First Dromara Presbyterian Church, Church Road, Ardtanagh, Co Down, BT25 2NS

First Dromara Presbyterian Church, Church Road, Ardtanagh, County Down

This is a symmetrical, double-height Presbyterian barn church, dated 1826 and listed at Grade B1. It stands on the north side of Kinallen village, near Dromara, and is considered perhaps the most striking example in the province of a simple barn or hall church of its type.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The church is arranged on a lateral rectangular plan with full-height stair-bay projections to each side, giving it a balanced, austere classical character with minimal ornament. The walls are unpainted rendered masonry rising to a shallow parapet, with a series of three ball finials to the side elevations. The roof is hipped, finished in natural slate with angled clay ridge and hip tiles. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

Windows are timber sash with simple horns: 8-over-12 pane, square-headed to the ground floor, and 12-over-8 pane, semi-circular headed to the gallery level, with interlocking glazing bars. Painted masonry cills are used throughout. Some secondary elevations have replacement stained glass windows.

The principal elevation faces south and is five windows wide, extending at either end to enclose the full-height stair bays, which are blank. At ground floor level, three square-headed door openings flank two windows. Each doorway has a double-leaf, 10-panelled timber door with a three-paned sidelight and a five-paned transom. Centrally positioned is a datestone inscribed: 'REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY / TO KEEP IT HOLY / ERECTED BY SUBSCRIPTION / A.D. 1826 / WILLIAM CRAIG / PASTOR'.

The east elevation has a projecting stair bay to the right, with a parapet surmounted by ball finials and a metal-framed bell-frame with bell to the south side of the bay. There are no window openings to this stair bay, and a former door has been infilled and rendered over. To the left of the stair bay is a square-headed stained and leaded glass window of approximately 1988 at ground floor level, with a round-headed gallery window directly above. The rear elevation is partly obscured by the modern link block; to its left is a double-height round-headed stained and leaded glass window, partially obscured by a protective board, with square-headed windows to the left and right. The west elevation mirrors the east in detail, except that the stair bay here retains its original entrance on the south side, now accessed via a replacement double-leaf timber sheeted door reached by five concrete steps with a metal handrail.

A substantial modern church hall is attached to the north by a modern two-storey link block, which is of no architectural interest.

INTERIOR

The interior fabric of the church survives well. Of particular note is a fine woodgrained curvilinear gallery.

SETTING

The church occupies a prominent position on a steep hill overlooking the village of Kinallen. Tarmac hardstandings surround all sides of the building, accessed to the west through a pair of modern steel gates. A large modern church hall extends to the rear to the west, and is of no interest in its own right.

The original steeply sloping entrance avenue is set directly on axis with the central door, descending to the road below where a pair of replacement steel gates sits over two stone steps, supported on original roughcast rendered square piers with shallow pyramidal stone caps. The avenue is flanked by rubble stone walls enclosing burial grounds to either side. Rendered boundary walls continue throughout the setting. The avenue, steps, enclosing walls, and burial grounds form part of the listed extent.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The first Presbyterian congregation in Dromara was established in 1713, originally forming part of the congregation at Dromore. The first meeting house, a small thatched building, was erected in 1735. By 1826 this original building was in a state of ruin and the present church was constructed in its place at a cost of £2,000, funded by private subscription. A stone from the original 1735 meeting house has been incorporated into the masonry of the current building and is inscribed with that date, making it the sole surviving remnant of the earlier structure.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s described the building as a "large, plain, rectangular building in good repair" measuring 85 feet by 69 feet, capable of accommodating a congregation of 1,200. The Townland Valuations of around 1830 valued the church and the sexton's house together at £34 4s. 9d. At that time a National Schoolhouse also stood to the north entrance of the church along the Banbridge–Dromara Road, visible on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833. By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1861, the church, sexton's house, and national schoolhouse were jointly valued at £42, a value maintained until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1923.

From 1795 to 1858, Marybrook Farm in the townland of Kinallen served as the manse for the early ministers of the church. In 1858 a new manse was built in the townland of Tullyniskey at a cost of £600. This manse was sold in 1989 and a modern replacement occupied in 1990.

During the Irish Famine, the local population was decimated through starvation, disease, and emigration. The resulting reduction in the congregation led to the closure of the gallery, which has not been used for seating since that time. The gallery was renovated in 1980 and adapted to display historical artefacts associated with the church.

A significant internal split occurred in 1874 when a majority of the congregation renounced their connection with the General Synod and attempted to break away from First Dromara Presbyterian Church. Following legal proceedings, the dissenting group was required to vacate the site and subsequently formed the Reformed Presbyterian Church on the Ardtanagh Road. As a result, the membership of the original congregation was reduced to only 55 families.

There was little significant change to the building during the early to middle part of the 20th century. In the early 1970s extensive renovations were carried out, and a church hall — since replaced — was added in 1974. The church was listed in 1976. In 1994 new heating and electrical installations were fitted. In 2000 the current church hall and ancillary rooms abutting the church were constructed. In recent years membership has grown by over 50%, with the current congregation standing at around 200 families. The church remains in active use as a place of worship.