St George's Church, 105 High Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT1 2AG

St George's Church, High Street, Belfast

St George's is a stone-built, barn-plan late Georgian Church of Ireland parish church, designed by John Bowden and constructed between 1813 and 1816. It stands on a site of exceptional historical importance at the east end of High Street in Belfast city centre, representing the earliest point of settlement in the area and making it the oldest surviving episcopal church in the city. Its most celebrated architectural feature is the full Corinthian portico on the north front, which was not purpose-built for the church but salvaged from the earlier Ballyscullion House in County Londonderry — a remarkable act of architectural reuse that gives the building much of its character and distinction.

Historical Background

The site's history reaches back to the early Christian period. The Celtic name for the crossing point at the mouth of the River Farset — Beàl Féirsde, meaning "the ford at the sandbank" — gave Belfast its name. A battle at the "Fearset" in 666 AD provides the city's first recorded mention in history. A Papal Taxation Roll of 1306 refers to a "chapel of the ford" as one of six chapelries dependent on the mother church at Shankill, though worship on the site is likely to have predated this by several centuries. Tradition holds that pilgrims used the chapel to pray for safe crossing of the ford, which was hazardous at high tide. When the parish church at Shankill fell into ruin, the chapel of the ford assumed the role of parish church.

Following Belfast's royal charter in 1613, the church was enlarged in the 1650s by the addition of a central tower, transepts, and chancel, and became known as the Corporation Church, attended by the Sovereign (Mayor) and Burgesses of the town. Cromwellian soldiers are reputed to have used the building as a citadel, melting the lead from the roof to make musket balls. In 1690, King William III attended a service here on his way to the Battle of the Boyne; a chair said to have been used by him remains in the church to this day. By 1774 the Corporation Church had deteriorated to a dangerous condition and was demolished, though the site continued in use as a graveyard. Its ancient documents and silver were transferred to the newly built St Anne's in Donegall Street, while the bell and charity boards went to the Clifton Street poorhouse. The United Irish rebel leader Henry Joy McCracken, executed in High Street, was buried in the graveyard; remains believed to be his were re-interred in Clifton Street burial ground in 1909.

As Belfast's population grew, a second parish church was deemed necessary. The foundation stone of the present building was laid on 4th June 1813 by the Earl of Massereene, and the opening services were held on 16th June 1816. Originally known as "George's Church" in honour of King George III, it was subsequently consecrated in the name of the saint. The church was designed by John Bowden, who served as architect to the Board of First Fruits from around 1814 to 1821 and was responsible for a number of churches during that period, including examples at Bovevagh, Drumlane, and Maghera. In 1810 Bowden had applied unsuccessfully to superintend the construction of Belfast Academical Institution, to designs by Soane. Construction of St George's was administered by a Building Committee drawn from the congregation; the church was originally formed as a Perpetual Curacy of the Upper Falls, and ten further parishes have since been carved out of its former territory.

The Portico from Ballyscullion House

The portico at the front of the building was originally part of Ballyscullion House, County Londonderry, a project of the eccentric Earl Bishop of Derry, and dates from 1788. The portico is attributed to Michael Shanahan, architect of Downhill. Following the Earl Bishop's death in 1803, his successor preferred the mansion at Downhill and Ballyscullion was left empty. When St George's was under construction, the Bishop of Down acquired the portico and had it transported first by horse and cart, then by canal barge. Once installed on the church's north front, the coats of arms of the See of Down and the town of Belfast were mounted in the pediment's tympanum.

Exterior Description

The main body of the church is built in ashlar sandstone, probably Scrabo stone, with a hipped slate roof concealed behind a parapet. The brick-built chancel is laid in Flemish bond. Cast-iron downpipes serve hidden gutters. Windows throughout are timber-framed; on the north front they are semicircular-headed, six-over-six sash type, set in architrave surrounds above a cill course. Elsewhere they sit in plain reveals with projecting stone cills, with segmental-headed windows to the ground-floor side elevations. The chancel windows are horizontally-divided fixed panes with brick reveals and voussoirs.

North (Front) Elevation: This is a five-bay, two-storey composition in which doors alternate with niches at ground-floor level, and semicircular-headed windows alternate with niches at first-floor level. The central bays project slightly in a shallow bow. The portico is carried on four Corinthian columns with bases and plain shafts; behind these are corresponding outer columns and fluted inner pilasters, matched by fluted Corinthian pilasters enclosing the outer bays of the elevation. The dentilled tympanum contains the coats of arms of the Bishopric of Down and Connor and the town of Belfast. The parapet behind the pediment is balustraded, and stone flags pave the area beneath the portico.

East Elevation: Five bays in ashlar stonework, recently redressed to remove damaged and weathered stone. The ground-floor windows are shallow six-pane with segmental heads. The elevation terminates at a rendered boiler house and the windows of a later crèche building, with the brick chancel visible above.

West Elevation: Similar in character to the east elevation. Behind the church rises the two-storey chancel and vestry block, which has three arched openings at ground floor — a door to the left and two windows — and two round-headed windows set in linked recesses at first-floor level. Beyond this is a rendered building and the entrance to a modern hall extension at the rear.

Rear Elevation: Inaccessible.

Interior

The building retains much historic fabric and fine workmanship. Among the notable interior features are box pews surviving in the gallery — a remnant of the 1865–68 reordering by Welland and Gillespie (though work appears to have been supervised by W J Barre), which also included repewing of the nave, new doors from the nave to the two stairwells, a new pulpit and reading desk, and a new roof and open ceiling. The contractor was James Henry and the church reopened on 22nd October 1865. A new pulpit, replacing what was probably a "double-decker" pulpit in a central position, was installed in 1867, and the marble font followed in 1868. The pulpit was repainted in 1962 by Newton Penprase, owner and builder of the idiosyncratic "Bendhu" near Ballintoy.

The present chancel was built in 1882 as a memorial to the Reverend Canon McIlwaine, to designs by Edward Braddell, for many years chief assistant to John Lanyon; the builders were McLaughlin and Harvey. A new organ chamber with vestry and robing room beneath was constructed at the same time. The large stained-glass window that had previously occupied the apse was divided into three lights and re-set in a new three-light window. On the sides of the sanctuary are arcades of Caen stone with polished red Cork marble columns, and a credence of polished black Kilkenny marble. The reredos — the gift of the architect — is also of Caen marble, divided into mosaic panels by Messrs Simpson and Sons of London. The church reopened on 11th December 1882. Canvas paintings on the north and south walls of the chancel were executed by Alexander Gibb in 1883. The oak altar, by Knox and Co of Belfast, is a memorial to those of the parish killed in both World Wars.

A choir screen — an unusual feature in Anglican churches in Ireland — had been part of the original 1882 chancel plans but was not installed until 1928, when it was erected as a memorial to the Reverend Dr Hugh David Murphy, Rector 1880–1927.

The organ, built by J W Walker and Son of London, was installed in the west gallery in 1863 and is one of the oldest surviving church organs in the diocese. It was moved to its present position in 1883 by Conacher of Huddersfield, and rebuilt and enlarged in 1896 by George Benson of Manchester.

Among the church's monuments is that to Sir Henry Pottinger, the diplomat who negotiated the Hong Kong Treaty of 1842, which expired in 1997. Pottinger's Entry, nearby, recalls the prominence of his family in Belfast's history.

Edward Bunting, celebrated for organising the festival of Irish Harpers in 1792 and for his subsequent preservation of their music, served as organist of St George's from 1817 to 1821. The church has maintained a strong musical tradition ever since.

Alterations and Restoration

The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33 shows the church as a simple nave with the portico attached. The Townland Valuation records the dimensions of the church and vestry room, values the buildings at £109 7s 3d, and also lists a male and female school. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 gives a valuation of £320 with no further changes recorded in Annual Revisions. The graveyard was closed to new burials by Act of the Irish Parliament in 1800 due to persistent flooding, and in 1806 nearly all the memorials were destroyed on the orders of the Vicar of Belfast, the Reverend Edward May. Parts of the yard were sold as building lots in 1811, though in the 1960s a strip of land along the western side of the church was reopened for the interment of ashes.

A new parish school was built following the 1865–68 alterations and first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901–02. The parish schoolhouse was destroyed during the Belfast air raids of the Second World War, and a new parish hall was built on the ruins in 1953. A major renovation in 1962, supervised by architect Edward Leighton, renewed and refurbished the nave and chancel floors.

During the height of the Troubles between the 1970s and 1990s, the church suffered damage from explosions on sixteen separate occasions, leaving the stonework in poor condition. In 2000 Stephen Leighton of Leighton Johnston Architects supervised a comprehensive programme of stone restoration, which involved replacement of stonework on the front façade and dressing back on the side elevations, carried out by contractors McConnell and Sons. New wiring, heating, and redecoration were completed, and the parish hall and vestries were renovated. The floor of the parish hall was excavated to bring it down to the level of the church, improving facilities for the choir and Director of Music. The chancel murals were restored by Barbara Best, and a new sandstone floor featuring the shield of St George — the gift of McConnell and Sons — was laid in the porch. Funding was provided by the appeal fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Department of the Environment Historic Buildings grant, the Cecil King Memorial Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, the Church Fabric Fund, and the Church of Ireland Priorities Fund.

Setting

The church faces the east end of High Street. At the time of its construction, ships sailed up the River Farset — now culverted — in front of the building, with captains taking lodgings in Skipper Street on the opposite side of High Street. The church's immediate setting has been significantly damaged by events of the 20th century and it no longer has any contemporary neighbours, but it forms part of an important group of buildings at the foot of High Street and the junction with Victoria Street, most notably the Albert Clock. Iron railings and gates stand to the front and on Victoria Street, with a rubble-stone party wall forming the boundary with the rear of properties on Church Lane. The church lies within a conservation area.