Former Sexton’s House, All Saint's Parish Church, 35 Tullylish Road, Tullylish, Craigavon, Co. Down, BT63 6DP

Former Sexton's House, All Saint's Parish Church, Tullylish

A detached, symmetrical two-bay single-storey with attic former sexton's house, built around 1860–1862, standing road-fronted opposite All Saint's Parish Church, Tullylish. The building is rectangular on plan with a northern extension.

The lodge is simply detailed in the Gothic style. It has a pitched natural slate roof with a central chimneystack and cast iron and uPVC gutters on overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails. The walls are ruled and lined painted render with stepped quoins and a contrasting plinth. Gothic openings with hood moulding feature on the principal elevation, which faces west and is three openings wide; the openings have projecting painted masonry cills. The windows are replacement timber Y-tracery casements; the door is replacement hardwood over a granite threshold. An extension to the left has a mono-pitch roof and is blank to the west. A monopitched roof extension abuts the north gable. The attic window is detailed in the same Gothic style. An oval plaque beneath the cill level of the extended section reads "The Reverend Tho' Beatty / Vicar / John Nicholson Esq' and / Mr Archibald McDowell / Church Warden / Anno D…" with the remainder concealed. The rear elevation is blank. The south gable (unpainted) has a window to each floor and is abutted by a boundary wall. A rubble stone boundary wall with soldier coping abuts the kitchen extension; rubble stone is visible in places beneath pebble dash.

The building stands directly adjacent to a rural road facing the church opposite. To the rear is the churchyard, accessed by a pair of wrought iron gates on circular piers. To the south is a small gravelled garden, accessed from the road by a steel gate.

The house was constructed as a sexton's house to serve Tullylish Parish Church. The parish church on this site was rebuilt in 1698 following destruction in the 1641 rebellion. In 1827 the church was enlarged and a square pinnacled tower built with the aid of an £800 loan from the Board of First Fruits. The plaque refers to Reverend Thomas Beatty, who was vicar of the parish from 1813 to 1829, and therefore originates from an earlier structure, most probably relating to the church enlargement of 1827. A new church was subsequently deemed necessary to serve the flourishing communities of Gilford, Lawrencetown, and the surrounding linen bleaching and manufacturing districts. The old church was found unable to accommodate those wishing to attend services. Local landowner A J R Stewart approached the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who agreed to erect a church at a cost of £4,000, provided £925 was subscribed. Mr Stewart was the most significant subscriber and donated the land. The new church, designed by architects Welland & Gillespie, is sited on high ground overlooking the river Bann in what was described as "one of the most beautiful scenes that could perhaps be found connected with any church in a rural district." The sexton's house is listed separately in Griffith's Valuation of 1856–1864 at £2 valuation.

The parish has deeper historical roots. Tullylish is thought to trace its origins to an early Christian monastery, enclosed by a rath-like structure, dating to the 6th or 7th century, located to the east of the present church. The parish does not appear in documentary sources until the 1422 and 1546 valuations. The site represents the continued evolution of this ecclesiastical location. The former sexton's house contributes to the group value of the associated 17th-century tower and the mid-19th-century church, and is a good example of a relatively unusual building type. Although the interior has been modernised, the building retains architectural and historical interest through its Gothic detailing, proportions, ornamentation, plan form, and setting, as well as the historical significance of its associated plaque and its rarity as a church lodge of this period. The building is currently in use as a dwelling.