Willowfield Parish Church of Ireland, 290-296 Woodstock Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT6 9DN

Willowfield Parish Church of Ireland is a large red-brick Victorian Parish Church built between 1871 and 1872 to designs by John Lanyon, with later extensions, and prominently situated on the west side of Woodstock Road, east of Belfast city centre, between Jocelyn Street and My Lady's Road. It is a distinctive and lively design, with the proportions and style of the north elevation making for an interesting composition. Architectural detailing is largely intact and the church retains a relatively well-preserved Victorian interior.

ARCHITECT AND ORIGINS

John Lanyon (1839–1900) was the eldest son of the well-known architect Charles Lanyon. He was a Belfast and Dublin-based engineer and architect who served as chief architect to the Belfast and County Down Railway Company and was principally engaged in railway engineering throughout his life, though he also designed a number of churches and secular structures in Belfast and Ulster. The site for the church was granted free of charge by William Mullan, a former Mayor of Belfast who resided in the area. The decision to build was made in June 1869, driven by the rapid expansion of the south-east of Belfast; the building was originally designed to accommodate a congregation of 600 persons and cost a total of £3,838 to construct. The foundation stone was laid in November 1871, and construction was completed a year later in August 1872 when the building was consecrated. The Belfast Newsletter recorded that Willowfield was the seventh, and ultimately the final, church erected by the Belfast Church Extension Committee.

PLAN AND EXTERNAL DESCRIPTION

The church is cruciform in plan on an east–west axis, with side aisles — the north aisle comprising four gabled bays. There is a three-stage hexagonal bell tower with an adjoining turret, an apse and a polygonal bay to the east, and projecting gabled entrance porches to both east and west. A large modern extension, the Micah Centre, was added to the west in 2007.

The roof is covered in natural slate with raised sandstone skews, finials and kneelers, and a brick chimney to the gable of the nave at the east end. Valleys have lead linings. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are carried on a decorative brick eaves course, and ornately carved gargoyle spouts are present to the north. The walling is English garden wall-bonded red brick with a projecting plinth, polychromatic brick courses and buttresses. Windows throughout are leaded and stained glass lancets with cusped sandstone insets and chamfered sandstone sills, unless otherwise noted. The transepts have geometric rose windows with continuous sills, surmounted by diminutive lancets.

The north elevation forms the principal public face of the church, comprising the transept and four projecting side bays. A gabled entrance porch abuts the hexagonal bell tower at the left. At the far right is a projecting entrance porch opening to both east and west, with angled buttresses, recessed timber-sheeted double-leaf doors with moulded sandstone lintels, and five grouped lancets set within a segmental-headed opening to the north. At the left, masonry steps lead to a basement, enclosed by a red-brick wall with masonry capping.

The three-stage hexagonal stair tower to the east has narrow window openings irregularly arranged at the first and second stages. It is abutted at the right by a two-stage turret. A string course runs between the second and third stages. The belfry stage has pointed-arch openings in decorative chamfered recesses to all sides, surmounted by a moulded cornice and castellated parapet.

The east elevation has a full-height apse at the centre abutting the nave; to the left is a single-storey polygonal bay abutting the south transept; to the right the hexagonal stair tower is set in a recessed position. Both the apse and polygonal bays have lead lining to the hips and paired windows. The south elevation's side aisle is three sets of paired windows wide, and is abutted at the left by the modern extension, which is of no architectural interest. The south transept is abutted to the east by a gabled entrance porch containing a timber-sheeted entrance door accessed by three enclosed masonry steps. The west elevation shows the gable of the nave and the side aisle, which is lower and narrower; it is almost entirely obscured by the modern church hall and a modern entrance porch.

THE SPIRE

John Lanyon's original design included a spire, which was erected along with the main building in 1871–72. By 1884 it required extensive repair work, and in 1912 the church architect W. J. Fennell recommended it be taken down. It was not until 1926 that a new spire was erected, to designs by a Mr Robert Lynn. This replacement was a steel frame enclosed in red pine covered with copper plates, rising to a height of 106 feet from ground level. The green copper provided a pleasing contrast to the red brick of the building, but in 1951 this spire too had to be removed when it became unsafe, and it has not been replaced since. The valuation record reflects these changes: the church's rateable value stood at £170 from its construction until around 1906, rose to £207 in 1927 when the new spire was added, reached £360 by the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935, and climbed to £795 after the Second World War before being reduced to £636 under the 1957 Rent and Valuation Act.

EXTENSIONS AND ALTERATIONS

The area around the Woodstock Road developed rapidly as a suburban residential district between 1870 and the early 20th century, leading to significant growth in the Willowfield congregation. In 1900–01, the architect William G. Fennell extended the nave by 18 feet, increased the width of the south aisle, and constructed an additional porch in the north-west corner of the building. The church reopened with its increased capacity in October 1901. John Lanyon had previously designed the red-brick Rectory to the rear of the church on My Lady's Road in 1874, with the builders Fitzpatrick Bros. completing the dwelling in 1875 to a tender of £1,400. Willowfield National School opened in 1879.

In 1929, the chancel was enlarged and a new electrical lighting system was installed. During the Second World War, the stained glass windows in the chancel were removed for safekeeping by W. F. Clokey & Co. in May 1941, and the church escaped the worst of the Belfast Blitz. In the 1950s, a major restoration was carried out by Mr Charles McAneary at a cost of £2,000, involving the repointing of brickwork, redressing of stonework, and replacement of all damaged stone. In 1963–64, a new lighting and heating system was installed and the interior was completely redecorated. In 1962, the Rectory was renovated at a cost of £3,000.

In recent years, wet and dry rot was discovered in the roof and floor timbers, requiring two years of refurbishment. The church reopened in 2007 after over £1 million was spent on repairs, and the modern Micah Centre church hall extension adjoining the rear of the church was opened on 15 September 2007.

THE ORGAN

The War Memorial Organ, dedicated to the 600 men from the parish who served in the First World War — 100 of whom died at the front — was installed in 1922, built by Messrs Evans and Barr Ltd. of Belfast. In 1967, the organ was enlarged and electrified at a cost of £3,700.

SETTING

The church is prominently situated between Jocelyn Street and My Lady's Road on the west side of Woodstock Road, with brick-terraced houses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to both north and south. The rear is dominated by the large modern extension with a small tarmacadamed car park. The church is set back from the main road with shrubs to the east, and is enclosed on all sides by metal bollards and chains. A two-storey red-brick Manse to the west was also built in 1875 to designs by John Lanyon.