R.C. Church Lisbane, Rowreagh Road, Lisbane, Kircubbin, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 1AR

R.C. Church, Lisbane

A small and unassuming Roman Catholic church dating to 1777, delightfully situated on a sheltered inlet on the east coast of Strangford Lough in County Down. The building was restored in 1966.

The church is a simple gabled structure set within a graveyard on low-lying land. The north-east gable features a central plain timber-sheeted door with a seven-pane semicircular arch fanlight above. The south-east elevation has four evenly spaced windows with semicircular arch heads and sliding sash and case frames with horizontal and vertical astragals. A pedimented 'classical' style headstone is attached to the south-east wall at the left. The north-west elevation has two semicircular arch headed windows with sliding sash and case frames with horizontal and vertical astragals. The south-west gable has three narrow semicircular arch headed windows with diamond pattern leaded lights set at high level, with the middle window taller than the outer two. The roof is pitched with rough hewn 'Tullycavey' slates and stone parapets, with simple thin cross finials at the gable apexes.

The surrounding graveyard contains headstones dating back to 1829, marked by an actual stone dated 18 March 1829 inscribed "This is the first stone erected in this church yard". A large red sandstone Celtic cross stands at the roadside. The graveyard is enclosed by a low rubble wall with a gate and stile, and by a rough cast rendered wall with a stile and simple cast iron gates at the south-east entrance adjacent to the road.

The church was built in 1777 by Reverend Daniel O'Doran, the last parish priest to serve the entire Ards peninsula, with the help of a 'general subscription'. It was erected at a time when the penal laws against Catholics and Dissenters were beginning to be repealed, on a site where mass had previously been celebrated in the open air. Following its construction, the parish of the Ards was divided in two, with Lisbane church serving the restored parish of Ardkeen. During the nineteenth century, population growth in the Ards, particularly in Kircubbin and the Greyabbey area, combined with Lisbane's remoteness, led to the building of new churches at Nunsquarter in 1865 and Ballycran Beg in 1876. In the twentieth century Lisbane served mainly as a mortuary chapel and fell into disrepair before being restored in 1966. Since that restoration it has been used only once yearly, for services on All Souls Day (1 November).