Knock Methodist Church, Knock Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT5 6LA

Knock Methodist Church is a double-height Gothic Revival church built in 1882–83, situated at the corner of Knock Road and Green Road, Belfast, in the townland of Ballycloghan. It replaced an earlier Methodist Wesleyan Chapel built in the townland in 1869–70, which had itself served a congregation that previously worshipped in members' houses. The foundation stone was laid on 2nd October 1882 and the completed building was dedicated on 13th June 1883 by the Reverend Charles Garrett, President of the Methodist Conference. The architect is not known. The church is listed together with its boundary gates and railings.

The building is set out on a cruciform plan on an east–west axis, with a square-plan tower to the southeast, a gabled extension to the northwest end, and later single- and two-storey extensions to the rear dating from around 1969. The site occupies a corner plot facing east, and the church is connected by a covered pathway to the new church centre at 17 Knock Road, opened on 25th September 2011, which replaced a former lecture hall that had stood to the north of the church since 1911.

The roofs are finished in natural slate with angled black-clay ridge tiles, projecting corbels supporting cast-iron ogee guttering, and circular downpipes. The walls are built in un-coursed, rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with stone-cut dressings in Dundonald sandstone, a black-clay plinth course, and lead-covered raised stone verges. Window openings are round-arched with splayed sills and leaded stained glazing throughout, unless otherwise noted. Both sandstones were locally quarried.

The principal elevation faces east and is gabled. It features a continuous flush stone-cut Dundonald sandstone course at sill and impost heights. There are two double shouldered arch door openings, each with paired segmental arches above supported on stone-cut surrounds with a granite column between; the arches carry moulded hoods on carved stops. Each opening is fitted with double timber doors with diagonal sheeting, which open onto a platform approached by five nosed steps. Above sits a large two-part tracery window with granite columns and a stone-cut surround filled with stained leaded glazing, and a small quatrefoil carving at high level. A gabled extension at the north end of the principal elevation faces north and is decorated with a frieze, a segmental-headed window, and stained leaded glazing.

The square-plan tower rises in three stages to a high hipped natural slate roof with a metal finial, and is embellished with decorated corbels. The first stage has small fixed plain glass windows; the second stage has a segmental-headed window of four lights; and the third stage has twin round-arched windows with a stone pillar between.

The south elevation comprises a five-bay south aisle, a two-bay gabled transept to the west, and the tower at the east end. Each bay of the aisle contains a window, with the easternmost bay projecting. The south transept has two large stained glass windows, a small circular window above with a moulded hood facing south, and smaller windows to each side. The east elevation is abutted by the later extensions, which have a wet dash finish and date from the 1960s. The north elevation has a four-bay north aisle, a two-bay transept to the west, and a gabled outshot to the east end. Each bay of the aisle contains a window. The north transept shows clear signs of recent modification, is rendered in wet dash, has a hipped roof, two large stained glass windows facing north, and a third facing east. The gabled extension has three tall segmental-headed windows with leaded stained glass, and smaller segmental-headed windows to each side.

Internally, the nave has a handsome coffered ceiling. The church did not originally possess a gallery; this was added in 1908. A major refurbishment in 1925 saw the construction of the current transepts, a new vestry and choir room, and the installation of a new organ and choir stalls. The organ, built by the local firm Messrs Evans & Barr Ltd at a cost of £1,315, replaced the original harmonium. This extension scheme added accommodation for approximately 200 additional people at a total cost of around £5,000. The current organ dates from 1969, designed by Messrs Charles Smethurst of Manchester; it replaced the 1925 instrument but incorporated portions from the Evans & Barr organ.

The building contains a number of notable stained glass windows. A bronze war memorial tablet was added in 1920, inscribed with the names of congregation members who died during the First World War. A war memorial window in the south aisle, unveiled on 19th June 1949, features emblems of the armed services and symbols of the conflict, together with the names of the fallen. Four windows were brought from other Methodist churches: the two windows in the northern transept were moved from the derelict Carlisle Memorial Church in January 1981, and to accommodate them the northern transept was partly reconstructed at around that time. The two windows in the southern transept — dedicated to the Reverend Philip Embury and his cousin Barbara Heck, Irish-born founders of one of the earliest Methodist congregations in the United States — were originally in the Methodist Church on Donegall Square East, and were moved following the conversion of that building into a bank in 1997. The remaining stained glass windows were added at various dates and were predominantly gifted as memorials to significant members of the congregation.

The exterior stonework was repaired and the brickwork repointed in around 1996. The site is paved to the front with a small car park to the rear, enclosed by a hedge and two iron gates: the principal gate at the southwest corner and a secondary gate to the south.