St McNissi's old church (RC), Magheralane Road, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim

St McNissi's Old Church (Roman Catholic), Magheralane Road, Randalstown

This is an unusual and rare example of a pre-Catholic Emancipation Roman Catholic church, built in stages between 1784 and 1894. It began as a simple rectangular block aligned north to south — comprising what are now the transepts — erected in 1784. The nave was added to the west in 1824, at which point the whole church was reportedly "almost rebuilt". By the 1830s the exterior finish was described as roughcast, with cut stone pinnacles at its angles and a cross at its apex, and a gallery had been installed in the west end but not in the transepts. The tower to the east was added at some point after the 1830s. The exterior walls were rendered, presumably in 1894 when the rendered datestone over the north doorway was installed. The church was superseded in 1972 when a new church was built alongside it. It then remained vacant before being taken over as a youth club around 1974. By 2000 it had ceased to be used as a youth club and was being used as a store. The replacement modern church was destroyed by arsonists in 1997, and a further new church was built in 1999 to designs by the Belfast architects Rooney and McConville.

The building is cruciform in plan, with rendered walls and slated roofs, consisting of a nave, transepts, and a shallow chancel backed by a pinnacled and crenellated tower. Although the main entrance is at the liturgical west end, it actually faces south west.

The main entrance gable is smooth rendered, lined and blocked, with raised quoins to broad projecting pilasters at each extremity, a projecting plinth, and projecting stringcourses at intermediate levels. The upper portion of the gable is finished in ashlar stonework laid in raking courses, with similar stonework in regular courses to the end pinnacles, which are Gothic panelled. The gable is surmounted by a stone cross with a pedestal below inscribed "1824". The central doorway contains a modern rectangular timber panelled door, recessed in moulded reveals and surmounted by a raised cross set within a Gothic arched drip moulding with floreated label stops moulded in render, with cement rendered steps to the entrance. The doorway is flanked on each side by raised medallions containing quatrefoil, shield, and shamrock motifs in stucco. Above the doorway is a large Gothic arched lancet window of modern wired glass with a timber frame, set in plain reveals, with a moulded drip springing from the stringcourse. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates in regular courses.

Each side wall of the nave is rendered in the same manner as the entrance gable, with ashlar stonework in regular courses to the top, a moulded cornice, and a gutter of indeterminate material with a PVC downpipe. Each side wall contains two windows, though the lower window on the left-hand side has been altered at a later date to form a doorway. The windows are rectangular timber tripartite sliding sashes, vertically hung, one-over-one with horns and Gothic arched heads, set in plain reveals surmounted by moulded labels. The windows are either boarded up or fitted with modern metal security grilles, and where glazing is visible it is modern wired glass. The altered ground floor opening in the left-hand wall contains a pair of modern rectangular timber panelled doors with a cement rendered panel to the head. Modern metal ventilator grilles are set into the walls.

The liturgical north transept is similar in general form to the nave, except that the complete gable is rendered with quoins to its extremities but no end piers. There is an ashlar pinnacle to the west end only, panelled only on its west face, while the other end of the gable has a shaped rendered kneeler only. The gable contains a plain Gothic lancet of modern wired glass above a central doorway, which contains a pair of modern rectangular panelled timber doors set in plain reveals. Above the doorway is a rendered date panel inscribed "1894", though only the numeral 4 now survives as a raised figure, with floreated label stops to a step-form drip mould. The side wall of the transept facing west is of similar character and materials to the nave's side walls, including ashlar stonework to the upper portion and a PVC downpipe, and contains two windows one above the other, as in the nave, the upper one originally lighting the gallery. These windows are Gothic headed tripartite sashes as in the nave, fitted with security grilles. The east side wall of the north transept is rendered with roughcast, with a smooth rendered plinth and raised quoins to the right-hand extremity, and has a cast iron downpipe and modern metal ventilator panels.

The south transept is similar to the north, except that the west wall has a rectangular section cast iron downpipe. The gable has a large pinnacle to each extremity, but only the one to the west is of ashlar stonework; the one to the east is of smooth rendered brickwork. The datestone over the doorway in the gable is inscribed "Built by the Revd. Peter O'Boyle 1784".

The chancel has both side walls rendered with roughcast, with a smooth rendered plinth and smooth rendered surrounds to Gothic arched window openings that are now blocked with smooth cement render, and projecting granite cills. There is a moulded rendered cornice and moulded cast iron guttering with cast iron downpipes, along with a new PVC soil pipe to the north side. The east gable of the chancel is of coursed basalt rubble with a projecting granite stringcourse and flush verges to the roof.

Projecting centrally from the chancel gable is a square belfry tower in coursed basalt rubble, with three stages marked by projecting granite stringcourses. The entrance is at ground floor level but is elevated, reached by a flight of stone steps, and takes the form of a Gothic archway containing a rectangular ledged timber door surmounted by a ledged timber Gothic headed panel. The top stage has timber louvres in Gothic lancet openings in each face, with granite block dressings to the openings. The belfry stage is surmounted by a crenellated parapet with four corner pinnacles in ashlar stonework, with Gothic panels to their outer faces. Flanking the tower at ground level are single storey flat-roofed blocks with roughcast rendered walls and smooth rendered borders and plinths. The block on the south side contains a Gothic arched doorway to the south and a small Gothic arched window to the east, the window being blocked up and the doorway containing a new Gothic headed ledged timber door. The block on the north side contains a blocked up Gothic arched window and a similar doorway to the north, along with a modern rectangular timber louvred double door.

The building stands within the built-up area of the town, facing the main road but set back from it within its own grounds, which it shares with a former parochial house and a modern church. It faces a tarmac area at the front that extends from the gateway from the road around to each side of the church. The front boundary is formed by a basalt rubble wall rendered to the road face, with plain iron railings on a low plinth, in which is set a gateway. The gateway comprises a pair of original spear-headed iron gates mounted on plain square rendered piers with sandstone caps. The front area is bounded to the west by a hedge. To the east it extends to the open grounds around the modern church, with a single storey parochial house adjacent to the gateway. To the rear is a graveyard containing 19th and 20th century memorials. The listing covers the church, gate, gate piers, and walling.