Ballywalter Presbyterian Church, Main Street, Ballywalter, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2PJ

Ballywalter Presbyterian Church

This large Presbyterian church stands on the west side of Main Street in Ballywalter. Built in 1889 to designs by the architects Young and Mackenzie, it is a two-storey structure constructed of sandstone rubble with roughcast render, designed in the gothic style. A prominent three to four-storey tower with a broach spire rises at the north-east corner. The roofs of the nave, transepts, and rear hall are pitched and covered with Bangor blue slates, with cast iron rainwater goods throughout.

The front elevation presents a large gable end as its principal feature. The central doorway consists of a timber-sheeted double door set within an equilateral arched architrave. Immediately above this is a carved open Bible motif with decorative detailing, positioned within the apex of a pointed string course. Above the doorway are five metal-framed, diamond-leaded lancet windows with heads rising in height, the tallest positioned centrally. Flanking the main gable is a buttress to the left that rises to a pinnacle. To the left of the gable is a two-level gabled projection with buttresses and two small narrow lancet windows at ground floor level. On the right side of the front gable is a matching buttress, beyond which rises the tall tower.

The east elevation of the tower features two small narrow lancet windows at ground and stair level with a string course between them, and a slightly larger pair of lancets at first floor level. Above another string course is a large louvred lancet opening at the second level. The north face of the tower has a similar arrangement but lacks the lancet window at stair level. The west and south faces are largely exposed only at second level, each displaying a large louvred lancet window.

The north side of the building comprises the side of the nave with three lancet windows and buttresses, the gable of the transept with three taller lancet windows, and the side of a two-storey hall and church office with two sash windows at first floor and a timber-sheeted door with plain fanlight set within a Tudor arch at ground floor. The east and west sides of the transept each have a single lancet window matching those of the nave. All lancet windows on this elevation feature metal frames with diamond-leaded coloured lights to some and stained glass to others. The walls are finished in rough cast render with stone dressings to the lancet windows. The south side mirrors the north side but handed differently, with the addition of the gable of the two-level projection at the right, which is not rendered and features a small multifoil window at its upper level and a narrow lancet window at ground floor.

The rear of the church is largely formed by the gable end of the two-storey hall and church office attached to the west gable of the nave. It has three timber sash windows to the first floor and three to the ground floor. A low wall with decorative railings and gates encloses the front of the church.

The church was constructed to replace a previous Presbyterian church which stood slightly further south near the junction of Well Road and Main Street. That earlier building dated from 1815 and was itself a replacement for an even earlier church of 1770.