Former Parochial House, 15 Magheralane Road, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrm, BT41 2NT

Former Parochial House

A 1½ storey, 3-bay house with stuccoed walls and gabled slate roofs, located within the grounds of a Roman Catholic church in Randalstown. The building dates from the 19th century and is grade B2 listed.

The main entrance faces west, presenting a symmetrical elevation with one window to each side of a central doorway. The roof is laid in Bangor blue slates in regular courses. Two red brick chimneys with projecting concrete cornices and modern pots rise from the ridgeline. The walls are smooth rendered and lined, with raised quoins to the corners, a projecting moulded plinth, a plain projecting frieze, and a moulded cornice. The timber eaves board is plain. A PVC gutter and downpipe run to the north gable.

Windows throughout the front elevation are modern rectangular PVC fixed lights with top-hung vents and double glazing, incorporating internal glazing bars to resemble the original 2 over 2 sashed windows. They are set in raised lugged and heeled moulded surrounds surmounted by segmental pediments with drip mouldings and keystones. Stone cills project from the wall face. The central doorway contains an original panelled door incorporating shamrock motifs, set within a deep recess and similar surround to the windows. The door retains its original ornamented knocker and handle. Two cement rendered steps lead to the front door, bounded by low sandstone plinth walls, the southern one now spalling. Extending left from the main block is a screen wall enclosing the yard, set back slightly, with smooth rendered, lined and blocked finish and concrete or rendered copings.

The north gable is smooth rendered and lined with raised quoins to the right-hand extremity. Plain timber barge boards frame the eaves. Two first-floor windows are modern rectangular PVC replacements set in plain unmoulded openings with projecting stone cills. The ground floor area is enclosed within a small yard, hidden from view, with whitened rubble stone walling.

Projecting from the north gable on the left is a single-storey return with slate roof matching the main block. Its north gable is smooth rendered with raised quoins to the left-hand extremity and timber barge board. One window occupies the north wall: a modern rectangular timber fixed light with top-hung vent. The west face has a similar window and a modern flush timber door, with smooth rendered walls and PVC gutter and downpipe.

The internal yard walls show whitened rubble stonework and smooth rendered surfaces. A lean-to shelter runs around the perimeter, supported on plain timber beams and posts, with corrugated iron and preformed metal roofing. The outer north yard wall is smooth rendered with concrete copings. The outer east yard wall is smooth rendered, lined and topped with painted stone copings. A rectangular doorway contains a modern flush door in a timber frame.

The rear elevation has a roof slated as the front. The wall is smooth cement rendered, lined and blocked, with a plain projecting plinth, coved cornice, raised quoins to the extremities, and timber eaves board with PVC guttering. Two windows occupy this elevation: one at ground floor and one at the half-landing of the stairway. Both are modern rectangular timber fixed lights with top-hung vents and projecting stone cills. The rear wall of the return extends in the same plane with matching finish, topped by a course of ridge tiles. One first-floor window in the return matches those on the rear elevation.

The south elevation is rendered as the entrance front. An overhanging eaves matches the north gable. A canted bay projects at ground floor level with smooth rendered piers between three windows, each a modern rectangular PVC light as used on the entrance front, set in moulded reveals. A moulded cornice crowns this bay with metal gutter and downpipe. Above the bay, a pair of coupled windows, each rectangular PVC set in lugged and heeled surrounds surmounted by segmental pediments, occupies the first floor.

The building stands within the built-up area of the town within the extensive grounds of the Roman Catholic church, with its north gable overlooking the main road, set back slightly within a grassed area. The front overlooks a tarmac driveway leading to the former church, now redundant. The area is bounded to the road by a basalt rubble wall, smooth rendered toward the road, with plain iron railings on a low plinth. A gateway comprising a pair of original spear-headed iron gates mounted on plain square rendered piers with sandstone caps provides access. The area to the west, facing the house, is bounded by a hedge. The modern church, built of basalt rubble, stands to the rear of the house.