St. Patrick'S R C Church, Barnish, Co.Antrim

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Barnish

St. Patrick's is a symmetrical, free-standing, double-height Roman Catholic church of Gothic Revival character, erected around 1800. The building is cruciform in plan, facing south, and situated on an elevated site set back from the north side of Cushendall Road.

The church underwent extensive renovation around 1965, when a double-height vestibule extension was added to the front gable. The pitched roof is natural slate with lead valleys and black clay ridgecombe tiles, sitting behind slightly raised gables finished with ashlar coping and stone crosses at the apexes. The roof is fitted with replacement moulded steel guttering on sandstone eaves courses and replacement steel box downpipes. The walls are rendered in pebbledash with a smooth rendered plinth course.

The windows throughout feature pointed-headed openings with chamfered sandstone ashlar surrounds, flush splayed sills, hood mouldings, and coloured leaded glazing protected by storm glazing.

The symmetrical gabled front elevation is largely concealed by the 1960s vestibule extension. The original gable is flanked by octagonal sandstone ashlar piers that rise above the roof line as tapered finials. Above the apex sits a red sandstone bellcote containing a bronze bell within an open Gothic-style bell arch, surmounted by an iron cross. The original gable features a pair of oculi at gallery level with quatrefoil window openings fitted with steel-framed leaded glazing. The three-bay 1960s extension has pointed-headed window openings (replicating the originals) in cast cement, with the central entrance bay flanked by full-height stepped cast concrete buttresses. The pointed-headed entrance door is also formed in cast concrete with a chamfered surround, embellished spandrel panels, and hood moulding. Double-leaf hardwood doors with vertically-sheeted panels and an etched overlight open onto a cobblelock platform with four cobblelock steps leading to the bitmac-paved forecourt.

The west nave elevation and south cheek to the west transept are detailed as per the original front gable, with an additional single octagonal pier at the south-west corner of the transept. The gabled west transept is abutted by a flight of concrete steps providing access to gallery level, with a single central pointed-headed door opening containing a hardwood glazed and etched door. Below the steps is a square-headed door opening with hardwood double-leaf doors set within the stepped structure.

The rear elevation features a central gabled chancel projection and a lower gabled vestry block to the north-east re-entrant angle. The large pointed-headed chancel window contains timber tracery and figurative leaded stained glass, covered with storm glazing. The east nave elevation matches the west elevation. The gabled transept is abutted by an original flight of stone steps with octagonal red sandstone piers and coping.

The church sits on an elevated site surrounded by stone and marble grave markers dating from the eighteenth century, set in lawn and enclosed by rubblestone walling to the east, north, and west. A bitmac driveway centred on the front entrance opens onto the road via a pair of decorative wrought-iron gates hung on square-plan rendered piers with Gothic capstones and flanked by curved walls with matching railings and piers. The front site is enclosed by matching rendered wall.