Christ Church (C of I), Ballygelagh Road, Kirkistown, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 1J?

Christ Church is a relatively simple and largely intact rubble-built Gothic church of 1847, situated on the Ballygelagh Road on the south side of Kirkistown hamlet in County Down. It is a medium-sized single-storey gabled structure constructed in squared semi-coursed basalt block with sandstone quoins, dressings and decorations. A three-storey square bell tower was added later in 1891 and is positioned centrally on the south-west gable, housing the main entrance.

The church appears cruciform from the outside, created by a projecting sanctuary to the north-east, a projecting vestry to the right, and an almost flush gable feature to the north-west, though internally it maintains a simple rectangular form. The tower is entered through timber-sheeted doors set within a pointed arch opening with sandstone dressings and drip moulding with label stops. A carved stone records the church's construction in 1847 and the tower's addition in 1891. The first floor contains a narrow lancet window with sandstone dressings. The second floor features a geometrical tracery opening of double lancets with louvres and a quatrefoil opening above. The south-west and south-east elevations of the tower contain tall lancet windows to ground floor with cill course, decorative moulding and label stops, with corresponding openings to upper floors. The tower is buttressed with gargoyle-like corner projections, though these are not carved into figural form.

The south-east elevation of the nave has four evenly spaced lancet windows with dressings, drip moulding and decorative label stops, all resting on a projecting cill course. The gabled vestry attached to the north-east elevation features paired lancets to its north-east side, a single lancet with drip moulding and label stops to the south-east, and a chamfered door opening with shouldered head to the south-west. The north-west elevation of the nave has three evenly spaced lancet windows. A gable feature projecting approximately 50 centimetres is positioned to the left, with a geometrical tracery window centred on it. The sanctuary has blank north-west and south-east elevations, while its north-east side features a triple lancet window with the tallest window at the centre.

The pitched roof is finished with Bangor blue slates and stone parapets set on decorative corbels. Cast iron gutters and down spouts are in place, and the building has a chamfered plinth. The church is surrounded by a small graveyard containing headstones from the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a low rubble wall and wrought iron gate to the north-west side.

The church was built by Reverend Alexander Bullick in 1847 following the abandonment of the old church at Ardkeen around 1839 to 1840. The tower was added in 1891 by Reverend Hugh Stowell. The interior is plain but elegant. The building retains high quality and survival of its original features.