First Dunboe Presbyterian Church, Articlave, Castlerock, Co. Londonderry, BT51

First Dunboe Presbyterian Church is a freestanding early twentieth-century Presbyterian church situated on the north side of St Pauls Road in the village of Articlave, County Londonderry. Constructed in 1935 and extensively refurbished in 1994, it is finished in pebble-dash and red brick with a two-stage square tower.

The building follows a rectangular plan with a projecting gabled porch to the ecclesiastical south, transepts to the ecclesiastical east and west, and an apsidal chancel to the ecclesiastical north. The chancel is abutted to the east by a presbytery and to the west by a vestry, with a full-length basement incorporating the chancel. The pitched natural slate roof features angled terracotta ridge tiles and sandstone verges with kneelers to the gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with square downpipes and cast-iron hoppers drain the roof.

The walling comprises pebble-dash over concrete block construction on a stretcher-bonded red-brick plinth with chamfered sandstone coping. Red-brick dressings include an eaves band, and sandstone ashlar platbands are applied to the gables. Windows throughout consist of a variety of leaded-glass lancets from the early and late twentieth century, set in block sandstone surrounds with chamfered sills.

The south-facing entrance gable features a projecting gabled porch with diagonal buttresses capped in sandstone and raised sandstone verges with kneelers. A carved datestone reading "1936" sits at the apex above a diminutive bipartite mullioned square-headed rectangular window; a group of three lancets lights the gallery. Tripartite mullioned windows in a shared square-headed surround with spandrel panels flank the central porch entrance, which comprises an original pointed-headed timber-sheeted door with ornate cast-iron strap-hinges, set within an ashlar sandstone chamfered reveal.

The two-stage tower to the left has angle buttresses rising to a concave parapet topped by a pyramidal Westmoreland slate roof and weathervane. The second stage features stylised mock machicolations above a Y-tracery lancet window with hood mould. The first stage displays a square-headed bipartite mullioned window over a square-headed four-paned mullioned window, with a rectangular segmental-headed window to the ground floor on the south face only.

The west elevation contains four evenly-spaced lancets divided by buttresses. The west transept, abutting at the left, has two tall lancets to the gable and a lancet to the south cheek. The north gable is abutted by the apsidal chancel (lower) with a gabled presbytery to its left cheek and a gabled vestry to its right cheek, all set over a smooth rendered basement level. The gable has a bipartite mullioned window to the apex with sandstone string course, flanked by chimneystacks at mid-level. Three lancets light the apsidal chancel, and the basement level has windows flanking a modern timber door. The presbytery features a square-headed tripartite mullioned window at the right and windows to the left over a modern timber door, with three further square-headed windows below; the gable has a bipartite mullioned window and modern timber door to the left, accessed via concrete steps with a modern handrail. The vestry is detailed identically to the presbytery. The east elevation mirrors the west elevation.

The church stands on a large plot set back from the main road (A2) in the centre of the village, surrounded by largely late twentieth-century housing developments and facing the church hall (Mark Memorial Hall). To the east lies a graveyard containing a variety of headstones from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The front is lawned with a turning circle. The site is bounded by a mid-height pebble-dash wall with smooth base and sandstone coping. Alcoved entrance walls to the front have corner piers and gate piers topped with tall sandstone pyramidal caps. The taller gate piers support original cast-iron gates, with similar gate piers providing access to the graveyard.