Ballyroney Presbyterian Church, Tirkelly Hill Road, Banbridge, County Down, BT32 5EW

A double-height Gothic-style Presbyterian Church dated 1929. Rectangular plan form with a small abutment to the rear. Located adjacent to the former Post Office (HB17/09/022A) situated at the junction of Seafin Road and Tierkelly Road approximately 2 miles north of Rathfriland. Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; chamfered modillions supporting replacement uPVC rainwater goods. Hewn rubble masonry walling to the principal façade with ashlar dress stone; projected plinth; roughcast render to the other elevations. Leaded coloured lights set into pointed-arched openings with chamfered long-and-short surrounds and cill; Y-tracery with central horizontal masonry spandrel. Timber sheeted double-leaf door with wrought-iron strap hinges and ironmongery; leaded over light set into pointed-arch long-and short ashlar surround with hood moulding; accessed by five masonry steps with modern hand rail. The principal gable faces east and is symmetrically arranged. Skew-table gable with stepped apex; triple pointed-arch windows (central window slightly taller) with blank quatrefoil over. Single-storey porch with shaped leaded parapet; centrally located door flanked by diminished-in-scale leaded windows; single-stage angle buttresses. Porch flanked by double-height projecting hipped bays with single windows centrally located; diagonal two-stage buttresses. Foundation stone to the left bay inscribed with “THIS STONE WAS LAID BY Wm STRANAHAN Esq J.P. NEWCASTLE 1929” Inscribed slate on the right bay “REBUILT BY SUBSCRIPTIONS IN THE YEAR 1832. ALEXANDER HERON PASTOR. KEEP THY FOOT WHEN THOU GOEST TO THE HOUSE OF GOD AND BE MORE READY TO HEAR THAN TO GIVE THE SACRIFICE OF FOOLS. ECC V.I.” The left elevation is six bays wide. The far right comprising hewn rubble masonry walling with single first floor window with square-headed ground floor window directly below to the right; single door to the left. The five bays to the right are roughcast rendered subdivided by two-stage buttresses; each bay with a window. The rear gable is blank; chimney over apex. Single-story hipped abutment at ground floor level; doors to either cheek; timber casement windows to west elevation. The right elevation matches the left. Setting The site is accessed from the east by wrought-iron gates and piers; replacement railings extend to masonry piers with plaque “THESE GATES AND RAILINGS WERE ERECTED IN THE YEAR 1929 THROUGH THE GENEROSITY OF THE STEWARTS OF ROUGHAN”. To the south and west of the church are the burial grounds. North of the church is a church hall erected in 1979. Beyond the church boundary are a small number of buildings in the village beyond which is extensive rural landscape. Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Rubble masonry Windows: Leaded coloured lights RWG: uPVC Replacement