Holy Cross Church, 432 Crumlin Road, Belfast, BT14 7GE

Holy Cross Church, Crumlin Road, Belfast

Holy Cross Church is an imposing attached symmetrical double-height Roman Catholic church in the Lombardo-Romanesque style, designed by the Dublin-based architect Walter Glynn Doolin and constructed between 1900 and 1902. It stands on a prominent elevated site on the south side of Crumlin Road, forming part of the wider Holy Cross complex alongside the attached Monastery and Holy Cross Boys' School. It was erected by the Passionist Order to replace their original church built on the site around 1868, and remains the focal point of the local Catholic community. The quality of the Romanesque stone carvings testifies to the level of stone masonry skills still in practice at the turn of the 20th century, and the impressive exterior is matched by an elaborately detailed interior that retains much of its original character.

Historical Background

The church stands in the ancient townland of Edenderry, within the area known as Ardoyne, which appears in maps and deeds predating the Plantation of Ireland. During the Penal years, Ardoyne was a site of secret Catholic worship. The village of Ardoyne grew up around Michael Andrews's Royal Damask Factory, established in 1815, which brought workers' housing, a schoolhouse, a public house, and a prayer meeting house. The village took its name from the ancient townland, following Andrews's nearby residence of Ardoyne House, which was later demolished.

The Passionist Order was invited to Ardoyne in 1868 by the Most Reverend Dr Dorrian, Bishop of Down and Connor. They were allocated a plot at the corner of the Crumlin and Woodvale Roads, including Edenderry Lodge, a two-storey house formerly occupied by the local doctor. The first parish church was built on this plot to designs by O'Neill and Byrne, a Belfast and Dublin-based architectural partnership formed around 1868, which undertook a large amount of work for the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin and throughout Ulster. This first church was among the earliest contracts the partnership undertook. It was dedicated on 10th January 1869 by Dr Dorrian, and late-Victorian photographs show it as a simple single-storey gabled building with an entrance porch and a small circular window on one of its gables. The adjoining Monastery followed in 1877 to 1881, also to designs by O'Neill and Byrne.

By 1890, the walls of the original church were found to be in danger of collapse, leading to restoration works in 1895. The growth of the local population nonetheless made a new building necessary. The current church was commissioned and designed by Walter Glynn Doolin (1850–1902), who carried out numerous contracts for the Roman Catholic Church and worked predominantly in the south of Ireland. According to the Dictionary of Irish Architects, Holy Cross is the only church Doolin designed in Ulster. He may have drawn inspiration from the similarly Romanesque Church of St Paul of the Cross in Dublin (1873–78), designed by J. J. McCarthy and also commissioned by the Passionist Order. The foundation stone was laid on 17th June 1900, with James Henry and Sons of Crumlin Road contracted as builders. Doolin died in 1902, whereupon his partner Rudolf M. Butler took over the project. The church was dedicated on 18th May 1902 and was initially valued at £560.

The exterior carvings, including the tympanum depicting Christ being taken down from the Cross, were executed by James Ovens of Dublin and Preston. The highly ornamental interior was the work of several craftsmen: the ceiling and walls were painted by Brother Mark; marble mosaics were added by J. F. Ebner of London; ceramic mosaics were installed by Craven, Dunnill and Company of Jackfield; the nave and other capitals were carved by Thompson and Copeland of Belfast; and the pulpit was built by Arthur Jones and Son of Dublin. The church is constructed primarily of locally quarried Scrabo Sandstone, with Doulting Limestone and Giffnock Sandstone used as secondary materials.

Charles Brett described the completed church as follows: "The exterior of the church is rather forbidding, a Romanesque façade flanked by two square towers with chateau hats perched on the shoulder of the long hill at the top of the Crumlin Road. But the inside is bright, light, gay and airy. Altogether, the whole church is in brisk cheerful colourful good taste – a highly satisfying departure from the usual norm of church architecture and decoration." Brett also considered Holy Cross to be the finest ecclesiastical building erected in Belfast in the first decade of the 20th century.

After the new church opened, the original 1868–69 church continued in use as a parish hall until it was demolished in 1907. The current confessional boxes were added in 1903, the High Altar was installed in 1904, the main front steps were completed by Christmas 1904, and on 3rd May 1908 a statue of the Sacred Heart was erected outside the church to mark the location of the original building. The last of the historic stained glass windows, all gifted by members of the congregation, had been installed by 1913. The church survived the Belfast Blitz of 1941 undamaged.

The north side chapel was added in 1961 to designs by W. D. Bready, a Belfast-based architect active between the 1930s and 1970s, contributing to an increase in the church's assessed value to £1,960 by the end of the Second General Revaluation. Holy Cross was listed in 1987. Following its centenary in 2002, the church underwent extensive restoration between 2003 and 2005 carried out by Consarc Design Group, which included cleaning and repair of the exterior stonework, re-roofing, installation of new rainwater goods throughout, cleaning of the stained glass windows, and replacement of the pitch pine decorative ceiling.

Exterior

The church is rectangular on plan, facing east, with two towers flanking the gabled front. There is a north side chapel built around 1910 and a south side chapel built around 1960. The chancel to the west is apsidal, as is a side chapel on the south side elevation. Roofs are pitched natural slate with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles, lead valleys, and moulded cast-iron guttering to smooth sandstone ashlar corbelled eaves courses, with square-profile cast-iron downpipes. The walling is uncoursed rock-faced sandstone ashlar with smooth sandstone dressings and full-height rock-faced sandstone piers framing all bays. Window openings are round-headed with chamfered sandstone surrounds, flush splayed sills, hood mouldings, and leaded stained glass windows with storm glazing.

The East Front Elevation

The east front comprises a central gable flanked by advanced square-plan three-stage towers with pyramidal copper-clad roofs and copper cross finials, rising from machicolated eaves. The upper stages of the towers have round-headed openings framed by colonettes on all elevations, with paired round-headed openings, central colonettes, and copper-lined louvres with splayed sills. The centre stage has staggered diminutive round-headed window openings with a full-span cornice above. The lower stages have paired round-headed openings with an Arabesque frieze and a dentilated cornice spanning the entire front elevation.

The central gable has a dentilated pediment with a cross finial and a stone statue at its centre. Below the pediment is a triple round-headed window with a continuous archivolt rising from colonettes and surmounted by a blind arcade. The principal entrance is set within an advanced gabled doorcase comprising two square-headed door openings with a central stone pier and an Arabesque lintel cornice with raised lettering reading "DOM.IN.HON.SSMAE.CRUCIS A.D. MDCCCCII". Above this is a large semi-circular Portland limestone overpanel with a carved biblical scene. The door opening is flanked by groups of four slender polished granite colonettes on pedestal bases with elaborate foliate and swagged capitals to a continuous impost moulding and stepped archivolt, all set within a dentilated pediment. Each opening has triple-leaf hardwood panelled doors with bolection mouldings, opening onto a stone platform and eight granite steps with a modern steel balustrade to the centre and a hardwood handrail.

The South Nave Elevation

The south nave elevation has a lean-to side aisle with an apsidal side chapel to the right and a gable-fronted south chapel abutting much of the left-hand side. There are paired round-headed clerestory windows and paired round-headed window openings to the aisle. The apsidal side chapel has a conical natural slate roof with a copper finial and round-headed window openings flanked by engaged colonettes. The three-bay south chapel has a pitched natural slate roof behind a slightly raised front pediment with a stone cross finial, an advanced gabled door surround, uncoursed rock-faced sandstone walls, and triple-arched window openings set in recessed panels. The upper part of the front elevation has smooth coursed sandstone ashlar walling with a triple light. The round-headed door opening has a double-leaf hardwood panelled door flanked by groups of four polished granite colonettes on shared pedestal bases with stylised capitals to a continuous impost moulding, and a stepped voussoired archivolt with a cornice hood moulding.

The Apsidal Rear Elevation

The apsidal rear elevation has a semi-conical roof with a copper cross finial. The chancel has round-headed window openings with hood mouldings and flush splayed sills, set within shallow recessed panels. The lean-to side aisles are finished with slightly raised half-pediments having a diminutive arcading course below a dentilated raking cornice, and triple-arched window openings with slender colonettes and continuous hood mouldings rising from splayed sills.

The North Nave Elevation

The north nave elevation mirrors the south, with a three-bay gable-fronted north chapel abutting much of the west side. The north chapel is detailed similarly to the south chapel, but with paler sandstone walling, arcading to the dentilated pediment, and the triple-arched window flanked by pedimented blind niches. The colonettes flanking the doorcase have elaborately carved capitals depicting grotesques, and continue as an Arabesque frieze to either side. The double-leaf hardwood panelled door with bolection mouldings opens onto a stone platform and five stone steps with a modern steel balustrade and hardwood handrail.

Setting

The church is set on an elevated site within its own landscaped grounds on the south side of Crumlin Road, sharing the site with the adjoining Monastery. Front lawns are enclosed to the street by a low rubblestone wall with decorative iron railings. A bitmac front area with a flight of stone steps opens onto Crumlin Road through decorative iron gates hung on cast-iron piers.

To the south of the church stands a free-standing stone monument commemorating St Gabriel: a life-size stone statue supported on a square-plan stone base with plinth, the four equal faces of the base each having a central rectangular memorial plaque flanked by Corinthian pilasters. To the north of the church is a further free-standing stone monument depicting Jesus Christ: a life-size stone statue on a carved stone square-plan base with plinth, set on a raised paved area approached by steps with square stone piers with urn cappings.