Gilnahirk Presbyterian Church, 161 Gilnahirk Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT5 7QQ

Gilnahirk Presbyterian Church is a symmetrical, double-height, rendered neo-Gothic Presbyterian church dated 1845, with a two-stage entrance tower added in 1910 and further later alterations. It stands on the site of an earlier church building and retains much of its mid-19th century character, with a relatively well-preserved interior and an unspoiled setting that includes a mid-19th century cemetery. The potential special architectural interest of the building has, however, been diminished by the removal of some original detailing and the addition of a large modern extension to the rear.

The building is rectangular on plan. Its pitched roof is clad in natural slate with blue-black angled ridge tiles and raised stone verges. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are carried on projecting eaves. The walls are finished in smooth render with angle buttresses featuring offsets and a plinth, which also extends to the tower. A string course runs to the gable, and a dentillated string course delineates each stage of the tower. Windows throughout are leaded and coloured glass casements set in projecting masonry sills beneath hood moulds.

The principal elevation faces northwest and is dominated by the two-stage entrance tower of 1910. The tower has a single-storey abutment to either side housing the porch, each abutment surmounted by a trefoil window opening and featuring a dentillated eaves course and a lancet window in a deeply recessed moulded surround. The southwest and northeast elevations of the tower each have paired lancets. At belfry level, corner pilasters support three-light louvred lancets to three sides, and the tower is finished with a slated pyramid roof parapet surmounted by a weathervane. Five stone steps lead up to a double-leaf, four-panelled oak entrance door set within a Gothic moulded recess with a label mould. Above the door is a painted masonry plaque which reads: "Presbyterian Church Erected 1797. Rev. F Pringle Minister. Rebuilt 1845 Rev John Coulter D.D. Minister. Renovated and tower built 1910 Rev D.S.K Coulter B.A. Minister." The northeast elevation is four lancets wide, as is the southwest elevation. The southeast, or rear, elevation is abutted by the large modern extension.

The church is prominently sited to the west of Gilnahirk Road. A cemetery lies to the west, containing a variety of gravestones dating from the latter part of the 19th century. A rubble stone boundary wall encloses three sides of the site, with cast-iron entrance gates on rubble stone piers to the north and east. The ground to the front is tarmacadamed, with a path leading to the cemetery to the west. A modern church hall dating from the 1980s stands to the north.

The origins of the Gilnahirk congregation reach back to the early 18th century, when a number of Presbyterians seceded from the mother church in Scotland in a dispute over the doctrine of grace and the rights of congregations in the election of ministers. A further split in 1747 divided the Seceders into Burghers and Anti-Burghers over the question of oaths required to sit on Scottish councils, and this dispute extended to Ulster. The Synod of Ulster had in the meantime become regarded by many of its members as too rationalist, and the emergence of the Seceders in 1733 offered an appealing alternative. Lylehill Presbyterians were the first Ulster congregation to affiliate with the Seceders, in 1746, and Gilnahirk followed their example, forming as an Anti-Burgher Secession congregation. The precise date of the congregation's founding is not known, but by 1759 they were able to purchase the plot of ground, formerly known as the Stye Brae, on which the present church stands. As the congregation grew, it became necessary to replace the thatched dwelling house that had originally served as a meeting house. The first purpose-built meeting house was erected in 1787 and is the building recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map and in the Townland Valuation of the 1830s. The Townland Valuation (1828–40) records dimensions of 55.6 feet by 30.6 feet for this early building, designates it as slated and slightly decayed, and values it at £6 17s with 4s 7d for the associated land. The sessions house is also recorded, and the first edition map of 1834 captions the site as "School and Meeting Houses", showing a pair of rectangular buildings set parallel to one another.

The rise of the United Irishmen created a deep division within the Gilnahirk congregation, the majority of whom supported the insurrection. The minister, a loyalist, felt compelled to leave, and part of the congregation departed to form a new meeting at Granshaw. The congregation nonetheless flourished, and in 1845 a new church was built. Described in Miller's history of the congregation and illustrated there by photograph, it was of a plain barn design, heated by two coke-burning stoves. Some of the pews were of the box type, and attached to the rear were a choir room and vestry, each opening into the church through doors on either side of the pulpit. This building survives as the body of the church that was renovated in 1910. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows the new and wider Presbyterian Meeting House with its vestry addition to the rear, and also captions a graveyard. Dimensions of 57 feet by 42 feet are given for the meeting house, with additional dimensions recorded for the vestry, sessions house, and outbuilding. The new meeting house was valued at £35, with 10s for land. No further changes appear in the valuation records up to 1930, despite the 1910 remodelling.

In April 1910 the Irish Builder reported that the architects Hobart and Heron had been appointed for alterations and additions to the church, and in May that Hewitt and Clark had been appointed contractors at a cost of £3,600. As well as the addition of the tower, the ceiling, floor, and seating were to be entirely renewed, and the corner buttressing was added at this time. A contemporary account of the reopening in December 1910 described the completed works: "The congregation with commendable unanimity and heartiness adopted a large scheme, with the result that everything inside the walls is new. The ceiling is of pitch pine, and is richly panelled, the seats are of the same material, capped with walnut, the same goods being used in the construction of the pulpit. The windows have been filled with leadlights. A somewhat novel feature in the alterations is the change from oil lamps to an incandescent light produced from gas formed from a combination of petrol and air." In 1949 the gas lighting was replaced by electricity and the church was redecorated. It also appears that pinnacles at the gable shoulders were removed at around this time. The use of instrumental music in worship was a matter of controversy for Presbyterians, and it was not until 1952 that a small pedal organ began to be used in the church. In 1958 a Compton electronic organ was installed, necessitating alterations to the pulpit and choir box. In 1976 this was replaced by a new Abbey pipe organ, and the vestry and choir room were renewed to provide an organ loft, at a combined cost of £42,000.