Templepatrick Presbyterian Church, 750 Antrim Road, Templepatrick, BT39 0AR

Templepatrick Presbyterian Church is a mid-nineteenth-century rural Presbyterian church built in 1845, located south of Antrim Road and accessed from Lowtown Road. It is a free-standing gable-fronted single-cell double-height structure aligned east-west.

The church was remodelled in the early twentieth century around 1908, when a series of multi-bay single and two-storey extensions were added to the southwest corner. Despite these alterations, the original plan form has been retained along with key original features including the windows and many internal elements.

The building features ruled and lined render walling with a pitched natural slate roof topped with terracotta ridge tiles, plain timber bargeboards, exposed moulded brackets, and a ridge finial. Rainwater goods are square uPVC.

Windows throughout are Gothic timber multi-pane Y-tracery with interlacing glazing bars and bottom-hung opening inward casements. The principal east gable is three windows wide with a central principal entrance flanked by two bays. It has a projecting rendered plinth with stepped quoins. The central entrance and flanking bays feature Gothic timber Y-tracery Art Nouveau stained glass windows with rendered moulded cills and hoodmoulds. The double entrance doors are replacement timber tongue and groove with a square hoodmould on console brackets, fronted by an area of original granite flags. A replacement render plaque at the apex reads "built 1845".

The south elevation is three windows wide, with a single-storey extension abutting the left end. Windows here have splayed cills, and the left window contains leaded stained glass. The west gable has two windows similar to those on the east gable but modified following the 1908 additions. Granite cills and rendered hoodmoulds remain visible. A replacement render plaque at the apex reads "Templepatrick Presbyterian Church".

The north elevation is three windows wide. The gable of the pitched extension to the left contains a square-headed timber casement window with an original bi-axial rectangular plaque at the apex reading "The/Templepatrick/Trinitarian Meeting House/1845", which was relocated during the 1908 renovations. A similar window appears to the left cheek, with a single-storey glazed lean-to extension to the right.

Extensions feature rock-faced rubble plinth with ruled and lined render above. Doors are replacement timber tongue and groove unless otherwise stated.

The church yard is mostly gravelled and enclosed to the north and west by a low rock-faced rubble wall with segmental coping and square pointed pillar caps. A pedestrian gate on the north wall is centred between the church and the adjacent manse, which comprises circular rendered pillars and conical pillar caps with original cast metal gate. The original vehicular access from Lowtown Road is no longer in regular use; access is now via a southern point on Lowtown Road leading to a car park to the rear, which connects to the north churchyard at the east side.

Historical records show the building was recorded as "Presbyterian Meeting Ho." on the 1857 Ordnance Survey map. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records a "meeting house and yard" with the immediate lessor being Reverend Arthur Pakenham, valued at £15. It appears as "Templepatrick Pres. Church" on the 1957 Ordnance Survey map.

While the church is an example of a mid-nineteenth-century rural Presbyterian building type, the extensive and unsympathetic modern additions have compromised its architectural character, and it cannot be said to be of special architectural or historic interest.