First Donegore Presbyterian Church, Main Street, Parkgate, Ballyclare, Co Antrim

First Donegore Presbyterian Church is a T-shaped Presbyterian place of worship with origins dating to 1627, originally built in its current form around 1735. It was repaired in 1834, when a new roof and ceiling were installed, and substantially renovated in 1885, when all interior woodwork was replaced along with the old pulpit. A number of further modern alterations have since diminished both its original Georgian character and its integrity as a late Victorian building, though it retains value as an early example of a T-shaped plan church with an interesting interior.

The building sits within the village of Parkgate, set back from the main road within its own grounds. It faces south, and that principal elevation is symmetrical, with two windows to each side of a projecting gabled central entrance bay. A further gabled projection extends from the main roadside elevation, giving the plan its characteristic T-shape. The roofs are covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with tiled ridges, raised gable upstands, and one conical metal ventilator on the ridge of each wing. Rainwater goods throughout are moulded PVC gutters and downpipes.

The external walls are rendered with a dry dash of white and yellow stone chippings, coved out at the top to form an eaves course, with a slightly projecting smooth cement-rendered plinth and smooth cement-rendered surrounds to all openings. Gable copings are concrete.

The windows are modern, semi-circular headed metal fixed lights of six panes, some incorporating a horizontally pivoted opening light, surmounted by radiating panes to the head in a neo-Georgian style. The glazing is large-paned and tinted translucent, set in semi-circular headed surrounds with modern projecting concrete cills. The window to the extreme left of the south elevation has had its main six-pane panel replaced by stained glass, protected by three panels of clear glazing placed over it. Above the central entrance is a circular window with modern metal framing and tinted glazing, quartered, with margin lights.

The central entrance on the south front consists of a pair of modern rectangular timber double doors, each leaf divided into three panels, set in a rectangular cement surround that extends upward to form a triangular pedimental feature. The doorway is approached by a flight of concrete steps with low plinth walls. At the apex of the entrance gable is a raised concrete plaque inscribed "First Donegore. Founded 1627. Renovated 1885." The left-hand corner of the main front block has a corner stone protruding at the base, covered with smooth cement render.

The west end gable is finished similarly to the main front and contains a semi-circular headed window at gallery level, modern timber, matching the character of those on the south elevation. Below this window, and slightly to the right of centre, is a projecting gabled single-storey porch, constructed of similar materials to the main block but with overhanging eaves on the gable carried on timber barge boards. The eaves soffits appear to be asbestos sheeting. The porch has PVC gutters and downpipes to each side, one window matching those elsewhere, and a doorway in its south face similar to the main central door, set in a plain rendered square surround.

The rear elevation of the main front block is of similar character to the entrance front, with one large window to each side of the rear return. The east end gable of the main front block mirrors the west, including a similar projecting porch. The rear return is of the same character and ridge height as the main front block, with a matching ventilator on its roof. Each side wall of the rear return contains one large window, each glazed with stained glass. The north gable of the rear return holds a modern metal-framed window at high level, above a rear end block that is set back on each side and projects from the north gable.

The rear end block is of similar character to the main block but with lower eaves and ridge height. Its roof is slated to match, gabled to the north and half-hipped to the south where it meets the church return. Its west elevation contains one semi-circular headed window to the left of a doorway, both with smooth cement-rendered surrounds. The window is a timber sliding sash, vertically hung, two over two, with margin lights and horns. The doorway is fitted with modern rectangular double doors of stained hardwood, each leaf three-panelled with a modern metal handle, surmounted by a semi-circular radial fanlight. The north gable of this rear block is plain rendered, with a red brick chimney at the apex carrying two earthenware pots, and flush verges to the roof with projecting concrete kneelers. The east elevation of the rear end block has one timber sash window matching that on the west elevation, and one ocular timber window with tinted glazing similar in character to those in the main block. The roof of this section also has one modern flush rooflight.

Projecting northward from the rear end block is a low, set-back extension with rendered walls and a slated lean-to roof and PVC rainwater goods. Each side of this extension has one rectangular ledged timber doorway in plain rendered reveals.

Internally, the building retains historical interest despite the 1885 replacement of all woodwork and the old pulpit. A bronze tablet by Purdy and Millard of Belfast, listing the ministers of the congregation, was erected behind the pulpit in 1935. The 1838 Ordnance Survey Memoirs described the original structure as "a plain, substantial old building, built of stone and roughcast," consisting of a main aisle running east to west and measuring 65 by 28 feet externally, with a southern addition of 28 by 27 feet at its centre. It was noted as being comfortably fitted with pews and a spacious gallery, the gallery entrance reached from outside by a flight of stone stairs, with accommodation for approximately 1,000 persons. An old photograph of around 1888 shows the church exterior essentially as it now appears, but without the side porches; at that time the entrances into the side gables were ornamented with pedimented surrounds.

The boundary to the front of the site is formed by a wall rendered to match the church, with concrete flag copings and two gateways. Each gateway has square piers with large sandstone caps; the gates are double-leaf wrought iron of late 19th-century appearance. A tarmac area surrounds the church, with a tarmac drive along the west side leading to a modern manse at the northern end of the grounds. The eastern and western boundaries are formed mainly by hedges, with the dry-dash rendered gable of an adjacent house at the south-east corner, and grassy borders to each side. To the rear of the church stands a gabled and rendered mid-20th-century church hall — known as the George Stirling Hall, opened in 1955 — of no special architectural interest or merit, approached by a flight of concrete steps with tubular steel handrails. The previous manse was demolished in 1988 and replaced by the present one.