St John's Roman Catholic Church, Castle Hill, Gilford, Co Down, BT63 6HH

St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, Gilford

St John the Evangelist is a detached, double-height Roman Catholic church built around 1850 to designs by Thomas Duff (c.1792–1848), a native of Newry and one of the most significant ecclesiastical architects of his era. He was responsible for several important Catholic churches, notably the Cathedral of St Patrick and Colman in Newry and the Cathedral of St Patrick in Armagh. Duff died of a stroke during the construction of St John's, reportedly brought on by the loss of two of his children who had died within a year of each other. The church is situated on the west side of Castle Hill, Gilford, and is listed along with its boundary wall and pedestrian gate.

The building is rectangular on plan and dominated by a four-stage square-plan tower at its east end, added in 1889. A sympathetic two-storey extension was attached to the west end around 2000. The church is built of local stone quarried at Lower Ballynagarrick.

Exterior

The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles, masonry raised verges, and painted cast-iron gutters on a projecting eaves course. The walls are built in coursed and snecked rubble with a painted projecting plinth and double-height painted diagonal buttresses with offsets, projecting above the raised verges. Windows are generally timber-framed decorative lancets with cast-iron latticed glazing inset with pivoting oculus lights, set within smooth rendered and ruled surrounds with stopped hood moulds and a projecting painted masonry sill course.

The symmetrical east gable is abutted at its centre by the four-stage square-plan tower. The exposed sections to its left and right each contain one window, flanked on the tower side by an additional painted masonry buttress. The tower walls are uncoursed dressed rubble with ashlar angle buttresses with offsets to the first two stages, and ashlar quoins rising thereafter to corner piers with pointed pinnacles and filigree finials. Tower openings are contained within yellow brick surrounds with rubble voussoirs over, unless otherwise noted. The first stage of the tower's east elevation contains three small stained glass lancets with secondary glazing, set within a conjoined stepped yellow brick reveal with chamfered ashlar sills. The east and west faces of the tower each contain a centrally positioned pointed-arched double-leaf timber panelled door, accessed by two stone steps on the south side and a ramp on the north. The second stage of the tower's east elevation has a double lancet window with an oculus above; the east and west cheeks each contain a single lancet. The third stage, delineated by string courses, is diminished in height and contains an oculus window on all four sides. The fourth and uppermost belfry stage has paired pointed-arched louvred lancets on all sides, surmounted by a corbelled overhanging parapet with Irish-style crenellations.

The south elevation is five windows wide, each window divided by a buttress; the leftmost window contains leaded stained glass protected by secondary glazing. The north elevation mirrors the south, with the rightmost window containing leaded stained glass protected by secondary glazing. The west gable has a cross finial and is abutted by the later two-storey extension, which is lower than the nave. This extension is finished in natural slate, cast-iron ogee-profile rainwater goods on a projecting eaves course, and random rubble walls with a projecting painted plinth and double-height diagonal buttresses with offsets projecting above raised verges. Its windows are square-headed timber casements with leaded latticed glazing contained within smooth rendered lined bands with painted projecting keyblocks and masonry sills. The west gable of the extension has a louvred timber door at the left flanked by three windows to the right (the leftmost of which is diminished in width), and two windows at first-floor level to the right. The left cheek of the extension contains a timber panelled door with overlight at the right, a fixed window at landing level at the left, and a diminished window at first-floor level to the right. The right cheek contains a window at centre on each floor.

Interior

The interior layout remains largely unchanged. Original detailing survives alongside some well-executed fittings. The interior was completed in stages as funds became available; in 1863, the Dublin Builder records that John Murray, architect, builder and surveyor of Dundalk — who designed several Catholic churches in County Louth — directed the completion works.

In 1922 and 1929, two memorial stained glass windows were fitted either side of the high altar, donated by a parishioner then living in the United States. These windows were designed by Harry Clarke, one of the foremost stained glass artists of his era. In 1930, the original altar — dedicated in 1850 and wooden apart from the altar stone — was replaced with a new Gothic high altar that had originally been intended for St Peter's Church, Warrenpoint, which was unable to accommodate it after unexpectedly receiving two stained glass windows as a gift. At the same time the church was extensively repaired, a new set of stations of the cross of German origin costing around £500 was installed, and the interior doors and gallery seats were replaced.

Historical Context

The history of the church is closely tied to the industrial development of Gilford. Hugh Dunbar, descendant of a linen family, chose Gilford as the centre of his new spinning enterprise and the Dunbar McMaster & Co spinning mill opened in 1839. It was an immediate success and attracted large numbers of workers to the town. Between 1841 and 1851 the population more than quadrupled, from 643 to 2,814 — a striking contrast to other parts of Ireland at the same period, which were experiencing mass emigration due to famine conditions. The rapid growth in population created a pressing need for a Catholic place of worship in Gilford itself, as the only two Catholic chapels in the area were at Laurencetown Bridge and in the townland of Clare. Hugh Dunbar transferred 2 roods and 23 perches of land to church representatives in 1846 for a nominal half-yearly rent of one penny. A clause in the lease forbade use of any part of the land as a graveyard, so all burials took place at the sister churches at Clare and Laurencetown. Work was underway by November 1846, when the local and national press reported the unfortunate collapse of the church's gable wall, which killed one of the workmen. The dedication of the completed church took place on 5 May 1850 and was attended by many of the local Protestant gentry. St John's was one of the last Catholic churches built in the Diocese of Dromore following Catholic Emancipation in 1829.

The church was first shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 as a rectangular structure with a vestry to the rear. An extension to the front facade is also indicated, though according to the parish history the church was originally built without a tower or belfry. The church and yard are listed in Griffith's Valuation at £50 and £1 respectively, with no changes recorded in subsequent records up to 1930.

The tower and belfry were added in 1889 following fundraising efforts by Father Bernard O'Hagan, parish priest of Tullylish from 1877, who made several lecture tours of the United States to appeal to the Irish diaspora for funds. Patrick Reilly, originally of Tullylish and then living in Baltimore, responded by donating a bell forged at the McShane Bell Foundry, Henry McShane & Co, Baltimore, Maryland — a firm established by Henry McShane, originally of Dundalk. The bell bears the inscription: "McShane Bell Foundry, Henry McShane & Co, Baltimore, Maryland, Trade Mark 1888. Presented by Patrick Reilly Jr Baltimore MD USA to St John's Guilford Co Down, Ireland to the memory of his beloved mother." The original order for the bell survives; its cost was $350.

Setting

The church stands on a large, narrow site accessed from the east through roughly coursed random rubble boundary walls and modern metal gates on decorative posts, with an original pedestrian gate at the left, each with a granite threshold. A former single-storey national school, dated 1879, stands at the south-east corner of the site. This school opened in January 1879 and appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901–2. It served as a Catholic day school until a new school opened in 1957, and has since been used as a parochial hall and nursery.