Methodist Church, Maypole Hill, Dromore, Co Down, BT25 1BQ

Methodist Church, Maypole Hill, Dromore

A gabled double-height polychrome Methodist church with adjoining single-storey former Sunday school (now Minister's office) and associated two-storey manse, built around 1870 to designs by William Gray. The church is situated on the west side of Maypole Hill in Dromore town centre.

The church is rectangular on plan with a single-storey gabled porch to the front and a modern single-storey lean-to abutment to the rear. The pitched natural slate roof features raised verges, cavetto-moulded kneeler stones and finials to the gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods sit on projecting brick eaves.

The walling is English garden wall-bonded red brick on a stone plinth. Decorative detail includes a mid-level logged yellow-brick string course, a black brick string course at impost level and platband. Windows are likely original, comprising some with leaded-and-stained glass and others margin-paned with coloured glass. Ground floor windows are cambered whilst first floor windows are round-headed, all with painted sills and decorative polychrome brick voussoirs.

The principal elevation facing east features a large plate tracery oculus over the central gabled porch, with windows to left and right at gallery level. A carved banner to the porch gable reads "WESLEYAN". Twin entrances are flanked by corner pilasters and divided by a semi-engaged column, all with ornately carved capitals. Diagonal timber-sheeted doors with fixed tympanum sit in round-headed openings with sandstone thresholds.

The south elevation has five evenly-spaced windows to the ground floor and gallery. The west elevation is blank, abutted by the modern lean-to abutment. The north elevation is abutted at left by the adjoining Minister's office, with two timber oculi to the gallery at left and two round-headed windows at right, plus a segmental-headed window to the ground floor at right.

The adjoining single-storey Minister's office and two-storey manse are similarly styled in stretcher-bonded red brick. The Minister's office features a pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and a projecting entrance porch to the front flanked by uPVC windows. The porch has bargeboards to the gable and contains a double-leaf timber-sheeted entrance door with round-headed fixed tympanum and flush sandstone voussoirs. The rear has been modified with a cement-rendered flat-roof return and timber-sheeted double-leaf doors.

The manse is two-storey with three bays, symmetrically arranged with a projecting ground floor incorporating a modern entrance porch. It has a pitched natural slate roof with rendered chimneystacks to the gables. uPVC windows and modern uPVC entrance doors with sidelights and transom light feature throughout.

The buildings are set back from the main road, directly opposite St Colman's Parish Church. A parapet wall to the front with coping stones is topped by original cast-iron railings with fleur-des-lis finials, extending north to incorporate the Minister's office and manse. A modern two-storey cement-rendered church hall stands to the rear, with a large tarmacadamed car park.