St Patricks Church of Ireland, Newtownards Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim

St Patrick's Church of Ireland, Newtownards Road, Belfast

St Patrick's Church of Ireland is a six-bay Gothic Revival church built between 1893 and designed by architect S P Close. The building is oriented east to west and is cruciform in plan, with a four-stage bell tower positioned at the south-west corner.

The church is constructed in rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with stepped buttresses, a natural slate roof, and window tracery in the Perpendicular style. A gabled and pitched roof with natural slate finish is topped with terracotta ridge tiles and lead valleys. The rainwater goods are a mix of cast-iron, uPVC and extruded aluminium, with ogee-shaped cast-iron gutters sitting on ovolo-shaped stone moulding with brackets at the upper level. A sandstone chimney stack in three stages stands on the north elevation at the east end.

The principal elevation faces south. The walls are in rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with smooth sandstone toothed quoins at the corners. The entrance is positioned at the base of the four-stage bell tower at the south-west, approached through stepped stone gabled set-back buttresses with toothed quoin detail to all stages. The ground floor stage has the main entrance in an equilateral arched opening with early English style archivolt and hood moulding, featuring painted paired timber doors with strap hinges and a timber boarded blind panel above. The second stage contains a large equilateral window with Perpendicular tracery. The third stage houses a clock set in a circular moulding. The fourth stage of the tower has a pair of arched openings with louvres and decorated 'Y' shaped tracery to the top, with shallow blind arcading behind and below. Above this is a moulded stone string course with small gargoyles set at an angle at each end. A shallow blind arcade with battlements rises above the string course, topped with crocketted pinnacles at each corner and a central pinnacle set at an angle to centre.

The middle section of the south elevation is divided into three bays, each with square-headed tripartite windows separated by stone buttresses. A pitched roof above features a clerestory and three shallow four-centred arched windows with hood mouldings. A gabled bay to the south-east has two paired square-headed windows under a single hood moulding at ground floor level, with a moulded stone string course above and an equilateral arched window at upper level with intersecting 'Y' tracery in Perpendicular style. The west face of this projecting gable has two square-headed window openings at low level and three lancet windows at high level (one truncated to the north), all with hood mouldings. A decorated saddle-stone sits at the apex of the gable. A lean-to single storey abutment to the east face of the projecting gable contains paired timber doors in an equilateral arched opening with smooth sandstone voussoirs and toothed quoins to the architrave.

The west elevation has the bell tower at the south-west corner with detailing as the south elevation, except with lancet arched windows to each stage diminishing in height to the top stage. A gabled wall to the south-east of the tower features a large equilateral arched window with Perpendicular tracery and stepped three-stage buttresses either side. The gable has three-block kneelers, moulded coping and a decorated saddle-stone at the apex. To the north-west is a lean-to gable end of the north aisle with an equilateral arched window opening, simple tracery and hood moulding. A diagonal buttress stands at the north corner. The north elevation is partly obscured by the church hall. It follows the detailing of the south elevation, with a single storey side aisle to the middle having a pitched natural slate roof and clerestory to the nave wall beyond with three shallow four-centred arched windows with hood mouldings above. A gabled porch projects from a gabled transept with details matching the south elevation. At the east end, stepping back from the gable is a smaller gable with an infilled lancet window at lower level and a smaller lancet window at upper level, together with a series of smaller returns containing a boiler house. A sandstone chimney stack in three stages stands here.

The east elevation has a lean-to at the north end with a single centrally placed lancet window. Projecting forward from this is a gable with centrally placed square-headed pair of windows with hood moulding and Gothic tracery with ogee profile. To the south is a tall chancel gable with stepped buttresses and a large equilateral arched window with Perpendicular tracery. A buttress to the south of this window is set-back, with a matching buttress at 90 degrees on the south elevation of the chancel. The gable has kneelers, coping and a decorated saddle-stone with three lancet windows to the south face. The gable to the main nave is visible at high level with the same detailing. The south transept gable has a centrally placed equilateral arched window with Perpendicular tracery and smooth sandstone architrave. A lean-to porch extends to the south end.

A six-bay single-storey hall is located to the north-west of the church. It has rough cast rendered walls with buttresses, smooth rendered architraves to windows with lugs, a pitched roof with parapet gables, natural slate finish and uPVC rainwater goods. Square-headed openings contain replacement casement windows. The principal elevation faces south with the entrance in a shouldered gabled return. The entrance door sits in a square-headed opening with smooth rendered architrave with four-centred arch, blocked plinth, central block to jamb and hood moulding, featuring paired sheeted timber doors. A modern extension has been added to the east, comprising a single storey with dry-dash rendered walls, natural slate roof and top-hung casement windows.

The church occupies a level site on the north side of Newtownards Road at Ballymacarrett. The site is bounded on the east, west and south sides by a low stone wall with cast-iron railings. A rubble sandstone wall with upright stone copings runs along the north boundary; this wall pre-dates the current church and is reputed to be the oldest wall in Ballymacarrett. Vehicular entrances with large square pillars and cast-iron gates are located on the south and east boundaries. The railings and pillars on the Newtownards Road frontage have been moved back from their original position due to a road widening scheme.