St Matthew's Parish Church, Main Street, Scarva, Craigavon, Co Down, BT63 6LS

St Matthew's Parish Church, Scarva

St Matthew's Parish Church is a double-height rubble stone Church of Ireland building with a two-stage entrance tower and stone broach spire, designed by architect James Sands and built between 1847 and 1850. It stands on an elevated site west of Main Street in Scarva, set on an east-west axis, and is notable for its intact architectural detailing, well-preserved Victorian interior, and largely unchanged setting. The church's origins are closely bound up with the Reilly family of Scarva House, who founded the village, donated the site, and funded much of the building.

Historical Background

The village of Scarva was founded in 1746 by John Reilly of Scarva House, beside the newly opened Newry Canal. Reilly also built a Presbyterian meeting house in 1753, which remained the only place of worship in Scarva for a century. A new Church of Ireland parish was formed at Scarva in 1846, carved out of parts of the parishes of Aghaderg, Tullylish, and Ballymore. The foundation stone of the new church was laid in September 1847 by John Temple Reilly of Scarva House — local landlord, descendant of the village's founder, and agent of the Marquis of Downshire — who had donated both the site and was the principal financial contributor to the building. A ceremonial trowel and apron was presented to him by the architect James Sands at the ceremony. The church was built by contractor William Parker of Armagh and consecrated on 15th September 1850, its dedication to St Matthew reflecting that saint's feast day of 21st September.

The site had earlier significance: the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 shows a small square structure on the site known as General Monk's Castle, believed to have been a tower house built by General Monk in 1641 to protect the pass through the Great Bog. According to the historian Knox, the earthen ramparts on the site were levelled by John Temple Reilly in 1847 when construction began, and the stones of the old castle were used in the church's foundations. The tower of the church stands on the exact position of the old castle, and the graveyard occupies the site of the former ramparts.

At the time of its construction, the Newry Telegraph of 9th September 1847 described the building as being "of the most improved order of church architecture" — plain but beautifully proportioned and "chastely ornamented", occupying a commanding position high above the village, backed by the wooded hill of Lisnagade and the grounds of Scarva House. The church is first shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1860, set within a graveyard planted with trees and with a long entrance pathway leading to Scarva's main street via the schoolhouse. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 lists it as a church and graveyard valued at £30 and £1 respectively, with no changes recorded in subsequent Annual Revisions.

Later alterations included internal renovations in accordance with "modern ideas" noted by Bassett's County Down Directory of 1886, which records new-style seating and a handsome reading desk and pulpit. In 1898 the Belfast Newsletter reported the church had reopened following several weeks of internal renovation and external repairs, including repainting and the installation of hot water pipe heating by Messrs Riddell & Co of Belfast. Scarva was grouped with Aghaderg parish church in 1982, and two modern stained glass windows have been installed in recent years.

Exterior

The church is built of random rubble stone with sandstone dressings, including a chamfered plinth and quoins. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with blue and black angled ridge tiles, raised verges with kneeler stones, and cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on an ovolo-moulded eaves course. Windows throughout are mainly timber-framed cast-iron lattice lancets set in sandstone surrounds with splayed sills and hood moulds.

The west gable is abutted by the central entrance tower, with the exposed sections of the gable left blank. The tower's ground floor has a Tudor-arched opening to the south containing a replacement square-headed, timber-sheeted double-leaf door with a timber-sheeted tympanum. Above the door is a rectangular Gothic stone plaque with cusped detailing and a shield inscribed: "Erected to the Glory of the Most Holy Trinity. AD 1850". The west elevation of the tower has a lattice-paned lancet at ground floor level, and the north elevation has a blind lancet. A moulded string course separates the first stage from the belfry stage above, which has Y-tracery louvred vents to three sides and is surmounted by a broach spire with lucarnes, set on a corbelled string course over a plain recessed frieze.

The north elevation of the nave is four windows wide. To the east, a small chancel abuts the nave and contains three graded leaded and stained glass lancets covered by a wire panel. The south elevation of the nave has a window to either side of a central symmetrical gabled projection. This central break-front bay has a single lancet, corbelled kneelers, and a Gothic pinnacle to the apex. The flanking bays each have a single lancet with lozenge-shaped latticework; the left cheek is blank, while the right cheek has a modern square-headed, timber-sheeted door.

Setting

The church stands on an elevated site accessed via a tarmacadam lane to the south, with views westward over the village and to the surrounding farmland. The site is bounded by a rubble stone boundary wall of good quality. A modern housing estate lies to the east. The surrounding graveyard contains headstones dating from the mid-19th century onwards.

To the west is a set of red-brick gate piers with yellow brick dressings and sandstone caps, supporting a cast-iron arch and gate. To the north of these is a set of fluted sandstone gate piers with a decorated frieze and pointed caps supporting a replacement latch gate. The entrance gates at the southeast corner have large sandstone gate piers with chamfered shafts and pointed caps supporting cast-iron gates. Steps lead down from the site to the rear entrance of St Matthew's Parochial Hall. The listing covers the church itself together with the boundary walls and gates.