Methodist Church, Circular Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1PS

Methodist Church, Circular Road, Coleraine — built 1852–53, designed by Isaac Farrell

This is a mid-Victorian classical-styled Methodist church built in 1852–53 to designs by Isaac Farrell, the leading Methodist church architect of the period, also responsible for Coleraine Academical Institution. It stands on the east side of Circular Road in Coleraine town centre, prominently sited on a triangular plot directly south of Coleraine Public Library and overlooking a modern shopping complex on the east bank of the River Bann. Farrell's design for Coleraine has been described as "perhaps his most imaginative," being externally more three-dimensional than his Donegall Square church completed in 1847. The listing extends to the church itself, the curved wall to the south, the cast-iron railings and entrance gates to the west, and the lamp posts.

Architectural Overview

The church has a rectangular plan with stairwell bays to the antae and a semi-circular apse to the east. The roof is pitched natural slate with angled ridge tiles, and cast-iron ogee rainwater goods hang on projecting eaves. The principal west elevation is stucco-fronted with channelled rustication to the ground floor. The side elevations are finished in ruled-and-lined render on a rubblestone plinth, and the apse is finished in roughcast render.

The west front is dominated by a distyle portico in antis — that is, a porch with two freestanding columns set between projecting walls — topped by a pediment with a dentilled cornice. The two Corinthian columns have entasis (a slight tapering curve). Corner pilasters with Corinthian capitals frame the antae, each of which contains a blind window opening with a moulded architrave and a projecting sill decorated with a moulded panel. The soffit of the portico carries a plasterwork cornice and decorative moulding. The central doorcase has a moulded architrave surmounted by a frieze bearing two painted rosette mouldings and a dentilled ovolo-moulded cornice. The entrance comprises double-leaf two-panelled timber doors, surmounted by a fixed panelled timber tympanum and flanked by panelled jambs. Seven concrete steps with a modern metal handrail lead up to the portico. Two original cast-iron lamp posts stand either side of the entrance.

To the south of the portico there is a curved flanking wall, rendered and painted, which Farrell originally intended to be mirrored to the north; evidence survives that the northern equivalent has been removed. Farrell's original intention was for the curved screen walls to terminate in neo-classical pavilions, but these were never built.

Windows

Windows at gallery level are replacement 4-over-4 timber sash with margin panes, round-headed four-paned top-lights, and projecting painted sills. At ground floor level there are replacement segmental-headed 4-over-2 timber sash windows with margin panes, horns, and projecting painted sills. The apse contains three replacement 20th-century round-headed leaded-and-stained glass windows.

North, South and East Elevations

The north elevation has five evenly spaced windows at both ground and first floor levels. The south elevation mirrors the north. The east elevation is formed by the semi-circular apse, which has three replacement leaded-and-stained glass windows at gallery level; at ground floor level to the left it is abutted by a modern single-storey flat-roof extension connecting to the two- and three-storey modern church hall of 1961 (considered of no architectural interest).

Interior

Contemporary accounts praised the interior's "fine ceiling covered with groined arches and beautifully ornamented," and described the mahogany pulpit as "one of the most beautiful to be found in any church in the country" (Coleraine Chronicle, 16 September 1854).

Historical Context

The first Methodist preacher visited Coleraine in 1774, and rooms in a disused military barracks on Bridge Street were converted into a hall in 1777. The following year John Wesley himself visited and preached to large numbers in the Barrack Square, returning in 1785 and describing the Coleraine townsfolk as "good old soldiers and entirely after my own heart." In 1785, local merchant John Galt founded the Sunday School, now claimed to be the longest-running Sunday School in Ireland. Galt also provided a site for the growing Wesleyan congregation, and a church accommodating 300 worshippers together with a manse were built in 1801–02 on the town ramparts at a cost of £500, giving the name "Preaching House Lane" to the adjacent street. School rooms were built beneath the church, though the debt on the buildings was still a significant burden in 1836. These early buildings remained on the site until the 1960s, serving in their later years as church halls.

The present church was built in 1852–53 at a cost of £2,540 on a site to the rear of the old building. The contractor was Samuel Kirkpatrick, and the stucco work was carried out by Thomas Boyle of Coleraine. Major financial contributions came from Mr and Mrs Archibald McElwaine (£1,000), the Honourable the Irish Society (£300), and the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers (£50). The church is listed in Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 at £50, with dimensions recorded for the chapel and school house, and first appears on the large-scale town plan of Coleraine dating from 1904. The church was listed in 1977.

It is worth noting that Farrell originally drew up two designs for the church; the unrealised design was subsequently used for the Methodist Church in Donegall Square.

Alterations and Repairs

Valuer's notes from the 1930s record a vestry and lecture hall to the rear, along with external stores, a heating chamber, and lavatories. Electric lighting was installed in 1938, a new roof fitted in 1952, and three stained-glass windows installed behind the pulpit in 1960. A new suite of halls was constructed and dedicated in 1961 at a cost of £24,000. The manse to the south of the church was demolished in the 1970s. A Copeman Hart digital electronic organ was installed in 1988 at a cost of £12,000. Extensive renovations costing £200,000 were carried out in 1992–93, covering the roof, ceiling, floor, walls, doors, windows, and pews, under the supervision of architect William Hunter, with H. Taggart & Sons Ltd of Coleraine as contractors (Coleraine Chronicle, 1 May 1993). The replacement fabric throughout is of appropriate style and quality, and the building retains much of its original character.

Setting

The church stands on a triangular plot to the east side of Circular Road, with a lawned front garden and a pathway laid in modern brick paviors. The site is bounded to the west by cast-iron railings on a concrete plinth, with cast-iron entrance gates on round cast-iron piers topped by acorn finials. To the north, the boundary is a painted smooth rendered wall with saddleback concrete coping, punctuated by square piers with pointed concrete caps. To the south there is a large gap site currently in use as a car park, bounded by a high rendered wall — the site of the former manse. Directly to the rear of the church, accessible via the flat-roof modern extension and from Queen Street to the east, is the 1961 church hall in typical mid-20th-century style.