First Presbyterian Church, Newry Street, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5PZ

First Presbyterian Church, Rathfriland

This Presbyterian church stands on the north side of Newry Street, aligned parallel to the street with a church hall to its right. Although constructed in 1775, the building was substantially remodelled in 1888 and retains few original features from its initial construction.

The church is rectangular in plan with an internal gallery. It is covered by a hipped natural slate roof with lead ridges. The walls are lined, rendered and painted, with boxed V-channelled quoins in alternating pairs set on a moulded base course. An advanced eaves course supports half-round cast-iron rainwater goods.

The south-facing front elevation is four windows wide across two floors, with openings grouped towards the centre. All windows are semicircular headed with modern stained timber frames containing 20th-century leaded and coloured glass, painted granite cills and painted moulded stucco architraves. The upper-floor windows are diminished in height but aligned with those below. The ground level falls away to the left.

An entrance porch with a lower two-storey form abuts the right (east) gable. Its front cheek displays blocked stucco quoins on a moulded base. The main entrance consists of a pair of modern painted timber doors, each with four raised and fielded panels. Above the doors is a slate plaque with painted moulded stucco architrave, inscribed with the congregation's history: "Congregation erected AD 1662 / Meeting House built AD 1679 / Revd Alex Gordon Minister / Succeeded by / Revd Robert Gordon AD 1711 / Meeting house rebuilt AD 1775 / Revd Samuel Barber Minister / Ceiled and improved AD 1834 / Revd John White Minister". A semicircular window with modern stained timber frame and coloured glazing is centred on the wall to the right of this plaque. The right cheek of the porch features a large rectangular window opening divided into three vertical panels with modern chamfered stained timber frames containing coloured and leaded glass, the central panel depicting a burning bush. A modern flue pipe rises towards the right end of this elevation.

The rear (north) elevation of the porch is similar to the front, except that the doors at right are glazed and the semicircular window above centre is plainly glazed. A second modern four-panelled stained timber door stands at left.

The rear (north) elevation of the main church block is identical to the front elevation but without architraves. The windows retain their original timber sash boxes, though modern leaded lights with security glazing have been inserted. The ground floor falls to the right. The left (west) gable contains two semicircular headed windows at high level with painted cills, both containing 19th-century stained glass.

The churchyard is small to the front and considerably larger to the rear. The front is enclosed by a smooth granite coped, plastered and painted wall carrying modern railings and gates with alternating wavy and straight metal work. A 19th-century church hall stands to the right (east), single storey with pitched natural roof and cement rendered walls. It has been much modernised and extended in the 1990s to the street front. A plaque on its left (west) wall reads "Erected 1894 Extended 1997".

The congregation was established in 1662. The original meeting house was built in 1679 and rebuilt in 1775 at a cost of £700 by subscription. The church was improved in 1834. According to the 1834 Ordnance Survey Memoir, the building was not sufficiently large to accommodate all members and it was proposed to erect another meeting house. This is one of the oldest Presbyterian foundations under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly. In 1657, Cromwell's Government granted a year's allowance of £150 to the church's minister. Lord and Lady Clanwilliam granted the church lease on 21 May 1768 for a peppercorn rent. The diaries of Reverend Gordon, whose name appears on the plaque above the main doors, are quoted in historical records.

Reverend Samuel Barber, whose name also appears on the plaque, was Captain of the Rathfriland Volunteers from 1779 and an early advocate of Catholic emancipation. During the 1798 rebellion, he was arrested in the church on 3 June, convicted of treason and imprisoned at Downpatrick Gaol for two years. He died in 1802 and is buried in the churchyard immediately to the rear of the church. His memorial is one of two raised slabs within an enclosure.

Extensive works were undertaken to the church in 1888, which included the installation of the present pews, wainscoting and pulpit. The churchyard was extended in 1883 and the lecture hall was erected in 1894.