St Josephs Church, Hannahstown, 23 Hannahstown Hill, Belfast, BT17 OLT

St Joseph's Church, Hannahstown

A double-height gabled church dating from 1826, built by Reverend Charles Hendron on land provided by John McCance, a Presbyterian landowner who also contributed £20 towards its construction. The church was consecrated by Dr Crolly on 30 September 1827. It replaced an earlier schoolhouse-chapel built by Father O'Donnell in 1792, a small portion of which remains in the present graveyard.

The building has an L-shaped plan form with a square tower to the south-west corner. The principal south elevation features a double-height gabled entrance at its centre, flanked by two projecting gables angled at 45 degrees to face south-east and south-west. A large pointed arch door opening leads onto five steps, with a round arch window above and a stone plaque dated 1998 marking a major refurbishment. A stone Celtic cross crowns the apex.

The south-west block is two bays wide with a gable end containing a round arch window at high level and a single-storey projecting porch with a round arch window to its gable and buttresses. The square-planned three-stage tower with pyramidal roof adjoins this block to the west. It is constructed of un-coursed rock-faced Greywacke stone with Scrabo sandstone quoins and angled buttresses. The first stage has a pointed arch door opening with a smooth Scrabo sandstone surround; the second stage contains a small pointed arch opening; the belfry stage features a large pointed arch louvred opening with a continuous moulded string course to impost level. An overhanging eaves detail and metal finial complete the tower.

The south-east block is similarly two bays wide with a gable end containing a round arch window at high level and a single-storey projecting porch with two round arch windows to its gable. The west elevation comprises a double-height two-bay section abutted by the tower at its south end, with pointed arch windows and two single-storey lean-to extensions to the north containing smaller lancet windows, a square-headed window, and a square-headed door. The north elevation consists of a single three-part canted bay with three pointed arch windows. The east elevation presents a four-bay elevation.

The pitched natural slate roof features angled black clay ridge tiles, raised stone verges to kneeled gables, and small circular section metal ventilators. Metal ogee guttering discharges to circular downpipes. The walling is rendered with a projecting plinth course. Windows feature stained leaded glazing with concrete sills unless otherwise noted. Door openings throughout have diagonal-sheeted timber doors; some feature fanlights. The porch accesses include ramps.

The church stands within its own grounds with a graveyard to the west, including the listed Hamill Vault. To the south-east stands a rectangular double-storey pitched-roof hall; to the south a T-plan two-storey gabled hall. A large tarmaced car park occupies the south-west area. A statue of St Joseph on a plinth stands at the front of the main entrance. The site is located on the east side of Hannahstown Hill, technically within the townland of Englishtown though on its boundary with Hannahstown.

The church was extensively refurbished and extended southward in 1998, with a new parochial house also constructed at that time. According to the First Valuation fieldbook of circa 1835, the original church measured 50 feet long, 28½ feet broad, and 18 feet high to the eaves, with a return measuring 12½ feet long, 25 feet broad, and 11 feet high. The fieldbook noted that the church was "neither floored or ceiled" at that date. Historical mapping shows the church as an oblong structure with a northern addition on the 1832-33 Ordnance Survey map. By 1857 it is marked as "R.C. Chapel" and by 1901 as "St Peter and St Paul's RC Chapel" (though this may be erroneous); subsequent maps identify it as St Joseph's. In Griffith's Valuation of 1861 the church was valued at £16 10 shillings. A photograph from 1989 shows the building as a rectangular structure with a porch attached to the west gable and a tower with spire adjoining the west end of the north wall, prior to the major 1998 refurbishment.