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

St. Paul's Church of Ireland

St. Paul's Church of Ireland is a detached, double-height Church of Ireland building erected around 1870. It is located on a sloping site on the east side of High Street in Gilford, County Down.

The church adopts a cruciform plan with a chancel at the east and transepts at the north and south. The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles, raised masonry verges with corbelled ends, a chimney at the east end, and acroteria at each apex. Cast-iron gutters are painted.

The walls are constructed of roughly coursed random rubble with a plinth and ashlar plinth course. Quoins and buttresses are of irregularly stepped ashlar with offsetting. Windows throughout are lancet style with stained leaded lights and external secondary glazing. Each window sits within a gothic arched opening with ashlar voussoirs, irregularly stepped ashlar quoins, and chamfered ashlar sills.

The west gable is buttressed by a gabled projecting bay. To the right and left of the gable, exposed areas are blank. On the left, a large three-stage offset angle buttress supports a bell-cote, which projects above the eaves line. The stone gabled bell-cote contains a gothic opening for the bell with a string course at impost level and is surmounted by a cusped blind opening at the apex. A stone gabled roof tops the bell-cote, crowned by a circular shaft with a stepped cone finial.

The projecting bay gable has a three-tiered plinth with two ventilation slots. Above these sit two sets of paired gothic-arched plate-tracery windows with a continuous sill course and projecting hoodmould terminating at a continuous string course at impost level. These windows are surmounted by a string course and cusped tracery oculus with double-chamfered ashlar surround and rubble voussoirs. The left cheek contains 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 with a blank exposed section.

The south face of the porch features a diagonally sheeted double-leaf timber door at gable level, accessed by five stone steps with plainly detailed metal handrail. The right cheek is blank and the left cheek contains a single square-headed window.

The north elevation has four windows to the right of the north transept (the leftmost being a high-level oculus) divided by a central two-stage angle buttress. The north transept gable contains paired gothic-arched windows within a stone relieving arch, with a ventilation oculus at the apex. The left cheek has a single window, while the right cheek is abutted at its internal angle by a single-storey lean-to porch. The lean-to porch's north face contains a timber-sheeted door within deep ashlar surrounds, accessed by two stone steps (now covered by a modern steel ramp), and a single square-headed window at the centre of the right cheek.

The east gable is abutted at centre by a 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 is abutted by a lean-to vestry and the right cheek by a lean-to organ chamber. The organ chamber has a single east-facing window, with its right cheek blank. The vestry's east face has a timber-sheeted door at left flanked by a square-headed window at right; its left cheek contains a single square-headed window.

The south elevation is abutted to the right by the south transept and has four windows to the right, 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 centre.

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