Ballyphilip (C of I) Parish Church, Church Street, Portaferry, Co Down

Ballyphilip (Church of Ireland) Parish Church, Church Street, Portaferry, County Down

This is a relatively small but characterful gothic Church of Ireland parish church, completed in 1787, tucked away in a delightful secluded setting between High Street and Church Street. The listing covers the church itself together with its railings, boundary walling, and gate screens.

Historical Background

The church replaced the earlier Parish Church of Templecraney, the ruins of which can still be seen in the old graveyard just within the gates of Portaferry demesne. The total building cost was £833 18s 9d, of which £500 was granted by the Board of First Fruits, with the remainder — as recorded in the 1830s Ordnance Survey Memoirs — collected by subscription and parish assessments; the Savage family contributed £72 10s. An interesting late 18th century set of plans held among the Savage/Nugent Papers at PRONI, believed to show the original proposed layout, depicts a building without a chancel, vestry or transept, with niches in place of windows in the north-west elevation. The plans also appear to show a proposed lych gate and a laneway leading directly from the front of the church into the market square.

The original spire — described as a "lofty spire" — was removed in 1810 due to its dangerous condition, leaving the square tower with something of a squat appearance. The church was renovated in 1836 with a grant of £343 from the Church Commissioners. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs, while commenting on the church's "unremarkable" appearance, noted that a steeple was to be added, which it was felt the building greatly needed — though this never came about. The chancel, vestry, and transept were added around 1870.

Exterior

The tower sits to the south gable of the building, projecting only marginally forward from the gable, which is itself set within a slightly larger nave gable. The main entrance is in the south face of the tower, consisting of a pointed arch doorway with a moulded and painted surround, approached by stone steps. Flanking the doorway on the gable are tall arched windows with sash frames with Georgian panes. To the first floor of the tower there is a single narrow pointed arch window of the same character, with three small slit openings directly above. Similar slit openings appear at this level on the east and west faces of the tower. Above these is a string course. The tower is buttressed by simple pier/pilasters at each corner, and finishes with tall pyramidal pinnacles and a stone-capped castellated parapet. Surmounting the whole is a bell sitting under a crude lead-clad, open-sided timber canopy.

The west facade of the nave has three pointed arch windows with moulded hood and label stops and moulded surrounds. The second and third of these retain sash frames with Georgian panes, while the first is now filled with stained glass. The east facade of the nave has two windows of the same character. To the right of these the transept projects outward. The east gable of the transept contains a large pointed arch window with gothic tracery in sandstone, and the north and south faces of the transept are blank. The chancel gable has a similarly shaped window but with much plainer tracery.

Set in the angle between the chancel and the transept is a small lean-to vestry with a timber-sheeted doorway to its east face and two small pointed arch windows with lattice tracery to the north face. To the west side of the chancel there is a similar lean-to projection, but without a door and with a single window to the north face only.

The walls are generally constructed of random rubble, a mixture of sandstone and slate or black stone. The upper parts of the tower, the exposed parts of the north gable of the nave, and the east wall of the nave are finished in grey unpainted lined render. The lean-to wings of the chancel have painted quoins. Most of the window surrounds are painted, while others are in unpainted sandstone. The front gable has an eaves course with several narrow string courses, and the exposed section of the rear gable of the nave is rendered and painted.

The roof of the nave has stone parapets to the gables of the nave and transept and is covered in Bangor blue slate with cast iron ridge tiles. The transept roof is similar but has fireclay ridge tiles. There is a small chimney-like finial to the apex of the rear gable. Rainwater goods are cast iron throughout.

Boundary and Entrances

To the north, east, and west of the church is a small graveyard. To the south this is enclosed by a low rendered wall with cast iron railings, while to the north, east, and west there is a taller rubble wall. The church grounds are approached by laneways from High Street to the east and Church Street to the west. The Church Street entrance has square gate pillars built in rubble with pyramidal caps, enclosing a vehicle entrance with a pedestrian entrance to the north; the gates themselves are cast iron of the spearhead variety. The laneway from High Street has an older-looking wrought iron gate screen with a vehicle entrance set between narrow cast iron posts.