St Pauls Church of Ireland, York Street, Belfast, Co. Antrim

St Paul's Church of Ireland, York Street, Belfast

St Paul's Church of Ireland is an early Victorian double-height gabled church in the Gothic Revival early English style, built in 1850–51 from locally quarried Scrabo sandstone. It was designed by the prominent architectural firm Lanyon & Lynn — though scholarship suggests the design was most likely the work of W. H. Lynn (1829–1915), then serving as chief assistant to Charles Lanyon, which would make St Paul's his earliest known commission. Lynn and Lanyon formally entered into partnership in 1854. The builder was James Carlisle of Donegall Street and Antrim Road, and the total construction cost came to £2,700. The foundation stone was laid on 18th March 1850 by Elizabeth May, who had gifted the plot of land to the congregation, and the church was consecrated on 30th September 1851 by the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. It could accommodate a congregation of 600 and was described at the time as a "Gothic structure, in the early style, with lancet windows, cut stone belfry, and crocket finials."

Historical Context

The church was built in the aftermath of the Irish Famine to serve the rapidly growing population of north Belfast. Rural labourers from the surrounding countryside were flooding into the town to work in its textile mills and factories, and St Paul's was one of a number of new churches constructed to meet this demand. The congregation itself had been formed earlier, in 1839, as St Anne's Chapel of Ease, meeting on Academy Street as a branch of the parish church. By the time of the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, St Paul's stood in a heavily industrialised neighbourhood: to the north lay weaving factories and flax mills, to the east the Belfast and Ballymena railway terminus and the town docks, and to the south rows of terraced workers' houses.

Alterations and Repairs

The church has undergone numerous significant alterations over its history. A school house was built adjacent to the church in 1854 and opened that year. In 1867–68 the church was extended with the addition of an eight-gabled north aisle, probably designed by Welland & Gillespie, who at that time served as joint architects to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The work was carried out by McLaughlin & Harvey at a cost of £1,700 funded by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Contemporary opinion was not flattering: a local newspaper lamented that the north aisle was "wholly incongruous" with the original nave, describing the original structure's "lofty vaulted arches" as having "no architectural relationship to the low-roofed addition," and calling the decision "an exquisite blunder."

On 5th January 1934 a fire broke out and extensively damaged the interior, destroying the organ, the roof, and the original glazing. Repairs were carried out by Belfast-based architect Richard Mills Close (1880–1949), who retained the original design and restored the interior at a cost of over £8,000, again using McLaughlin & Harvey as builders. The church was reopened on 30th September 1934, the 83rd anniversary of its original dedication. A new organ by Abbot & Smith was installed following the fire, and although the stained glass windows were lost, the original memorial inscriptions were replaced and positioned beneath the new glazing.

The church was then severely damaged a second time during the Belfast Blitz of 1941, when the building was struck by a number of incendiary bombs. Architect John McAlery undertook the extensive repairs and also added the current vestry room to the north side. St Paul's was not fully restored for seven years; it was dedicated for the third time on 30th September 1948. Among the stained glass windows installed after the war are a window depicting the Rock of Ages in memory of Canon Oswald Scott, a Star of Victory window provided by the Ex-Servicemen's Association, and an RAF window in the west gable provided by the parents of Airman Harry Gregg.

The church was listed in 1987. Around 1990 the railings were altered due to the redevelopment of adjoining retail showrooms. Around 1996 further alterations significantly changed the interior floor plan, with a new side chapel, family room, choir room, toilet and kitchen facilities added. The exterior was also restored at this time: the roof was reslated, rainwater goods were replaced in cast iron, stonework was repointed, and the stone tower roof was dismantled and re-erected.

Exterior Description

The church has a rectangular plan with a tower to the south, an eight-gabled north aisle, an entrance porch to the southwest, and a single-storey lean-to modern extension to the west. The roof is pitched natural slate with angled black clay ridge tiles and stone copings to the gables resting on kneelers. The eaves project and carry half-round cast iron guttering discharging to circular downpipes on the south elevation; the north elevation has decorated cast iron hoppers discharging to circular downpipes. The walling is un-coursed, rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with a projecting double-chamfered plinth course and an ashlar stone fascia below the eaves, underscored by chevron-style moulding. Unless otherwise noted, all window openings are filled with stained leaded glazing.

East Elevation

The principal elevation faces east and is formed by a gable containing a five-part pointed arch window framed by compound hood moulding resting on slender colonnettes that separate the five lights, rising from an ashlar stone sill. Single-stage ashlar stone buttresses flank either side of the window, and a square apex stone with trefoil ornamentation sits directly above. The north aisle abuts the main gable and has two paired trefoil windows with ashlar stone surrounds and a single-stage buttress to its north end. The slightly taller gable of the main body of the church is visible behind the east gable, along with a gabled roof beyond the north aisle.

South Elevation

The eight-bay south elevation is arranged as follows: a single bay at the east end, the tower immediately adjacent, four bays of the nave, the single-storey lean-to entrance porch, and a further bay of the nave at the west end. The east bay has a pair of pointed arch windows with a cusped quatrefoil centred above and an ashlar stone surround, flanked by single-stage buttresses.

The tower is square on plan with three stages and a later octagonal top. A pointed arch door opening facing east is flanked by engaged Doric columns with a moulded architrave, and has a recessed opening with a sheeted timber door. To the first stage facing south is a trefoil arched window with ashlar stone dressing, ashlar stone quoins, and a double-chamfered saddleback; a Second World War engraved stone memorial is positioned below. The second stage has a trefoil arched window opening to the south and quatrefoil louvred openings to east and west with cusped stone surrounds. Also at the second stage, paired louvred openings face south, separated by a colonnette and set within an arched niche with hood mould and labels over; engaged colonnettes are positioned at the corners. The third stage is octagonal in plan with an open trefoil arcade to the belfry supported on three-stage colonnettes and topped by an octahedral ashlar stone spire with a decorative capstone.

The nave windows are pointed arch with ashlar stone surrounds and splayed cills, separated by single-stage buttresses. The entrance porch has a cat-slide roof. Its east-facing door opening has a moulded architrave over engaged circular columns with a sheeted timber door and iron door furniture, and single-stage ashlar stone buttresses to the south. The porch's west elevation has paired trefoil windows with ashlar stone surrounds. Above the nave roof on both slopes are slated duo-pitch dormers with leaded glass and black clay ridge tile decorative finials.

West Elevation

The smooth rendered rear elevation faces west and consists of a gable and the return elevation of the north aisle. The gable contains two pointed arch windows and a pointed oval window opening at the centre, all with stop-chamfered reveals, and is flanked by single-stage buttresses. A single-storey lean-to modern extension housing the boiler room abuts the west gable; it is rendered with ashlar lining and has a square-headed door opening with a modern timber door. Half-round cast iron guttering is carried on rise-and-fall brackets, and a stainless steel flue rises from the lean-to roof to the full height of the gable.

North Elevation

The north elevation is formed entirely by the eight-gabled north aisle. The gables have raised stone verges. Five gables at the west end each have two pointed arch windows. A wider gable immediately to the east contains a large plate-traceried rose window. The next gable to the east has a pointed arch door opening with an ashlar stone surround and a replacement timber panelled door with fanlight. The following gable has a three-part trefoil window with ashlar stone surround and a relieving arch above. The two easternmost gables each have a narrow square-headed window at high level.

Interior

The church retains many fine interior features, including a number of interesting stained glass windows.

Setting and Boundary

The church stands within its own grounds on a triangular-shaped site fronting York Street. To the west end of the site is a three-storey rendered flat-roof building dating from 1854, used as a school house until the 1950s; it has a rectangular plan with a two-storey flat-roof extension to the southeast, a single-storey gabled extension, and a single-storey lean-to extension to the south, with square-headed window openings fitted with timber casement windows.

A tarmacked pathway runs around the church, and there is a lawned garden to the south and east. The site is enclosed by red brick walling to the south, stone walling to the north, and a stone dwarf wall topped by stone coping and railings to the east. The railings are cast iron circular-section with decorated top rail, arrow-shaped railing heads, and dog-leg supports. The boundary pillars are square-section ashlar stone with pyramidal caps. A double metal gate to the east is supported on octagonal pillars with moulded plinths and corbelled caps. The listing extends to include these boundary piers, gates and railings.