First Presbyterian Church, 100 Main Street, Bangor, Co Down, BT20 4AG

First Presbyterian Church, 100 Main Street, Bangor, County Down

This is a double-height, classically ordered Presbyterian church built in 1831, with a tower added in 1881 and the vestibule extended in 1927. The listing covers the church itself together with its gates, boundary wall, and cast-iron railings.

The church is laid out on a D-shaped plan with an adjoining square-plan vestibule, and is set back from the principal building line on Bangor's Main Street. The roof is natural slate with leaded ridges, hips, and valleys. The main walls are random basalt rubble with ashlar sandstone surrounds to the earlier parts, and matching cement details to the extended vestibule. The tower is dressed in red and yellow sandstone. Rainwater goods are cast iron, with some extruded replacements. Ground-floor windows are segmental arched with moulded surrounds and large cills; first-floor windows are round arched with matching surrounds and a continuous cill course. The doors have moulded architraves with plinth-stops and an entablature over.

The principal elevation faces south-east and is abutted by a two-storey vestibule and tower. The vestibule has four giant-order Doric pilasters rising to an entablature with a pediment above. The principal entrance is via three sets of modern glazed doors with sliding timber outer-leaf doors that recess into the wall when not in use. Above the central door is a small red sandstone pediment with an open book carved into the tympanum. The first floor has round-arched windows with aprons and corbel stones. A clock face is set into the tympanum, with a hood moulding and stops. The south-west face of the vestibule shows the earlier portion to the left and the later extension to the right, with a central pilaster and various door and window openings. The north-east face of the vestibule mirrors the south.

The tower is a three-stage, Gothic-style square-plan structure with an octagonal spire and decorative pinnacles, constructed of Scrabo freestone with Scottish red sandstone dressings, and is centrally positioned over the original part of the vestibule. The lower stage is basalt with sandstone quoins and surrounds to an oculus. The second stage has paired tall round-arched windows embraced by dressed stone with a centrally positioned oculus above. The third stage has paired arcaded openings with dressed stone surrounds rising to parapet level, surmounted by a spire with three levels of lucarnes on alternating facets.

The pedimented south-west elevation is partly abutted by a modern extension built in 2010. The curved wall forming part of the main body of the church is visible to the right of this elevation. The rear elevation is entirely encompassed by the 2010 extension. The north-east elevation mirrors the south-west, with a partial modern abutment.

The church grounds to the front are bounded by cast-iron railings with associated gates, and a large weeping ash tree stands in the centre — this is the same tree recorded in the church's own history as having been planted not long after the building's construction in 1831. The Main Street frontage is lined with two- and three-storey commercial buildings. To the south-west of the church stands the Guild Hall and former school erected in 1894, now joined to the church by the large 2010 extension, which encompasses most of the north, south, and west elevations of that building.

Historical background

There has been a Presbyterian congregation in Bangor since 1623, when a minister's son, Robert Blair, was brought over from Scotland by James Hamilton — later Lord Clandeboye — who had been granted lands in the area. The first known meeting house was built during the ministry of Mr Gilbert Ramsay at the top of Fisher Hill (now Victoria Road) around 1668. In the mid-18th century the congregation moved to a meeting house near the junction of Quay Street and High Street. As Bangor expanded in the 19th century, a more substantial building was called for.

The present site on Main Street was selected, and the Belfast Newsletter reported the laying of the foundation stone on 1st June 1831, noting the significant debt owed to the Sharman Crawford family in bringing the project to fruition. The building is shown as the "Presbyterian Meeting House" on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs note that it was completed in 1834 at a cost of £2,600, defrayed by subscription. Lewis's Topographical Dictionary also records the building. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 lists it as a "Presbyterian Church and yard" valued at £75, with an additional £1 for the yard — a considerable sum reflecting its quality and size — with the lease held from Viscount Bangor. A photograph showing the church in its early form, before the addition of the spire, has survived.

Schools for boys and girls were added to the site in 1877–8. The tower and spire were built in 1881 by Sandy McFerran of Bangor to commemorate the jubilee of the meeting house. Small porches to the north and south of the main building appear to have been added at this time, but these are now gone. Although the architectural historian C.E.B. Brett noted that the tower and spire were a somewhat incongruous addition to the classical facade, the spire was well regarded at the time: George Henry Bassett wrote in 1886 that the building had received "the addition of a very high and most graceful tower and spire."

The Guild Hall, comprising two schools and a hall, was built in 1894 to designs by the practice of Young and Mackenzie, who also erected a new wooden ceiling in the main church in 1905. The church organ was donated in 1907 by Mr W. K. Crosby, a citizen of Nebraska, USA, who had been accustomed to holidaying in Bangor each year.

In 1927, alterations were carried out to improve exits from the gallery. The porch was brought forward by a bay to accommodate new stairways and was reconstructed to replicate the former facade, work carried out by James Thomson at a cost of over £2,000. A clock was added to the front facade at this time by Mr Henry Montgomery in memory of his wife. The church grounds were remodelled simultaneously by Mr Thomas Houston, who gave his services free of charge.

In 1932, £2,266 was spent adding new apartments including a vestry, Sessions Room, Minor Hall, Choir Room, and Ladies' Parlour, though these appear to have since been removed. The church roof was restored using steel trusses in 1933, and electric lighting was installed in 1934, with interior repairs and redecoration carried out at the same time. The donation of a communion table and other church furniture in 1954 led to the re-siting of the organ console and re-seating of the choir. The church was again renovated and redecorated in 1960, and in 1961, following a fire in the Guild Hall, that building was also renovated. A very large extension joining the rear of the church to the Guild Hall was completed in 2010 to designs by Brian Knox.

Significance

The tower and spire are unusual for a Presbyterian meeting house, but the classically styled main body of the church is representative of Presbyterian architecture of this period and is a particularly elegant example. Although the building has been altered and extended, the overall scale and proportion of the original structure, together with much of the historic fabric, have survived. The large extensions to the rear and both sides of the church compromise its setting, but the original composition of the church and tower remains legible. The congregation's origins dating to 1623 give the building considerable additional historical importance.