St Mellan's Parish Church, Aghaderg, Loughbrickland, Co Down, BT32 3NH

St Mellan's Parish Church is a Church of Ireland building of late 17th century origin, substantially altered and extended during the 19th century. The central nave dates from around 1688, when the church was rebuilt following its destruction in the 1641 rebellion. A tower and spire were added in 1819–21, and in 1876–8 the church was enlarged by the addition of a chancel to designs by architect William James Watson of Newry. Further repairs and improvements took place in the 1890s. The church stands elevated on the southern part of its site, overlooking Scarva Street, at the junction of Scarva Street, Main Street and Banbridge Road in Loughbrickland.

Historical Background

Records indicate a church at Aghaderg from 1306, originally thought to have stood near the south end of Loughbrickland lough. Around 1600, Sir Marmaduke Whitchurch, who had been granted the surrounding lands, relocated the church to its present position, reportedly using stone from the Franciscan Friary in the townland of Drumsallagh. That building was destroyed in the 1641 rebellion, and a new church was built around 1688 and dedicated to St Mellan. The tower and spire were added between 1819 and 1821, funded in part by a loan of £500 from the Board of First Fruits. The church is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 and was valued at £16 in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40, rising to £27 in Griffith's Valuation.

In 1876, William James Watson was engaged to enlarge and improve the church. The contractors were Whelan and Watson of Newry, and the total cost exceeded £1,100. The works involved adding a new chancel, removing the plaster ceiling to expose the roof structure, and removing the box pews. The church reopened in 1878 after what contemporary sources described as extensive improvements and enlargement. The 17th century nave had previously consisted simply of massive stone walls and a heavy plastered ceiling. The new chancel was built of local blue stone jointed in cement, with lancet windows and buttresses to each side, freestone copings, barge courses and dressings, and an ornamental slate roof crested with ornamental ridge tiles. The fine tracery window containing stained glass, which had formerly stood at the east end of the nave, was relocated with good effect into the eastern gable of the new chancel.

The nave roof alteration was achieved without disturbing the existing rafters or slating. The heavy plastered ceiling and the large rough principals beneath it were removed and replaced with an open pitch pine timber roof. New bench ends replaced the former pew framings and doors. The pulpit and reading desk were altered and improved, and a new font was supplied by Messrs Sibthorpe and Son of Great Brunswick Street, gifted by the Misses Lefroy, with the cost of £600 subscribed by Dean Lefroy, Mrs Lefroy and their personal friends. The chancel floor was laid with encaustic tiles of chaste design and colours from Minton's manufactory. Contemporary sources noted that as it then stood, Aghaderg Church was perhaps one of the most complete old parish churches in the north of Ireland.

In 1886 a church bell was dedicated in memory of the Reverend Lefroy, Rector of Loughbrickland and Dean of Dromore, and father of George Lefroy who became Bishop of Lahore and Metropolitan of India. The 25 hundredweight bell was cast by Messrs Llewellin and James of Bristol. The preparation of the tower and the wooden cage in which the bell hangs, and the work of hoisting it into position, was carried out by Alexander Whelan of Newry. An older bell also survives in the tower, weighing 168 pounds and bearing the inscription "I was made for Ahoderick [Aghaderg] Church by HP 1698." A tradition recorded in the Belfast Newsletter holds that this bell was given to the church by King William III, who is said to have spent a week in the parish during his march from Carrickfergus to the Boyne in 1690, encamping his army there while reviewing his troops and making arrangements for the final struggle with James II.

In 1891 a stained glass window by Bell of Bristol was erected in the south wall in memory of the granddaughter of Dean Lefroy. The cut-stone mullions were of Dungannon sandstone and were executed by Mr Whelan to designs by William Watson of Warrenpoint, the architect of the earlier chancel extension. In 1893 the church reopened after further repairs and improvements. The vestry had the spire thoroughly repaired, and the internal walls were coloured in delicate tints and ornamented with stencil patterns in keeping with the architectural features of the building. A stove was replaced with one of Musgrave's small-bore hot-water heating apparatus, and duplex lamps suspended singly from the roof timbers replaced the old candlesticks.

Exterior

The church is of rectangular plan with a later chancel to the east. Roofing throughout the main body is natural slate with clay ridge tiles, scalloped courses over the chancel, weather copings with gablets over the chancel, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods. The main body of the church is built in galleted rubble masonry. The chancel is rubble masonry with sandstone dressings. The tower is rubble masonry with granite dressings and a dressed stone spire.

Windows to the main body are Gothic in style with lattice Y-tracery, granite cills and rubble voussoirs. The more elaborately detailed windows feature Gothic-arched cusped sandstone Y-tracery with a centre trefoil, long-and-short surrounds with a chamfered cill, and hood mouldings with moulded stops. The principal entrance is a double-leaf timber panelled door with a Gothic-arched overlight with intersecting glazing bars, set into chamfered granite surrounds.

The principal gable faces west and is asymmetrically arranged, with a single cusped lancet window to the left and an infilled square-headed opening to the right. Centrally abutting this gable is a three-stage symmetrical tower with projecting corner piers surmounted by plain pinnacles and an octagonal stone spire with a copper spherical finial. The west face of the tower has a blank Gothic-arched recess with granite surrounds at ground level, rising to a string course. The second stage carries a rhombus-shaped plaque centrally inscribed: "ERECTED A.D. 1821. RIGHT REV. JAMES SAURIN DR. LORD BISHOP OF DROMORE. JOHN P. GORDON OF WOODWILLE ESQ AND WILLIAM FIVEY OF UNION LODGE ESQ CHURCH WARDENS", rising to a further string course. The third stage has a Gothic-arched opening with Y-tracery timber louvres, rising to a string course and surmounted by a crenellated parapet. The south elevation of the tower matches the west, except that the first stage is blank and the second stage has a square-headed bipartite lattice window centrally placed. The north elevation matches the south except for a door centrally located at first stage level. The east elevation of the tower is abutted at first and second stage level by the nave, with the third stage matching the west elevation.

The north elevation of the church sits on an incline and is asymmetrically arranged with three windows. The left window is a sandstone intervention; the centre and right windows are lattice. The right corner has been reinstated with squared granite quoins. There is a two-stage buttress to the left with matching details to the later chancel.

The east gable is blank and is abutted by the subservient chancel, which has a lower ridge level and is of a different stone type. The east elevation of the chancel features a large Gothic-arched stained glass window with sandstone geometric tracery and surrounds and a quatrefoil oculus above. The chancel gable has sandstone coping with kneeler stones and a moulded apex and shoulders. The north and south cheeks of the chancel each have a single Gothic-arched sandstone cusped window centrally positioned and a two-stage buttress flush with the east gable. A single-storey lean-to boiler house abuts the south face, accessed by steps, with a replacement door set into a camber-arched granite surround.

The south elevation is asymmetrically arranged and four windows wide. Two Gothic sandstone windows appear at the far right and left of centre. There is a lattice window right of centre and a narrow lattice window at the far left. The right end is abutted by a two-stage buttress, and the left corner shows a distinct bow to the masonry.

Interior

The interior is of particular note. The roof structure is a fine open pitch pine timber roof installed during the 1876–8 works to replace the original heavy plastered ceiling. Unusual stencilwork decorates the internal walls, applied during the 1893 improvements in delicate tints with patterns designed to complement the architectural character of the building.

Setting

The church sits elevated on the southern part of its site, overlooking Scarva Street. The grounds are predominantly occupied by a graveyard and are bounded by rubble stone walling. Adjacent to the main entrance, the boundary incorporates railings of wrought and cast iron alongside a pair of robust masonry piers with granite copings, supporting wrought and cast iron gates with arrowhead detailing. A telephone kiosk stands adjacent to the wall at the northern part of the site. St Patrick's Church lies to the north-east.