Holy Trinity Church, 6 Seahill Road, Craigavad, Holywood, BT18 0DE

Holy Trinity Church is a double-height Church of Ireland church built in 1857 to designs by Francis Farrell of Dublin, a son of William Farrell who had been architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It stands on the west side of Seahill Road in Craigavad, set in a declivity, and is constructed primarily of uncoursed basalt rubble — locally described as blue whinstone — with sandstone dressings. The building does not follow a standard Church of Ireland layout and is dominated by a well-detailed three-stage tower offset from the centre of the south-facing long wall.

The plan is rectangular, aligned southwest to northeast, with the three-stage tower to the southwest, a later chancel to the northeast, a side chapel (added 1921) and vestry (added 1975) to the northwest, and a lean-to vestibule (added 1976) to the southwest end. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with roll-topped clay ridge tiles. The verges are stepped ashlar sandstone set on carved kneeler stones with quatrefoil detail, and there is a gabled finial to each end and a cross finial to the chancel. Rainwater goods are profiled ogee aluminium on projecting stone eaves. The basalt rubble walling includes some isolated snecking and is supported by offset buttresses, with sandstone plinth, cill course, quoins and offsets throughout. Windows throughout are stained and leaded, set in chamfered sandstone surrounds.

The nave is lit primarily by paired lancets — triple at the west end — with tooled ashlar relieving arches over them. The remaining windows, including those to the chancel, are cusped tracery windows with hood moulds and carved foliated stops. The tower is lit by lancets with diamond latticed glazing.

The tower itself is a notable feature. Its lower two stages are square in plan with a string course between them; the upper corners of the second stage are angled to support an octagonal third stage with oversized louvred arrow-loop openings. The tower is topped by a pointed pavilion roof with heather-coloured fishscale banding and a weathercock, set above a second string course and a frieze decorated with quatrefoil motifs. The tower entrance faces south and is formed by a double-leaf gothic door of diagonally-sheeted varnished pine with wrought-iron strap hinges, set in a deeply chamfered sandstone surround with rebated colonette jambs — all in new stone — and a sandstone threshold. Two windows flank the tower on the south elevation, irregularly spaced.

The principal entrance is at the west gable, which features a triple lancet above the lean-to vestibule. The vestibule is largely 20th-century fabric with stone cladding but has a gabled centrepiece containing a door detailed as the south entrance, using original stone with some plastic repairs, over a worn sandstone threshold. The vestibule is lit by small pointed arch windows to either side. Map evidence suggests that this door and its surround may previously have been incorporated elsewhere in the church, possibly from the tower, the surround of which is newly constructed.

The north elevation has three windows and is abutted at its left end by a single-storey vestry, which has a shouldered diagonally-sheeted pine door to its west cheek and a window to the north. The vestry is in turn abutted at its left corner by the side chapel. The east gable is abutted by the chancel, which is lit by a traceried window to the east and another to the south — the east window being the larger of the two, with the south window set beneath a raised gable. The north side of the chancel has a single cusped window and is abutted by the side chapel, which is detailed in keeping with the main building and is lit to the east.

The interior is plain in character but retains a significant quantity of historic fabric, including figurative corbels supporting the scissor-braced roof. A plank of wood preserved in the church safe carries the names of the builder, architect and six labourers, dated 20 November 1857.

The building has been extended and altered in several phases. By 1886 additional accommodation was needed and the nave was lengthened by two bays westward, with the choir relocated, to designs by William Batt of Garfield Chambers, Royal Avenue, Belfast, with general contracting by William Nimick of Holywood and carving by a Mr Malcolm. The Irish Builder of 15 October 1886 records that the roof extension was supported on framed and chamfered principals with curved spandrels resting on moulded and carved cut-stone corbels built into the walls. The pitch pine fittings were stained and varnished to harmonise with the original building. New windows were glazed with diamond panes of cathedral glass in varied tints in metal frames, and the remaining sashes were re-glazed to match. New polished brass lamp fittings were also installed. The stonework of the extension used blue whinstone from the vicinity and cut stone dressings from the Scrabo quarries, consistent with the original construction.

The chancel was enlarged in 1921 by the firm of Blackwood and Jury, with the designs carried out by Percy Morgan Jury. The Irish Builder records that the contractors were Messrs Courtney and Co of Belfast, that the outside walls were built of blue stone to match existing work, that the window dressings were of Cullaloe stone, and that a new organ was supplied by Messrs H.S. Vincent and Co of Sunderland. A new pipe organ was installed in 1967, and a side chapel was added in 1975.

This church replaced an earlier place of worship sited approximately one mile to the west, a church on that site dating back to at least 1306. Griffith's Valuation of 1856 to 1864 lists the building as a church and yard valued at £50, with a note recording that it was built by subscription and vested in trustees. The church has social importance within the local area of Craigavad and forms an integral part of the suburban historic fabric of the settlement.

The church is set in a declivity with a lawn to the south, enclosed to the road by a modern rubble stone boundary wall and with trees to the remaining boundaries. There is a gravelled perimeter path, a modern church hall to the east, and a war memorial in the form of a rock-faced cut-stone Celtic cross set on the south lawn.