Private Chapel, Clandeboye Estate, Bangor, County Down, BT19 1RN

Private Chapel, Clandeboye Estate

This small, single-storey, rectangular-plan private chapel sits at the south-west corner of the stable yard to the north-west of Clandeboye House on the Clandeboye Estate. It began life as a barn, was converted into a chapel around 1860, and was then substantially renovated to its present appearance — with Hiberno-Romanesque detailing and Gothic-style windows — around 1890 to 1897. It was consecrated on 1st January 1898 and restored again in its centenary year, 1998.

The stable courtyard itself appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 and may date from the original building of Clandeboye House between 1801 and 1804, suggesting the chapel was fashioned from outbuildings that existed from that period. The chapel is captioned as such on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901. It first entered valuation records in 1900, when the valuation of Clandeboye House was raised to £283 in recognition of the addition of a covered tennis court and the private chapel, though a letter of December 1862 from Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Lord Dufferin — the first Marquess of Dufferin and Ava — to his mother Helen, Lady Dufferin, confirms that the chapel had already been completed by that date. In that letter, Lord Dufferin describes embedding into the walls a stone from Nubia, a cornice from an 8th-century Egyptian Coptic church, and the shaft of a Celtic cross. According to the Archaeological Survey of County Down, this cross bears interlace ornament and originates from the site of Bangor Abbey; the Clandeboye estate believes it to be 6th century in date.

A second phase of rebuilding and improvement took place around 1897. Lord Dufferin consulted at least two architects in connection with this work. A letter of February 1897 from Lord Dufferin to John Lanyon (son of Charles Lanyon) indicates that construction was already under way. In May 1897, architect W. H. Lynn wrote to Lord Dufferin returning tracings of the chapel and photographs of the doorcase at Kilmore Cathedral, enclosing an elevation for the doorcase and showing how antique green marble pillars Lord Dufferin had obtained in Corinth could be incorporated into the interior. The Dowager Lady Dufferin recorded that Lord Dufferin himself, after twenty-four years of service abroad, planned and supervised the alterations to convert the former barn into a chapel, noting that the door was copied from the door of an ancient Irish cathedral, while the windows and all the ornamentation were taken from correct architectural drawings.

The building is of barn-style form with a pitched natural slate roof. The ridge is finished with sawtooth-crested terracotta ridge tiles terminating in a finial cross over the apex. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout, with motifed hopper heads, decorative wall brackets, and box-section downpipes. The walls are of rubble masonry, identified as greywacke with some secondary buff-pink sandstone, with red brick surrounds to the north and west windows. Glazing throughout is timber-framed, in stained and plain glass.

The principal south-west facing elevation is symmetrically arranged, with a gabled porch breaking the eaves line at the centre, flanked by windows. The south windows are traceried bipartite and tripartite openings with moulded Portland cement surrounds, dogtooth reveals and heads, foliated billeted label moulds, and figurative mould stops. On the right-hand side of this elevation, the remains of cills and brick surrounds of four earlier square openings are visible, now infilled with matching rubble masonry or brick. An arrowloop opening with a red brick surround is located on the left-hand side.

The entrance doorway is a timber sheeted door with filigree wrought-iron strap hinges and a cast-iron handle, set within a Portland cement gable surround comprising a heavily moulded Hiberno-Romanesque style round arch with sandstone dressings. Three diminutive niches with chevron detailing and statuettes are inset into the gable head.

The north-west gable elevation has a large centrally located stained glass window depicting the Ascension — a lancet-arched window with reticulated tracery — with a rectangular overlight in the gable head. The right-hand side of this elevation is abutted by a rubble masonry wall with large round piers and modern timber gates.

The north-east elevation is asymmetrically arranged. There is an infilled red-brick camber-arched door opening on the right-hand side, with high-level paired segmental-arched stained glass windows above it. On the left-hand side, a single-storey link block connects the chapel to the gas house; this now serves as the vestibule and is accessed by a modern timber door with a fixed round-arched light over.

The south-east gable elevation is abutted by the stable block, with only the upper portion of the gable head exposed at high level.

The interior incorporates a notable collection of historic artefacts. Two white marble columns built into the fireplace were brought from Cnidus by Lord Dufferin, where they had formed part of a 3rd-century Christian chapel. A red sandstone tombstone relating to a member of the Hamilton family was brought to the chapel from Holywood. A number of memorial tablets and a stained glass window have been erected to members of the family.

The chapel is surrounded by the various outbuildings of the stable yard, which together form a courtyard enclosure. It is accessed from outside the enclosure on the north and south elevations. The wider setting is primarily heavily wooded and landscaped parkland. To the north-west is a large gravel and stone car park enclosed by rubble masonry walls. The south elevation is approached by a sloping path lined with yew trees and other planned vegetation. To the south-east lie further outbuildings and a formal garden.

The chapel is a fine and rare example of a private estate place of worship, designed to serve both the workers and residents of the estate. Externally it has undergone little alteration and retains its original character enhanced by the addition of high-quality historic details. The introduction of ancient artefacts into its fabric gives the building a distinctly idiosyncratic character, and those individual elements are of considerable interest in their own right.