaves course. Both the main nave wall and the plinth show a slight batter, with the plinth more pronouncedly inclined.

The windows have raised rendered surrounds chamfered on both edges, with projecting sandstone cills. Brown varnished wooden frames are replacements with storm glazing. The first and third lancets from the left incorporate modern aluminium cylindrical ventilating grilles at the base of the leaded glazing. The fourth lancet from the left shows spalling to its cill. The roof is covered with Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses with flush verges and metal gutters.

The porch is square in plan, with base walls of basalt rubble topped with chamfered sandstone copings that support an oak-framed Gothic arcade filled with tinted leaded glazing. The arcade comprises three bays on the east and west faces and four bays on the north face. The central bay on the east face contains the doorway, fitted with an open wrought iron gate below a fanlight. The porch roof is slated in regular courses with overhanging eaves sprocketed to east and west, featuring shaped rafter ends. Metal gutters run along the east and west sides, with cast iron downpipes. Red terracotta ridge tiles crown the roof, with a large foliated finial on the north gable. The gable itself displays tongued and grooved sheeting in a herringbone pattern arranged in four bays, with shaped and chamfered bargeboards mounted on shaped brackets.

Set back to the left of the nave is a small chancel projection of lower height with similar walling. Its roof is covered with similar slates contained by gable copings of sandstone, with a moulded cast iron gutter and cast iron downpipe. Later cement repairs are visible in a lighter tone than the original rendering.

East Elevation

The east elevation comprises the main east gable of the nave with the chancel projecting from it. The nave gable walling matches the north side, with the apex surmounted by a wheel cross. Overhead cables are attached to the gable, forming an inappropriate modern addition.

The chancel gable walling is similar to that previously described, with a coved edge to the gable coping. A large Gothic arched east window of sandstone features three lights with tracery. The stonework of the tracery remains crisp, but spalling affects the lower part of the outer surrounds. Storm glazing covers leaded lights which incorporate aluminium ventilators at the base of the outer lancets. A moulded hood moulding caps the window.

The south side of the chancel projection is similar to the north, though some later cement repairs to the rendering obscure the block joints.

South Elevation

The south elevation of the nave has five lancet windows similar to those on the north side. The second and fourth windows incorporate aluminium ventilators as previously described. The roof and walling match the north elevation, though some later rendering between the second and third lancets is of a lighter tone than the rest. A cast iron gutter runs along the elevation, and a cast iron downpipe at the left-hand end discharges into an original sandstone gulley of square shape with a circular recess.

Projecting to the west and flush with the nave wall is a lower block containing a Gothic arched doorway. Its walling matches previous descriptions but lacks quoins. The roof is covered with Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with a metal gutter and cast iron downpipe on the left-hand side discharging into a sandstone gulley. A ledged timber door, painted, is set in a moulded wooden frame with a raised cement rendered surround that is chamfered. The door features an iron latch and handle.

West Elevation

The west elevation comprises the main west gable of the nave with a lower gabled block projecting from it. The nave gable walling matches previous descriptions but without quoins. It is surmounted by a gabled bellcote containing a bell hanging in a segmental headed opening. The bellcote features moulded sandstone coping topped by a scrolling wrought iron cross. Later repairs to the cement render on the left-hand side of the nave gable along the line of the downpipe are of a lighter tone. A cast iron downpipe with a shaped hopper is positioned on the left-hand side of the nave gable, below a short return of gutter along the north side of the nave, and discharges into a sandstone gulley. Cables and wires are attached to the west gable.

The west face of the lower projection has similar walling to previous sections, with flush verges and two Gothic arched lancets similar to those in the side walls of the nave, fitted with storm glazing. The north side of the projection is blank, with walling as previously described. A cast iron gutter at the right-hand end discharges into a sandstone gulley, and two cast iron circular ventilators are set in the plinth. The roof is slated as previously described, and houses a bell ringing chain.

Lychgate

In front of the church stands a detached lychgate with base walls of snecked greystone topped with chamfered grey sandstone copings. These support an open arcaded framework of oak painted grey and white. The base wall is open at the front on the east side but contains a pair of white painted wooden gates to the rear on the west side, fitted with large wrought iron hinges. The sprocketed roof features coupled collars and tongued and grooved sheeting to the underside. It is hipped and covered with green slates. Stone slabs form the floor, and broad wooden bench seats are positioned on each side within the side walls, supported on curved sandstone corbels. The bench on the north side is rotting.

Setting and Grounds

The church stands in its own grounds set well back from the main road, approached by a main entrance gateway consisting of a pair of Victorian red sandstone stop-chamfered piers with capstones of swept profile surmounted by foliated finials, and double gates of wrought iron. The gates are not contemporary with the piers and appear to be mid-20th century replacements. To each side of the piers are short curving screen walls of greystone rubble with roughly shaped triangular greystone copings filled in with mortar and greystone splinters. The front boundary to the road is formed by horizontal wooden fencing and hedge.

The gateway leads to a broad tree-lined driveway up to the churchyard, flanked on each side by roughly grassed areas. Standing adjacent to the entrance gateway is a single storey church hall, formerly a Public Elementary School, of little architectural interest.

The churchyard itself is entered through the lychgate, which is flanked on each side by short screen walls of greystone rubble with rubble copings, forming retaining walls to the banked up graveyard behind. The front boundary of the churchyard to the left of the lychgate is formed by a low earthen bank, terminating at the south end in a pair of white painted timber gates of similar design to those of the lychgate, connecting the car park with the graveyard.

To the right of the lychgate, the screen wall meets a single storey former coachhouse which is open to the front and has a double pitch natural slate roof supported on one side at the front on a circular cast iron column. Attached to this is the former stables built from rubble stone with a double pitched natural slate roof. Both of these buildings have modern roof construction. Internally, the former stables has two wrought iron tethering rings fixed to the walls and evidence of a high level door to the rear.

The churchyard is grassed, with a tarmac path to the porch lined by yew trees and a concrete path around most of the perimeter of the church itself. There are no graveyard memorials of special architectural interest, but of more general interest are three lines of standard Royal Air Force gravestones and some associated military memorials standing on the south side of the church. Other memorials of general interest include a stone cross to the west of the church carved in the form of a tree trunk and incorporating carvings of a frog and a snail, to the memory of Rebecca Clarke who died in 1884 (date uncertain).