Conlig Presbyterian Church, Main Street, Conlig, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 7PT

Conlig Presbyterian Church is a double-height neo-Romanesque church built around 1848 on the west side of Main Street, Conlig. It was constructed with funds supplied by John Sinclair following the expansion of the local population due to the revival of lead mining in the area from 1827 onwards. A previous Presbyterian meeting house had existed in the area since at least 1753, but had become a ruin by 1867. The new church is shown captioned on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 and is listed in Griffith's Valuation (1856-64) as a Presbyterian Church and graveyard valued at £34 10s for the church and 10s for the graveyard. It remains the only church in the village and has significant local importance.

The church is rectangular on plan with a full-height breakfront vestibule to the front (east), an original two-storey vestry to the west, and twentieth-century extensions to the rear and north. The building is well proportioned and characterised by greywacke rubble masonry (Scrabo sandstone dressings) built to courses in places with some snecking, all finished in lime render. It is enlivened by ashlar sandstone ornamentation appropriate to the neo-Romanesque style.

The roof is pitched natural slate with angled clay ridge tiles and uPVC rainwater goods over cavetto moulded sandstone eaves. A chimneystack with octagonal terracotta pots rises from the vestry. The principal gables have projecting ashlar sandstone verges rising at the vestibule to a central belfry containing a clock set into a square base over machicolated mouldings, surmounted by a crenellated bellcote with round-headed apertures and flanked by four angled pinnacles. Corners have angle buttresses with gableted tops rising above the eaves to octagonal pinnacles topped with pointed finials. The main gable and other elevations are flanked by ashlar sandstone piers. Ashlar sandstone dressings to the projecting plinth complete the base.

Windows throughout are round-headed with stained and leaded glass (polycarbonate glazing now fitted over) with sandstone dressings, splayed cills and hood moulding. The entrance door is double-leaf Gothic panelled with cast-iron knobs, set in a chamfered sandstone reveal flanked by slender colonnettes supporting a hood mould, accessed by two curved stone steps.

The principal (east) gable elevation faces the road and is dominated by the breakfront vestibule containing a central door surmounted by a tripartite window. All openings are contained within a slender bead-moulded frame with Lombardic detailing to the head. The vestibule cheeks each have a multi-pane Y-tracery timber window surmounted by a decorative quatrefoil style window in stone surround. The exposed sections of the main gable are blank. The south elevation is four windows wide with a timber Y-tracery window and a timber sheeted door with semi-circular glazed fanlight, set in stone surround and accessed by two stone steps. The north elevation is similar but is abutted by the modern hall at the right side.

The interior is plainly detailed in the traditional Presbyterian manner and retains original box pews and pulpit. A plaque on the front facade records that the belfry and clock were added in 1930 and that the bell was replaced in September 1982. In the 1950s an additional room was provided by closing off the back gallery. In 1979 the church installed a Binns, Fetton and Hailey organ from Elmwood Presbyterian Church in Belfast. To accommodate it, a gallery above the entrance vestibule was removed and a new wall inserted; the choir box was also removed and the platform area extended. At this time Conlig church was given the stained glass windows from Elmwood which were gradually restored and installed from 1981-2.

A large modern extension has been constructed linking the church to the former school house (established 1833). Although this extension abuts the original vestry and rear elevation, it does not detract significantly from the special interest of the church. The schoolhouse is T-shaped on plan with gable ends and projecting gable to front, natural slate roof with plastic rainwater goods on ashlar sandstone eaves, rock-faced squared sandstone walling with ashlar quoins, and timber casement windows in plain sandstone surrounds, with lancet-headed windows to the gables and a trefoil window to the apex.

The church is set back from the road on Main Street with lawn to the south and a gravel car park to the north. The site is bounded to the road by a low basalt rubble wall. To the west is a reservoir accessed by a grassed bank.