St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Chapel Lane, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 1HH

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Chapel Lane, Belfast

St Mary's is a free-standing, double-height rendered Catholic church facing east onto Chapel Lane. Its symmetrical red brick Romanesque-style gabled front dates from 1868, designed by Belfast architect John O'Neill (1828–1883), and incorporates the fabric of an earlier church built around 1783. An apse and sacristy were added to the rear around 1940 to designs by Padraig (Patrick Bernard) Gregory (1886–1967). The church is rectangular on plan, with a landscaped garden and Lourdes Grotto to the north, dated 1954.

Historical Background

St Mary's holds a unique place in the history of Belfast as the first Roman Catholic place of worship built in the city following the repeal of the Penal Laws in the late 18th century. Before the chapel was built, Belfast's Catholic population gathered on the outskirts of the town at Friar's Bush and later at Squeeze-gut Entry off Castle Street. The original chapel was constructed in 1783 at a cost of £1,200, with the first pastor being the Reverend Hugh O'Donnell. Notably, a significant portion of the funds raised for its construction came from the Protestant citizens of Belfast. The chapel was officially opened on 30th May 1784, when the Irish Volunteers (1st Belfast Company) lined the chapel yard and escorted the parish priest to the first mass. The Reverend Rogers described the original building as having a three-bay pedimented facade with projecting single-bay wings flanking the entrance. It has since been described as "the mother church of Roman Catholicism in Belfast."

By 1860, under Griffith's Valuation, the chapel and its associated sexton's house had risen considerably in value to £120. In 1868, John O'Neill — originally a Presbyterian who converted to Catholicism — was contracted initially to carry out improvements to the existing chapel. O'Neill had previously supervised the completion of St Peter's Cathedral in West Belfast in 1862 and worked extensively for the Catholic Church throughout his career. His Romanesque design ultimately required the effective rebuilding of the late 18th-century chapel. The rebuilt church was brought forward to the street line, at which point the sexton's house was demolished. The builder was John Connor and Sons of York Street; the altar was made by Thomas Earp of London. A three-stage belfry tower on the south side of the facade, erected as part of O'Neill's 1868–69 work, originally reached a height of 90 feet.

In 1936, general improvement work was undertaken to restore the ageing structure. Between 1940 and 1941, the tall southern tower was removed on safety grounds and replaced by a tower matching the one on the northern side of the entrance. At the same time, Padraig Gregory installed a new staircase, apse, confessionals and sacristy. A further addition came in 1954 when the adjoining Lourdes Grotto and campanile were installed, also to Gregory's designs. The church was listed in 1979 and has remained in continuous use as a place of worship.

Exterior

The roof is pitched natural slate with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and metal ventilation cowls, set behind slightly raised gables at either end. These gables have moulded sandstone coping surmounted by cross finials. The apse has a semi-conical natural slate roof with a lead ridge and replacement metal rainwater goods. Ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering on iron drive-through brackets and metal downpipes run along the nave.

The two squat square-plan towers to the entrance front rise above the roofline and have pyramidal slate roofs with lead ridges and ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering to corbelled red brick eaves.

The entrance front is built in red brick laid in Flemish bond with flush double-baked brick courses and a red brick plinth course with moulded masonry trim. The nave and apse walls are painted ruled-and-lined render with a projecting rendered plinth course, abutted by stepped rendered buttresses and a robust sandstone string course spanning between them. Window openings throughout are round-headed with chamfered surrounds, flush chamfered sills, and leaded stained glazing with storm glazing.

The gabled east front elevation is flanked by the pair of square-plan triple-height towers. Each tower has a full-height recessed panel, corbelled below the eaves, with round-headed lancet windows to the lower and middle stages, flush sandstone sills and bull-nosed reveals. Above ground floor level, a decorative sandstone stiff-leaf course spans the entire elevation. The gable itself contains a round-headed niche supported on slender colonettes and housing a figurative statue of St Mary.

The large rose window in the gable is formed in stepped chamfered red and black brick with radiating colonettes, leaded stained glazing and outer storm glazing. Over the doorcase is a date stone in the form of a Potent cross inscribed: 'FIDEM / SERVAVI / 1783 / 1868 / 1941'.

The painted sandstone doorcase comprises a pair of round-headed door openings with vertically-sheeted timber doors and bowtel arches rising from squat green marble columns with elaborate stiff-leaf capitals. Above the door openings is an oval niche housing a statue of St Mary, with flanking seraphims to the spandrels. The entire entrance is framed by a further bowtel arch with chevron moulding and an outer hood moulding, also rising from a pair of green marble columns.

The south nave elevation is ten windows wide. The north nave elevation is also ten windows wide and features a shallow projecting side entrance porch at the eastern end, with a round-headed door opening and double-leaf sheeted timber door. The north elevation fronts onto the landscaped garden area. The rear gable is abutted by the double-height apse and flat-roofed single-storey extensions housing the vestry and utilities.

Setting

The church fronts onto Chapel Lane. To the north, an enclosed garden is laid out as the setting for the Lourdes Grotto at its west end, dated 1954. The garden is enclosed to the street by cast-iron railings on a red brick and stone plinth wall with matching iron gates. The church sits within a conservation area.