Cushendun Parish Church, Cushendun, Co.Antrim

Cushendun Parish Church is a former Gothic-style chapel of ease built around 1838 from locally quarried Devonian Sandstone, with Carboniferous Sandstone used as a secondary dressing material. Rectangular on plan with projections to both the east and west sides, the building features a two-stage square bell tower to the west elevation. The principal elevation faces south-east. The church is no longer in use as a place of worship, having been deconsecrated in 2003, and sits within its own grounds at the eastern extremity of Cushendun village, within the Cushendun Conservation Area, on land that formed part of the grounds of Glenmona Lodge.

Historical Background

The chapel was built in response to the growth of Cushendun as a fashionable early 19th-century coastal resort. The Napoleonic Wars had encouraged domestic tourism in Ireland, and new routes and hotels developed along the Antrim Coast for visitors travelling to the Glens and the Giant's Causeway. Although the village had a predominantly Roman Catholic population, the construction of summer residences and bathing lodges brought a Church of Ireland presence that required its own place of worship. Writing in 1837, Lewis noted that it was "in contemplation to erect a chapel of ease at Cushendun, now a fashionable watering-place, at the eastern extremity of the parish, and seven miles distant from the mother church." The building was completed between 1837 and 1840, with the first curate appointed to the chapel of ease in 1840. The architect is not known.

The church was erected on land leased by the Harrison family, and following the death of Michael Harrison in 1846, a memorial tablet to him was installed in the north wall. Membership remained modest throughout the church's history, though the congregation swelled during the summer months when holidaymakers visited the village. The chapel of ease was joined to the Parish of Layde in 1908 due to falling membership, and later joined to Ardclinis and Tickmacrevan in 1987. General remedial work was carried out in 1993. The building was deconsecrated in 2003 and subsequently fell into disrepair, being added to the Buildings at Risk Register. Through the efforts of the Cushendun Building Preservation Trust, it was entered into and won the Northern Ireland heat of the BBC television series Restoration Village in 2006, though it did not win at the final stage. In December 2014, the Heritage Lottery Fund earmarked more than £260,000 for the restoration of the building, with plans to convert it into a village hub and arts centre. An earlier renovation in the early 20th century had included a small extension to the vestry and the replacement of the original flagstone floor with a wooden one. The church was listed and included in the Cushendun Conservation Area in 1980.

Exterior

The roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles, gable parapets, and a small chimney to the north-east gable with a clay pot. Half-round aluminium guttering is supported on rise-and-fall brackets at projecting eaves level, discharging to circular aluminium downpipes.

All four elevations are built of rough coursed squared Devonian Sandstone with local Carboniferous Sandstone dressings. The windows throughout are Gothic-pointed with Y-tracery, diamond-paned leadlights with a border, and opening lights at the arch spring. An ashlar projecting plinth course runs at the base of the walls, and square floor ventilation grilles are set below the windows with ashlar architraves on the elevations where these features occur.

The principal south-east elevation contains the main entrance: a Gothic-pointed doorcase at the base of the bell tower, housing sheeted timber double doors with a panel above and two steps up from ground level. A small vestry addition to the north-east is of roughly squared and coursed sandstone with a matching plinth course and a flat concrete roof. It contains a small timber-framed Y-tracery window with plain glass, positioned slightly off-centre.

The south-west elevation similarly features a Gothic-pointed Y-tracery window and the base of the tower with its projecting ashlar plinth.

The north-west rear elevation follows the same pattern of rough coursed sandstone, Gothic-pointed Y-tracery windows with diamond-paned leadlights, projecting ashlar plinth, and ventilation grilles below the windows. The vestry to the north-east on this side has a timber-sheeted door at its centre, two steps up from ground level.

The north-east elevation matches the other elevations in material and window treatment, with the ashlar plinth and ventilation grilles with ashlar architraves below the windows. At the north-east gable, the chancel end is smooth rendered with a pitched slate roof. It features a triple lancet window with Gothic arches containing stained glass bearing the coat of arms of the O'Neill family of Rockport, flanked on each side by a single Gothic-pointed lancet window with diamond-paned leadlights. A small vestry sits at the base of this elevation, of roughly squared and coursed sandstone with a matching plinth course and flat concrete roof.

Bell Tower

The two-stage bell tower rises from the west end. At its upper level, on all four faces, there is a Gothic-pointed painted timber louvred panel with a Y-tracery design, set on a sandstone sill above a continuous moulded sandstone string course. The tower is crowned with a projecting ashlar sandstone parapet supporting four hexagonal tapering ashlar sandstone finials, one at each corner.

Setting

The church is enclosed within its own grounds, defined by a sandstone boundary wall with two square sandstone entrance pillars and wrought iron gates to the south-east boundary. It sits within the grounds of Glenmona Lodge at the eastern extremity of Cushendun village, within the Cushendun Conservation Area.