St Mary's R C Church, Greenhill Road, Lisnavaghrog, Banbridge, County Down, BT32 5QY

A double-height Gothic-style Roman Catholic Church with chancel, built c.1858 to the designs of William Barre. Located adjacent on the Greenhill Road, north of the junction with Seafin Road, approximately 3 miles north of Rathfriland. Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles and stone skews; cast-iron ogee moulded rainwater goods. Random rubble masonry walling built to course at plinth level; granite quoins and dress stone; two-stage buttresses. Pointed-arch windows with irregular long-and-short chamfered granite surrounds; geometrical stone tracery with leaded glazing. Pointed-arch doorway with deep set moulded surrounds with hood moulding and geometric raised-and-pointed stops; replacement timber sheeted doors. The principal gable faces west and is symmetrically arranged and flanked with diagonal buttresses. The door is centrally located. Large west window over; cusped geometrical tracery with quatrefoils and central cross; hood moulding with plain stops. Plain raked stone coping and bell cote surmounted by an apex cross. The north elevation is symmetrical in principal; steep inclined site dropping to the left. Five windows wide, partitioned with buttresses. Ramp running from the centre to the left serving secondary entrance (see rear gable). The rear gable is blank surmounted by filigree apex cross; abutted by diminished-in-scale chancel flanked by diagonal buttresses and raised on tall plinth due to sloping site; large east window, similar style to west with variations to detailing; no hood moulding. Single lancet stained glass window to the left cheek. The right cheek has a masonry chimney breaking through eaves. Further abutted by a lower flat-roofed single-storey over basement secondary entrance; Tudor-arched door surround with raised apex; chamfered jambs with stops; paired lancet windows over basement door to the north elevation, the east elevation is abutted by a modern flat roofed two-storey over basement extension; of no interest. The south elevation largely matches the north; the far left bay has a Tudor-arched door, matching the rear entrance, with a statuette of Our Lady set into lancet-arched niche. Setting: Set within a rural context, minor road running adjacent to the west. Graveyard to the south and tarmac carpark to the north and east. The site is bounded by a rubble masonry wall; modern railings and gates. Inscribed stone on the wall from previous church; “AIDED AND GIFTED BY THE DIFFERENT DENIMINATIONS OF CHRISTIANS, THIS CHAPEL BUILT BY THE REVd JAMEs McKEY A.D.1807.AS OFTEN AS DEVINE SERVICE IS PERFORMED PRAYERS TO BE OFFERED FOR ALL PEOPLE WHO CONTRIBUTED TOWARDS THE BUILDING OF.” Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Rubble masonry Windows: Leaded RWG: Cast-iron