St. Bride's Church of Ireland Church, Kilbride Road, Kilbride, Doagh, Co. Antrim, BT39 0RH

St Bride's Church of Ireland is an attractive rural Gothic Revival church located on the west side of Kilbride Road in Doagh, County Antrim. Designed by Welland & Gillespie, architects to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the church was built between 1866 and 1868 and consecrated in June 1868. It is a detached double-height cruciform church aligned east-west, with a diminished chancel at the east end and a prominent three-stage tower with broach spire positioned at the west end of the south elevation.

The building is neatly and modestly proportioned, displaying handsome ornamentation with polychrome stone detailing and mouldings. The walling is constructed of random-coursed rock-faced basalt over a double splayed sandstone plinth, with red sandstone rock-faced platbands beneath sill level and at springing arch level. Angled clasping buttresses with offsetting provide structural articulation.

The west gable features three diminished lancet windows with hoodmoulds connected by stringcourse, and a central round-headed rose window with geometric-plate tracery and red sandstone voussoirs. The north elevation is abutted by a gabled north transept and displays three windows across its exposed face, with geometric-plate tracery to the outer examples. The north transept itself has two diamond lattice margin paned windows with a clamp buttress divider and a round-headed rose window above. A Gothic vestry entrance with a shouldered punctured sandstone tympanum and varnished timber vertically sheeted door with wrought-iron hinges is situated on its right cheek. The south elevation similarly adjoins a south transept, with windows detailed as on the north elevation but without lattice paning. The chancel has a central geometric-tracery window with red sandstone voussoirs.

The three-stage tower is particularly notable for its ornamental detailing. It is surmounted by an octagonal stone spire adorned with angle ribs and three pairs of red sandstone platbands. The first stage contains a central Gothic vertically sheeted hinged double-leaf door with moulded surrounds, flanked by bootscraper niches, with battered cheeks containing dressed stone spurs between angled buttresses. The second stage features trefoils above the first-stage buttresses. The third stage is distinguished by slender three-quarter engaged colonnettes to its corners and scalloped timber belfry louvres with a moulded stringcourse below a red sandstone platband. Delicate features such as these angle ribs to the spire and scalloped louvres enliven the composition throughout.

The pitched slated roof is finished with blue and black clay roll-top ridge tiles and sandstone moulded verges. Replacement painted moulded cast-iron gutters with rectangular downpipes feature fleur-de-lys fixings, with foundry marks reading 'APEX 4x3'. Chimneytstacks with offsetting and trefoil punctuation stand at the west and north gables.

The interior is plainly detailed. The church was refurbished in 1958 and 1976; the 1958 renovation divided the north transept into two spaces and added an additional floor to the original vestry, creating some alterations to the original layout. The stained glass to the chancel and south transept is by Ward & Hughes, whilst the modern stained glass to the nave dates from the late 1960s to 1990s. The organ was built by Messrs. Hill of London in 1868 and was refurbished in 1917 and 1959. The Gothic pulpit and two prayer desks were presented in 1934, and the brass eagle lectern dates from 1927. The bell in the tower was cast by Robert Stainbank of London in 1868 and bears the Latin inscription: Misericordias Dei in Oeternum Cantabo (I will sing of God's mercies forever).

The church is dedicated to St Bride, also known as Brigid of Kildare (circa 451–525), an early Celtic saint. The history of religious activity in the area is long established, originating in a sixth-century monastic settlement. The medieval St Mary's Church dates to around 1250. The parishes of Donegore and Kilbride were united under a vicar and curate before the seventeenth century and remained so until 1864, when the union was dissolved. The present church was constructed four years later. The church is not recorded in Griffith's Valuation of 1859, but first appears in the Valuation Revisions from circa 1865–1870, which record a church and yard on the site valued at £20 0s 0d. It is first shown on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901–1902.

The church is set on an elevated site with lawn, mature trees and hedges. A gravel drive accessed at the east is flanked by steel gates set in a rubble stone boundary wall. A sundial occupies the southeast of the site, with a modern maintenance shed to the northwest. The original iron gates were made in the local foundry established by John Rowan, but these were replaced circa 2002.

The church has been well preserved, and the quality of its setting has been maintained. It is of some social importance in the locale and contributes to the historic character of the area.