St Patrick and St Colman's Church, The Point Road, Banbridge, Craigavon, Co. Down, BT63 6EA

St Patrick and St Colman's Roman Catholic Church is a double-height, cruciform-plan Gothic-style church predating 1830, with a bell tower added in 1912 and extensive renovations carried out in 1966. It stands at the junction of The Point Road and Holymount Road in Lawrencetown, adjacent to Lawrencetown Bridge. Externally, much of its evolved historic character has survived, though internally it has been modernised and re-ordered with attendant loss of historic fabric. It remains a good example of the type of small village church found in this area, and its relatively early origin — closely related to the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 — is of particular note.

The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles, replacement uPVC fascia and soffits, and cast-iron or cast-aluminium rainwater goods. The walls are of rubble masonry, partially rendered, with smooth rendered long-and-short quoins and cement repairs. The bell tower is of squared coursed rubble masonry with cement dressings. Windows feature Gothic timber lattice tracery within plain chamfered sandstone surrounds with projecting sills. The main entrance door is a diagonally sheeted, square-headed double-leaf timber door with decorative strap hinges, set within long-and-short sandstone surrounds beneath a shouldered lintel supporting a plain recessed tympanum within a Gothic arch.

The principal gable faces north and is symmetrically arranged, with long-and-short quoins, moulded gable shoulders, and deep decorative coping. It is centrally abutted by a three-stage symmetrical tower with angled buttresses rising to pinnacles, designed by Messrs Hobart and Heron of Belfast. The entrance to the tower is on its north face, reached by concrete steps, and features a plate-tracery window comprising bipartite Gothic lights surmounted by a quatrefoil cusped oculus. The second stage has a pair of string courses, and the third stage has paired Gothic timber louvred openings rising to a corbelled parapet with Irish crenellation and a central cross over raked coping. The east and west faces of the tower have tripartite lancet windows at the first stage, a single Gothic window at the second stage, and paired Gothic timber louvres at the third stage.

The left (east) elevation is asymmetrically arranged. To the right are two single Gothic windows with a quatrefoil between them. A gabled side altar and baptistery sit right of centre; the north face here is rendered with a single traceried Gothic window with plain raised surrounds right of centre, a rubble masonry gable, and a distinct change in stonework where the wall was raised around 1966. At ground floor level there is a chamfered flat-roof projecting bay, with a traceried Gothic window above and a blank oculus below the gable apex. Quoins and coping match those of the principal elevation, and there is a diminutive apex cross. The south face of this section is blank rendered, with a single-storey flat-roof abutment in the re-entrant angle. To the left of the side altar, the elevation continues in rubble masonry — with visible evidence of raising at the eaves — and contains two windows. The altar gable faces south and is symmetrically arranged, with matching quoins and coping, a square-headed tripartite lattice window at ground floor, a central Gothic lattice window at upper level flanked by single matching windows diminished in scale, an oculus below the gable apex, and a diminutive apex cross.

The right (west) elevation largely mirrors the left, with two windows at the far end, the right of which has been altered to accommodate a door below. A single-storey flat-roofed abutment sits in the re-entrant of the blank north elevation of the side altar and continues across the face of the gable to form a secondary entrance — a projecting porch with raked coping flanked by three diminutive elongated windows. The upper portions of this gable match those of the left elevation, and the raising of the gable is evident. The north face of the side altar and the remaining right elevation match those on the left side.

The site is located at the corner of a T-junction adjacent to Lawrencetown Bridge. It is bounded to the north and east by a rubble masonry wall, with a brick-arched opening close to the corner that has now been infilled. Access is via cast-iron gated granite piers. The parochial house lies to the west, with a large graveyard to the south beyond which are modern detached houses.

The history of the building is complex and well-documented. The chapel at Lawrencetown Bridge is thought by some sources to have origins as early as 1750 — a chapel, chapel yard and paddock are recorded in a survey carried out by Henry McClatchy in 1781. The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 captioned as "RC Chapel" and is listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40 as a Roman Catholic chapel and school house valued at £10 18s. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record Lieutenant Bennett noting that the chapel could accommodate 300 persons, while J R Ward, writing in 1837, gives a fuller description of an enlarged T-shaped building: "Tullylish Roman Catholic chapel...is a plain, whinstone building...The floor inside is not boarded and there are only seats in the old part. The chapel will accommodate 750 persons and the average attendance is 600. The new part was built in 1833 and cost 150 pounds, which sum was raised by subscriptions." Samuel Lewis confirms that the church near the bridge at Coose was greatly enlarged and improved in 1834. In Griffith's Valuation the value was raised to £24, with £1 10s for the accompanying graveyard.

The church was substantially remodelled in 1869–70, with the earlier church incorporated to form transepts to the new building — a plan form shown on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903–4. The architect of this remodelling is unknown. A high altar and side altars were added in 1890. In 1912 a tower was added at a cost of £2,000, financed by the newly appointed parish priest Dr Michael McConville out of his own estate; the tower was designed by Messrs Hobart and Heron of Belfast. A photograph taken during construction shows master plasterer Patrick Campbell of Banbridge standing in the first-floor window. Between 1916 and 1922, additional repairs and alterations were made to designs by John Valentine Brennan. A section of the roof was renewed and general repairs made to the church fabric in 1916, with Mr W Fegan of Kenbann Street, Belfast as contractor. In 1921 extensive improvements were begun, including new porches and a baptistery in white Sienna marble with enclosures. The baptistery was the gift of Mrs McKee of Lawrencetown, who also provided an enclosure of ornamental wrought-iron and oak with an elaborate and beautifully designed bracket and suspension chain. Lead glazing was carried out by Messrs Clarke and Son of North Frederick Street, Dublin. In the early 1960s, further renovations described as "beautiful and artistic" were carried out under the guidance of the Very Reverend Canon Thomas Pettit.