Ballywatt Presbyterian Church, Ballywatt Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry

Ballywatt Presbyterian Church is a free-standing blackstone Presbyterian church dated 1895, designed by the Ulster architect Vincent Craig and built by contractor R. Young of Ballymoney. It stands on the west side of Ballywatt Road, east of Coleraine, on a site with a long Presbyterian history: the congregation traces its origins to 1748, when members of the Ballyrashane congregation, together with members of nearby Roseyards and Derrykeighan, joined the Anti-Burgher Synod to form a Seceder cause in the parish. The first meeting house on the site was constructed in 1830 (with the interior completed in 1832) and was described in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs as a substantial two-storey building 66 feet long by 34 feet wide, capable of accommodating around 800 persons, costing £590 raised largely by subscription. The current church replaced this earlier structure in 1895.

The building is a good example of Craig's preferred Art Nouveau approach to church design, which stressed aesthetic effect over strict functionalism — a preference also evident in his slightly later Portstewart Presbyterian Church (1903–05). Writing in 1972, Girvan described it as "very much a town-style Gothic Church, looking oddly flamboyant" in its rural setting. Craig (1869–1925), the younger brother of James Craig, first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, established his first practice in Belfast in 1891.

The church is built on a rectangular plan with transepts to the east and west, a side aisle to the east, a chancel to the north, and an engaged square entrance tower with a stairwell extension to its southeast corner. The walling throughout is random squared rock-faced blackstone with red sandstone dressings. There is a chamfered sandstone string course at plinth level, and diagonal buttresses with sandstone offsets to the gables. The roofs are covered in rosemary clay tiles with rounded ridge tiles, raised sandstone verges, and gable finials; paired polygonal chimneystacks rise from the north gable. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are carried on bracketed stone eaves.

The windows are coloured leaded lattice lancets set in chamfered sandstone blocked surrounds with chamfered sills, unless otherwise noted. The transepts have paired cusped lancets with a multi-foil oculus above.

The east-facing front has three lancets to the side aisle, flanked by the tower to the left and the transept to the right. The tower rises through a polygonal upper section with rectangular windows to each facet, finishing in a shaped parapet and a squat spire topped by a weathervane. At ground floor level, a windbreak porch sits between buttresses beneath a sandstone gable topped by a finial. An inscribed datestone in a cusped moulding at the apex reads "BALLYWATT / CHURCH / 1750 / REBUILT / 1895". The entrance comprises replacement pointed-headed timber-sheeted doors in a chamfered reveal with a moulded head, reached by three stone steps with modern metal handrails. The south elevation of the tower is abutted by the stairwell extension, which has decorative half-hipped timbering detail and is lit by a central three-light leaded-and-stained glass window with a bipartite window above. The south gable has a window of three staged cusped lancets (the central one lower than the flanking pair), with a multi-foil oculus above surmounted by a relieving arch and a narrow opening at the apex of the gable. The east elevation has four leaded lancets and the transept to the left.

To the north, the main body of the church is abutted by a five-sided chancel with buttresses and stained glass lancets to all faces except the east, which is itself abutted by a small square castellated vestry. The vestry is flush with the east elevation and is detailed in keeping with the main church, with a pyramidal roof topped by a terracotta finial. The east elevation of the vestry and its right cheek both have rectangular windows; the east elevation also has a pointed-headed timber-sheeted door in a chamfered sandstone blocked surround, accessed by two stone steps.

The interior is noted for its splendid wooden double-braced collar beam roof and a gallery rose-window.

The listing extends to the church itself, the boundary wall, and the entrance gates and pillars. The site is bounded to the road on the east by a roughcast rendered wall with roll-top coping. The entrance from Ballywatt Road is formed by original square red ashlar sandstone piers with tall polygonal caps on chamfered pedestals, supporting original cast-iron gates, with a modern cattle-grid at the entrance. The site also incorporates a cemetery with headstones dating from the late 19th century, some tombs retaining ornate Victorian cast-iron railings. To the north of the church stands Moore Memorial Hall, also designed by Vincent Craig in 1910, built of the same materials and in a similar Art Nouveau style; together the two buildings form an important group and a distinctive landmark in the surrounding farmland landscape. To the west is a mid-20th-century cement-rendered single-storey hall of little architectural interest.

The church was listed in 1976. Since that time it has undergone a major restoration project carried out by J. S. Dunlop, who re-roofed the building in rosemary tiles, replaced the leadwork, repointed the masonry, and completely redecorated the interior. The church remains in use as a place of worship and in 2006 had a congregation of approximately 166 families.