St Columbanus, 68 Groomsport Road, Ballyholme, Bangor, Co Down, BT20 5NE

Freestanding double-height Romanesque church built c.1939 to designs by architect R. Sharpe Hill of Belfast. Irregular plan form comprising nave, single side-aisle, apsidal chancel and tower. Located on an elevated site on the Groomsport Road in the Ballyholme area of Bangor. Pitched Westmoreland green slate with clay ridge tiles; corbelled stone eaves; cast-iron ogee moulded gutter with circular downpipes. Walling is squared-rubble rock face buff coloured stone with red sandstone banding and plinth course; basalt plinth. Windows are leaded stained glass embedded into timber frames inset into arched openings. Double-leaf arched varnished timber doors each consisting of six flat panels, vertically arranged. Principal elevation faces north and is asymmetrically arranged. Gabled single storey porch on right, accessed by a series of paved steps with mild steel hand rails. Two windows to aisle with flush gabled transept to the left; centred window with quatrefoil opening over. The gable ended east elevation with apex cross abutted by a single-storey apse with adjoining double height tower to the right. Four window openings to the apse. The tower is a squat square plan; rear entrance porch on east face, located right of centre, replacement timber arched door, accessed by four stone steps. Access to heating chamber below. Small window located mid-way with louvred opening above, rising to parapet with pyramidal slated roof. North face has a single window at ground floor and louvered opening over. South elevation has three windows to the nave on the right; gabled transept projecting from the left with central window at ground floor with quatrefoil over. East face of transept has a small window located right of centre. Gabled west elevation with lean-to gable adjoining right. Single-storey lateral buttress located left of centre. Two ground floor windows, one centred and one to right. Large rose window centrally located over. Setting Sited on an elevated site running parallel to the Groomsport road; suburban surroundings. To the rear is a modern church hall and offices with associated car parking. To the east of the site is a vacant modern two-storey commercial premises. To the west are three-storey modern apartments. North of the site are two-storey detached and semi-detached Edwardian housing. The church grounds are small with light vegetation throughout. The site is bounded by modern steel railings and gates fixed to the original double rounded coping stones and piers. Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Stone Windows: Timber / stained glass RWG: Cast-iron