St. Andrew’s Parish (C of I) Church, Main Road, Ballyesborough, Ballyhalbert, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 1E[?L]

This is a small, rubble-built parish church of the Church of Ireland, constructed between 1840 and 1859 in an early Irish/Gothic style. It serves the populations of nearby Ballyhalbert and Portavogie and is situated on a slight rise, surrounded by a walled graveyard, off Main Road within the townland of Ballyesborough, a mile south of Ballyhalbert.

The church is single-storied with a gabled form. It is built of snecked rubble with sandstone dressings, featuring chamfered ‘gothic’ window and door openings, along with buttresses at the main corners. The south-east elevation incorporates a small gabled porch to the left, featuring flush sandstone quoins, a plain timber entrance door set within a chamfered archivolt with label moulding, and a small pointed arch window with diamond leaded panes. The main body of the church on the south-east elevation has two sets of paired, similar but larger windows with flush relieving arches above. The rear north-east gable is dominated by a large, centrally placed gabled projection housing a triple lancet window with stained glass, also under a flush relieving arch. The north-west elevation mirrors the south-east, with three sets of paired twinned windows. A small lean-to projection is attached to the far left side of the main north-west wall and to the north-west side of the rear gabled projection. The north-west projection has paired windows of a smaller scale, along with a lean-to rendered extension to its north-east side and a plain timber sheeted door in a shoulder arch to its south-west side. A central pair of pointed arch windows with a roundel in the tympanum and a flush relieving arch are set into the south-west gable, alongside a bellcote with a bell. The building is characterised by chamfered plinth and eaves courses, with raised pointing throughout. The roofs are pitched with Bangor blue slates and incorporate stone parapets, cast iron gutters and downspouts.

The surrounding graveyard contains headstones dating to 1856. The interior is described as neat and charming and probably remains largely unaltered, despite possible refurbishment on several occasions.