St. Mary's Parish Church, The Square, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5DU

St. Mary's Parish Church, Comber

St. Mary's is a compact, relatively simple gothic church built in 1840, set back from the east side of The Square in Comber and surrounded by a graveyard. The building comprises a single storey nave with a three storey tower to the south, a projecting transept to the north, a gabled chancel projection to the east, and a small modern vestry extension with monopitched roof attached to the south via a short linking corridor.

The tower dominates the composition. Its entrance doorway, at ground floor level on the south face, consists of a pointed arch opening with chamfered sandstone reveal and recessed timber panelled double doors, with label moulding above. At approximately first floor level is a small roundel window with tracery, chamfered sandstone reveal and label moulding, with projecting stone courses above and below. Above the upper course sits a tall louvered pointed arch headed opening with twin lancet tracery. The west face of the tower has a tall pointed arch headed window with double lancet tracery and small lattice panes, with the remains of a gravestone cemented into the wall directly below at ground level. At first floor level is a traditional round clock face with gold Roman numerals and hands on a black background, and a louvered window at the uppermost level. The north and east faces of the tower have similar louvered windows at the uppermost level. The tower is topped with castellations and octagonal corner pinnacles, with another projecting stone course above the uppermost window. The tower is finished in rough cast.

The exposed sections of the east gable of the nave, either side of the tower, each have a single tall pointed arch window with lattice panes. The northern section has a red sandstone gravestone cemented to the wall directly below. This gable has diagonal buttresses. The north façade of the nave has two windows at ground level, with small square sandstone dressed vents below them. To the left is a large projecting gabled transept. The west face of the transept has two windows matching those of the nave, and its gable contains a large window with a shallow pointed arch head and perpendicular-like thick sandstone tracery. Below this window, where the ground slopes away to reveal a semi-basement boiler house, are three recessed windows with single fixed light panes of toughened glass and flush sandstone cills. To the left of these windows is a low plain timber sheeted doorway with louvered panel. The east face of the transept is blank. The east gable of the nave has a gabled chancel projection with a window to its gable matching that of the transept. The north and south faces of the chancel are blank. The south façade of the nave has three pointed arch windows to the centre and left, with similar vents beneath as on the north façade; the second and third windows contain stained glass. To the right of this façade is the modern vestry extension.

The façades of the nave, transept and chancel are finished in lined cement render. The roofs of the nave, transept and chancel are covered in natural slate and have raised sandstone parapets with corbelled edges. The transept roof has a tall chimney stack relating to the semi-basement boiler house. Cast iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The building has a chamfered base. The lower part of the chancel façade is largely covered in ivy growth.

The graveyard surrounding the church contains headstones dating back at least to the 17th century, including the large Andrews burial vault of 1867 to the west side. Around the chancel is a low rubble wall with simple wrought iron railings, now largely covered in thick ivy growth. To the west of the church is a random fieldstone greywacke rubble wall with a gateway leading to The Square. The gateway has tall square pillars with decorative but relatively simple caps with ball pinnacles. The cap bears an inscription reading 'Thos. Andrews & Jas. Lemont CW (church wardens) 1774'. The gates themselves are simple wrought iron affairs dating from the early to mid 19th century, and are surmounted by a wrought iron arch with a lantern at its apex.

The church was built in 1840 to replace an earlier structure largely constructed in the 1620s by Hugh Montgomery, Lord of The Ards, from the ruins of a Cistercian abbey church originally established in 1199. The older church is described in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1837 as 'a small, very old and oblong building…capable of accommodating about 300'. The clock and a chandelier (which appears to have been removed) were presented by Viscountess Castlereagh in 1841. The rectory, which may have dated from the 18th century and originally stood to the southeast of the graveyard, was demolished sometime in the mid 20th century.