St. Paul's Church of Ireland, High Street, Gilford, Co Down, BT63 6HY

St Paul's Church of Ireland is a detached, double-height cruciform church built between 1868 and 1869 to designs by the prominent architectural practice of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon, and consecrated in November 1869. It stands on a sloping site on the east side of High Street in Gilford, County Down. The builder was John Collen of Portadown, who was specially commended for completing the work within twelve months at a total cost of £4,000. The church was designed to seat 600 and was described at the time as being in the 'Early French' style, with a 'fine open-timbered roof'.

EXTERIOR

The plan is cruciform, comprising a chancel at the east end and transepts to the north and south. The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles, masonry raised verges with corbelled ends, a chimney at the east end, and an acroterion at each apex. Rainwater goods are painted cast iron. The walling throughout is roughly coursed random rubble with a plinth, ashlar plinth course, and irregularly stepped ashlar quoins and buttresses with off-setting.

Windows are in a lancet style with stained leaded lights and external secondary glazing, all contained within gothic arched openings with ashlar voussoirs, irregularly stepped ashlar quoins, and chamfered ashlar sills.

The west gable is abutted by a gabled projecting bay. The exposed area to the right of this bay is blank; the exposed area to the left is also blank and carries a large three-stage off-set angle buttress that supports a bell-cote projecting above the eaves line. This stone gabled bell-cote contains a gothic opening housing the bell, with a string course at impost level and a cusped blind opening at the apex. The stone gabled roof above is surmounted by a circular shaft with a stepped cone finial. The projecting bay gable has a three-tiered plinth with two ventilation slots, above which are two sets of paired gothic-arched plate-tracery windows with a continuous sill course and a projecting hoodmould terminating at a continuous string course at impost level. Above the windows is a string course and a cusped tracery oculus with a double-chamfered ashlar surround and rubble voussoirs terminating at another string course. The left cheek of the projecting bay has a square-headed timber sheeted door within a chamfered stone surround at basement level; the remainder is blank. The right cheek is abutted by a single-storey pitch-roofed porch; the exposed section is blank. The south face of the porch has a diagonally sheeted double-leaf timber door at the gable end, accessed by five stone steps with a plainly detailed metal handrail; the right cheek is blank and the left cheek contains a single square-headed window.

The north elevation is abutted to the left by the north transept, which is lower than the main body; there are four windows to the right, the leftmost of which is an oculus at high level, with a central two-stage angle buttress. The north transept gable has paired gothic-arched windows within a stone relieving arch, with a ventilation oculus at the apex. The left cheek of the transept has a single window; the right cheek is abutted at the internal angle by a single-storey lean-to porch, the exposed section of which is blank. The north face of this lean-to porch contains a timber sheeted door within deep ashlar surrounds, accessed by two stone steps now covered by a modern steel ramp; the right cheek has a single square-headed window at its centre.

The east gable is abutted at the centre by the slightly lower chancel; the exposed section has a chimney to the left of centre and a ventilation oculus at the apex. The chancel gable contains a large geometric tracery window with a ventilation oculus at the apex. The left cheek of the chancel is abutted by a lean-to vestry and the right cheek by a lean-to organ chamber. The organ chamber has a single window at the east end; the right cheek is blank. The vestry east face has a timber sheeted door to the left flanked by a square-headed window to the right; the left cheek contains a single square-headed window to the left. The south elevation mirrors the north, abutted to the right by the south transept; four windows to the right are divided by a central two-stage angle buttress. The south transept gable contains paired gothic-arched windows within a stone relieving arch with a ventilation oculus at the apex; the right cheek is blank and the left cheek has a single window at its centre.

INTERIOR

The church is particularly noted for its fine open-timbered roof, which survives as a key feature of the interior. The stained glass is of considerable interest: the east window is by Caldwell of Canterbury and the west window by Mayer of Munich. Much of the stained glass was donated by, and commemorates, J W McMaster and his family, the principal benefactors of the church. A handrail and marble plinth on the chancel steps were erected in memory of Captain L P S Orr, MP for South Down from 1951 to 1974. An organ donated by Hugh Watson Esq was an original fitting; a new organ was installed in 1957. The bell, donated by Hugh Dunbar McMaster, was recast from a 1681 bell that formerly hung in the belfry of the Middle Church at Ballinderry.

SETTING

The church is set on a sloping site, accessed from the west through roughly coursed random rubble boundary walls and metal gates supported on decorative ashlar piers. These piers feature a chamfered plinth, stepped bullnosed corners with stops, a quatrefoil cusped blind opening, and a pyramidal coping with saw-toothed detailing topped by a cast-iron barley twist lamp fitting. Pedestrian access is via a steeply sloping tarmac drive to the south side. A later church hall of no special interest is located to the south, accessed by steps from High Street to the west.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The history of Gilford in the 19th century is closely bound up with the fortunes of its spinning mill. Hugh Dunbar, descended from a linen family whose grandfather had leased property at Huntley from the Whytes of Loughbrickland and had manufactured thread there using hand-loom weavers, was compelled by 1834 to establish his own spinning mill in response to competition from mill-spun yarns produced by the new wet-spinning process. He chose Gilford as the centre of his new enterprise, and Dunbar McMaster and Co spinning mill opened in 1839 in partnership with John Walsh McMaster of Armagh. The mill's immediate success drew large numbers of workers to the town: between 1841 and 1871 the population more than quadrupled, from 643 to 2,720, in marked contrast to other parts of Ireland that were experiencing mass emigration due to famine conditions.

At the time of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, the parish church had been situated about a mile to the east of Gilford in Tullylish townland. This earlier church was described as 'very old', capable of accommodating around 600 people, and 'generally very full'. In 1865, J W McMaster applied to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to build a new church in Gilford, on the grounds that the distance to Tullylish discouraged attendance. He offered to donate a site valued at £250, a contribution of £1,000, an endowment of £40 per year, and £750 towards a house for the incumbent. The foundation stone of the present church was laid in October 1868. The benefice of Gilford was designated a 'vicarage' under the Ecclesiastical Tithes Act, a designation retained today for the rector's house. The church first appeared on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901–2, and through an oversight was not included in valuation records until 1909, when it was given a valuation of £110. Gilford became a curacy briefly in 1991 and full parochial status was restored in 1995.