Holy Trinity C of I Church, Ballysillan Road, Belfast, Co.Antrim

Holy Trinity Church of Ireland is a large, late Gothic Revival church built between 1954 and 1956 to designs by local architect E. P. Lamont. It stands in its own grounds at the north-east corner of the junction between Ballysillan Road and Old Park Road, Belfast. The building is constructed in English garden wall bond red brick with reconstituted stone dressings throughout, and is executed in a Perpendicular Gothic style. The listing extent includes the church itself together with the gate screen, steps, entrance piers and gates.

The church replaced the original Trinity Church on Unity Street — a Gothic structure designed by Sir Charles Lanyon for the Church Accommodation Society and consecrated on 17th January 1843 — which was reduced to a shell by Luftwaffe bombing on 15th April 1941 during the Belfast Blitz. The national schoolhouses flanking the original building and the majority of neighbouring houses on Trinity Street and Unity Street were also destroyed in the attack. In 1943 the decision was made to relocate the parish to the Joanmount district of Belfast, an interwar housing development laid out in the 1930s. The congregation initially met at St. Bride's Church Hall before the current church was built. The foundation stone was laid on 1st May 1954 and the building was consecrated on 26th May 1956. Construction was carried out by the local firm D. McCune and Son.

E. P. Lamont was active between the 1930s and 1960s, with business premises on Shaftesbury Square. He later collaborated with Anthony F. Lucy on the redesign of St. James's Church Hall on the Antrim Road in 1957. He also designed the church hall adjoining Holy Trinity, which was erected in 1963.

The plan is rectangular, orientated north-east to south-west. The arrangement comprises a double-height central nave with single-storey narrow side aisles of six bays, a gabled chancel projecting to the north-east with a small vestry abutting its eastern side, a projecting entrance porch with basement level at the south-west gable end, and a large three-stage square tower with corner pinnacles situated to the west.

The pitched nave roof is finished in natural slate with terracotta roll-top ridge tiles and is set behind a raised parapet with reconstituted stone roll-top coping. Rainwater goods are original cast iron square-section hoppers and downpipes with trefoil-headed brackets. The tower has a crenellated parapet with a flat roof and large corner pinnacles.

The south-west entrance gable has corner buttresses to nave and side aisle. A central projecting flat-roofed single-storey porch with basement level contains the main entrance, reached by a flight of concrete steps flanked by steel railings arising from square red brick piers, which are topped by cast iron lampposts. The main door is set within a Perpendicular-style recessed pointed arch opening within a square-headed surround; the opening is recessed by an archivolt with three flanking colonnettes, trefoil moulding to the spandrel, corbel stops to the hood mould, and a double-leaf timber door hung with six horizontal panels. Above, the gabled nave is pierced by a large central Perpendicular tracery window with additional storm glazing fitted, and a hood mould with corbel stops.

The north-east elevation is dominated by the large central chancel window within a four-centred reconstituted stone arch surround, with multifoil lights to the top, trefoil lights to the upper stage, two-foil lights to the lower stages, and a wire mesh screen in place. The tower is set back to the north-west side of the chancel and has a small square-headed doorway at ground floor level, a two-foil headed light to the second stage, and Perpendicular louvred tracery at the bell stage. A small pitched and gabled vestry projects from the chancel to the south-east and has a small abutting porch with a square-headed bevelled-edge reconstituted stone door surround and a nine-panel timber door, with corner buttresses to both vestry and porch.

The north-west elevation, viewed from Ballysillan Road, presents a six-bay nave with Perpendicular tracery windows above corresponding bays of single-storey side aisles. The nave windows have six lights divided by two mullions and one transom, set within a depressed pointed arch with trefoil-headed upper lights and coloured leaded glazing. The side aisle has paired windows with two two-foil lights set within square-headed reconstituted stone surrounds. Each bay is divided by stepped buttresses, with angle buttresses to the south-west corner. A raised parapet with reconstituted stone coping and string course runs along the roof of the nave, chancel, side aisle and projecting flat-roofed porch to the south-west. The three-stage square tower to the north-east has a small two-foil headed light to the second stage, corner buttresses, a louvred pointed arch opening at the bell stage, and is crowned by a crenellated parapet with large corner pinnacles. A deep string course demarcates the bell stage. The chancel has a single Perpendicular tracery two-light window to the north-east of the tower and corner buttresses.

The south-east elevation is similar to the principal south-west elevation, with a six-bay nave having large Perpendicular-style tracery windows and simple double windows with two two-foil lights to the side aisle, each bay divided by buttresses. The chancel to the right has a projecting gabled vestry with a tracery window; a small flat-roofed porch with a two-leaf timber door abuts the left of the vestry, and a smaller porch abuts the right. The side of the main flat-roofed projecting entrance porch and its steps are visible to the left of this facade. The nave also has a small square-headed two-light window at basement level at the first bay from the left.

Internally, the building retains its original plan form and the majority of original detailing survives. Of particular note is the church's bell, dated 1844, which was cast by the renowned Messrs C. and G. Mears of London — the Master Founders at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the same foundry responsible for casting the Liberty Bell in 1752 and the bell known as Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster in 1858. The bell was salvaged from the original Trinity Church following its destruction in the Blitz and reinstalled in the new tower during construction in 1954 to 1956. The church also possesses two stained glass tracery windows of note. The west window was installed in memory of William and Sarah Wilson, who had been instrumental in funding the construction of the original Trinity Church in 1843. The east window replaced a memorial window lost in the Blitz, which had been originally installed in memory of Martha and Mary Jane Hind of The Lodge, prominent early members of the congregation. The architect of the stained glass windows is unknown.

The principal entrance to the church is from Old Park Road through a set of iron gates hung on square-section red brick piers, with a tarmacked drive leading to the steps of the main entrance porch. Vehicular access is also available from the Heylake Park entrance to the south-east, where a ramp provides disabled access. A pedestrian gate is located on the north-west boundary. To the north and north-east of the church, on raised ground, stand a red brick two-storey rectory with private garden and a red brick church hall — the latter also designed by Lamont. The area around the church is set to lawn with some established trees and hedging to the boundary.

In the early 1990s the parish was expanded to include Joanmount following the deconsecration of St. Silas's Church, and is now known as Holy Trinity and St. Silas's Parish. Holy Trinity Church is a building of local historical and social significance that survives largely unaltered both internally and externally, displaying the original intentions of its architect and making a positive contribution to the local area.