Holywood Parish Church of Ireland, 71 Church Road, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9BX

Holywood Parish Church of Ireland (St Philip and St James) is a double-height Victorian Gothic parish church with tower, designed by the prominent local architect Charles Lanyon and built between 1842 and 1844. It stands to the south of Church Road, close to Holywood town centre, and was significantly enlarged in 1867–69 to designs by Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon, who added a new nave, chancel and north aisle to provide accommodation for 720 people. The church is rectangular on plan, set on an east-west axis, with a three-stage entrance tower to the southwest.

EXTERIOR

The roofs are covered in natural slate with fish-scale bands and blue/black clay ridge tiles. Cross finials rise from the gables, with a large round sandstone pinnacle to the northeast gable and a Gothic round pinnacle to a buttress to the southwest. Rainwater goods are cast-iron ogee sections on sandstone eaves, with squared downpipes.

The walling varies by phase: the nave, north aisle and apse (1844) are in uncoursed rubble sandstone with a masonry plinth, while the tower and south aisle (1896) are smooth render with sandstone quoins. Windows throughout are equilateral arched, with leaded stained glass dating from the 1900s set in sandstone ashlar blocked surrounds with chamfered masonry sills, unless noted otherwise.

NORTH ELEVATION

The north elevation features the side aisle and clerestory, with a projecting gabled porch at the west end and a gabled vestry at the east end of the aisle. The porch has large cast-iron gates set within a recessed pointed-arched surround, with diminutive semi-engaged columns bearing Corinthian capitals and a centred roundel with a carved inset. To the right of the porch, an exposed section of wall contains paired windows surmounted by a quatrefoil aperture. The vestry has a single window opening and a moulded roundel with inset. The apsidal east end has paired windows to each side of the apse. To the left of the apse is the gable of the south aisle, which contains a diminutive window; to the right is an exposed section of the north aisle, with a deeply recessed timber-sheeted door in a chamfered surround flanked by square-headed windows.

SOUTH ELEVATION

The south elevation comprises the three-stage entrance tower to the left and an aisle five windows wide. At the far right, the aisle is met at a recessed angle by a square rubble-stone vestibule dating from the original 1844 construction, which is in turn abutted to the south by a brick outshot. The west gable contains a rose window with a continuous sill, surmounted by a quatrefoil aperture.

THE TOWER

The three-stage decorated square tower has its entrance to the south, with angled buttresses with offsets, a pierced spire with lucarnes set behind a fretted parapet, and Gothic pinnacled clasping buttresses. The second stage has a louvered Y-tracery opening with a hood mould and carved head stops. To the west face there is a decorative Gothic blind arcade with a carved band and a clock (dated 1985), together with a tall lancet with hood mould and foliate carved stops. On the south face there is a smooth render band between the first and second stages. The entrance is a double-leaf panelled timber door set within a pointed arch-headed recess, chamfered and channelled above the plinth, with a hood mould bearing carved head stops. Representations of St Philip and St James appear on either side of this main entrance, added when the church was dedicated to those saints at the time of the 1869 enlargement.

INTERIOR

The interior retains considerable original character. A notable feature is the pulpit of Caen stone, with columns and mouldings of Galway marble and panels containing spars and marbles from Cornwall, Devon, Connemara and elsewhere; it was designed by John Lanyon and executed by A P Sharp of Great Brunswick Street, Belfast, and installed in 1876 as reported in the Irish Builder of that year. A central aisle pavement of encaustic tiles was laid in 1912. The original chancel was converted to an organ chamber at the time of the 1869 enlargement; in 1965 the organ — originally installed in 1872 and rebuilt by J W Walker of London — was moved to the west end above the baptistry, and the former organ chamber became the Choir Vestry. The south aisle walls were lined with red brick in 1894, in keeping with the rest of the interior.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The church was built to replace an earlier building on an ancient ecclesiastical site nearer Holywood town centre. That earlier Priory church may incorporate elements of a structure dating from 1190, though the site itself may be considerably older, potentially connected to a Hiberno-Celtic monastery of the early 7th century. An Augustinian abbey was built on the site by Thomas Whyte, agent for John de Courcey, the Anglo-Norman Earl of Ulster, with subsequent remodelling around 1490, 1615 and 1800. By the 1830s the old church had become too small for Holywood's growing population. Following discussion and the rejection of proposals to enlarge the existing building, the decision was taken to build on a new site. Work began in 1842 and was completed in 1844.

Many fittings from the old church were reused in the new building, including memorial tablets and a clock, and possibly some stained glass, though the present clock dates from 1985. According to Auld, the bells installed in the church were acquired from a Dublin architect who had obtained them from Crowe Street Theatre in Dublin. The bells were recast in 1891 by Taylors of Loughborough.

The rapid growth of Holywood following the opening of the railway line in 1846 led to a decision in 1867 to enlarge the church. The enlarged building was consecrated in 1869; the contractors were Messrs Lowry and Son of Great George's Street, Belfast, and the cost was approximately £5,000. The church was listed in Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 at a rateable value of £56, with £4 for land. In 1963 the bells were again overhauled. During the last decade of the 20th century, the church building and parochial hall underwent substantial refurbishment.

SETTING

The church stands in its own grounds to the south of Church Road, to the east of Holywood town centre. It is set opposite the mid-19th century terraces of Church Road, opening onto the street to the north through tall iron gates and railings. There is a paved pathway and car park to the west. The church forms an important group together with the adjacent parochial hall, which stands within the same grounds. The listing extends to the church, boundary wall, railings and gates.