Clonard Church - Gates screen, Clonard Street, Belfast, County Antrim

Entrance screen to the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer and Clonard Monastery, erected around 1910. The elaborate entrance consists of cast and wrought-iron vehicular gates embellished with iron crosses, flanked by matching pedestrian gates. These are hung on tall square-plan limestone ashlar piers with decorative stop chamfers creating octagonal top sections, surmounted by tapered and stepped capstones. A rock-faced limestone ashlar plinth wall encloses the west side and rear of the church, fitted with decorative wrought-iron railings.

An irregular plan garden to the southeast of the monastery is laid out as lawn with symmetrical bitumac footpaths, some religious statuary and concrete steps with urns. The west boundary wall is built in red brick laid in English garden wall bond with cement coping. The east boundary wall is largely poured concrete with some red brick sections and cement coping. The south boundary wall is rubble basalt with stacked coping. A car park to the south is enclosed by similarly designed replacement plinth wall and replacement steel railings. The gates open onto a bitumac forecourt to the church with stone setts opening onto the road.

The entrance screen has significant group value with the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer and Clonard Monastery, together constituting an important ecclesiastical complex of considerable social interest to the local community. The walled garden, possibly a former orchard, provides a peaceful setting to the monastery and serves as a tranquil public amenity. The screen exhibits fine craftsmanship and is a fitting architectural addition to the complex.

Historically, following his appointment as Catholic bishop of Down and Connor in 1895, Dr Henry announced his intention to establish a house for the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists) in west Belfast. The Redemptorists took formal possession of the acquired Clonard House on 31 October 1896. Plans approved by Rome permitted the building of a larger residence to house a community of 18 to 20 and to provide a retreat for men. Architect John Joseph McDonnell designed the monastery. The first sod was dug by Father Griffith on 9 June 1898, and Bishop Henry laid the foundation stone on 15 August. The monastery was completed a year and nine months later, and the Redemptorists moved in on 2 May 1900. The next day the Sisters of Mercy moved into Clonard House. A temporary church had been erected in 1897, and a permanent church was subsequently built on a site beside the monastery, designed by J. J. O'Donnell. Work began in 1907, and the dedication ceremony took place on 1 October 1911. From an early date, the area immediately in front of the church and monastery was elaborately laid out in gardens, visible on maps from 1931. In 1966 the car park was extended into the monastery garden. In 1973, Clonard hall was erected at the lower end of the garden. In 1996, the railings, gates, piers and walls that formed the perimeter of the Clonard campus on Clonard Street side were replaced with higher standard stone pillars and railings to match those around the church. The new wall was of Mourne granite. The work was completed in time for the centenary of the Redemptorists' arrival in Belfast, with funding provided by the Department of the Environment and the Making Belfast Work scheme.