Presbyterian Church, Hill St., Lurgan, Co.Armagh

Presbyterian Church, Hill Street, Lurgan

This is a Gothic style Presbyterian church built between 1861 and 1864 to designs by James McNea. The building is largely constructed in squared, rock-faced semi-coursed basalt with light grey-brown sandstone quoins and dressings. It forms a rectangular, gable-fronted block facing roughly east, with a reducing two-stage tower positioned at the north-east corner. A copper-clad octagonal spire with lucarnes to every other facet was added to the tower after 1888. The church has been significantly extended and modified: a large, modern two-storey hall extension was either rebuilt or remodelled in 2003-04, completely covering the entire west end of the building and part of the west end of the south elevation. An additional narrow modern part-single, part two-storey projection links the church to what was originally a pair of semi-detached houses (built after 1864) on the south side, now extended and converted to church offices.

The walls feature reducing diagonal buttresses at the corners in dressed sandstone with irregularly infilled basalt. Similar buttresses appear on the lower stage of the tower. The tower itself is finished to match the walls and is topped with a sandstone parapet containing a series of cusped niches in the manner of a blind arcade, with tall corner pinnacles. Most openings throughout the building feature pointed arch heads. The slated roof is fitted with lead-clad gable parapets, bracketed eaves and three ridge ventilation projections, one of which is modern.

The front gable displays a central shallow entrance porch projection with a pitched roof covered in dressed stone tiles and end reducing buttresses. The pointed arch entrance has a moulded sandstone archivolt with three-quarter Tuscan column jambs and a modern door and overlight. Directly above the porch is a relatively large window with drip moulding, sandstone tracery and stained glazing, with a quatrefoil-like opening set in a small roundel recess above. The tower contains tall louvered openings to the east, west and north faces of the upper stage, and a similar-sized stained-glass window to the lower stage of the west face. A doorway on the north face has a panelled and partially louvered timber door with arch panel, above which is a roundel date stone inscribed "A.D.1862".

The north face of the main body has four relatively tall stained-glass windows. The south face has a similar arrangement, though most are now obscured by the extensions. The west gable is abutted by the modern hall extension, with only a small rendered upper portion remaining visible. The hall extension, enlarged and remodelled around 2004, contains no features of architectural interest.

The former semi-detached houses have retained much of their original character but have been comprehensively refurbished, with a large modern return added to the rear. Works linking these buildings to the church and hall extension appear to have been carried out around 1993-94. All original window frames and doors have been replaced with modern versions; chimneystacks have been removed and roof coverings replaced with modern tiles.

Around the exposed north and east sides, the church is enclosed by low stone walling with painted stone coping and wrought-iron railings. A significant section of the north walling has been altered with concrete coping and railings of slightly different design, whilst the section at the east end beyond a pedestrian gateway is constructed in lower grey brick. The main gateway to the east retains original pier and coping detailing and what appear to be original wrought-iron gates with a wrought-iron arch above, which may originally have supported a lamp fitting. The area between the walling and the church has been re-paved.