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

Holywood Parish Church of Ireland is a double-height Victorian Gothic parish church with tower, built to designs by Charles Lanyon in 1844 and substantially altered and extended to plans by Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon in 1869. It stands to the south of Church Road near Holywood town centre.

The church is rectangular on plan, set on an east-west axis, with a three-stage entrance tower positioned to the southwest. The 1869 additions introduced a new nave, chancel and north aisle. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with fish-scale bands and blue and black clay ridge tiles; cross finials crown the gables, and a large round sandstone pinnacle tops the northeast gable, with a gothic round pinnacle to the southwest buttress. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with squared downpipes run along sandstone eaves.

The original 1844 walling comprises uncoursed rubble sandstone with a masonry plinth to the nave, north aisle and apse. The tower and south aisle received smooth render with sandstone quoins in 1896. Windows are equilateral arched leaded stained glass from the 1900s, set in sandstone ashlar blocked surrounds with chamfered masonry sills.

The north elevation features the side aisle and clerestory, with a projecting gabled porch at the west end containing large cast-iron gates set in a recessed pointed-arched surround flanked by diminutive semi-engaged columns with Corinthian capitals. The porch has a centred roundel with carved inset, and paired windows surmounted by a quatrefoil aperture. The east end of the side aisle terminates in a gabled vestry with a single window and moulded roundel. The apsidal east end has paired windows on each side.

The south elevation comprises the entrance tower on the left and a five-window aisle. To the far right, a square rubble-stone vestibule from the original 1844 construction is set at a recessed angle, abutted to the south by a brick off-shot. The south aisle gable contains a diminutive window, while the exposed north aisle section features a deeply recessed timber-sheeted door in a chamfered surround flanked by square-headed windows.

The west gable contains a rose window with continuous sill, surmounted by a quatrefoil aperture. The three-stage entrance tower has angled buttresses with offsets and a pierced spire with lucarnes behind a fretted parapet, topped by gothic pinnacled clasping buttresses. The second stage features a louvered Y-tracery opening with hood mould and carved head stops. A decorative gothic blind arcade with carved band and a clock dated 1985 ornaments the west face, along with a tall lancet with hood mould and foliate carved stops. A smooth render band separates the first and second stages on the south face. The entrance portal comprises a double-leaf panelled timber door in a pointed arch-headed recess, chamfered and channelled above the plinth, with hood mould and carved head stops.

The church stands within its own grounds adjacent to the mid-19th century terraces of Church Road. It opens onto Church Road to the north through tall iron gates and railings, with a paved pathway and car park to the west. The parochial parish hall stands opposite.