Ringsend Presbyterian Church, Aghadowey, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51

Ringsend Presbyterian Church stands on the west side of Cashel Road, southeast of Coleraine, in rural surroundings. Built between 1833 and 1835, it is a simple barn Presbyterian church with a rectangular plan. The building was constructed close to where Dr John Brown of Aghadowey preached open-air sermons in 1826 on peace and reconciliation between local people of different religious persuasions, whose communities had previously been engaged in regular violence. These sermons, known as the "Peace Sermon", addressed themes of benevolence and forgiveness of injuries and were attended by over 1,000 people, two-thirds of whom were Catholic. Following these sermons, violence in the district ceased. Dr Brown preached at the same location several times afterwards, and within a few years the present meeting house was built at the site of those sermons. Thomas Beare was ordained as the first minister in 1835.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 record the meeting house as recently completed, built on a rectangular plan measuring 50 feet 6 inches by 23 feet internally with side walls 10 feet high. It was described as "very neatly slated and whitewashed" with "a creditable appearance from the road". The building was lit by eight square windows and contained 30 pews with accommodation for 210 people. The floor was of earth, and the building had a good yard and gate with a small detached sessions house to the south. Construction costs were reduced by the congregation providing volunteer labour. The church is first shown on the Ordnance Survey second edition map of 1849-52, captioned "Presbyterian Meeting House" with an adjacent "Burial Ground".

The church was extended in 1897, when a gabled entrance porch was added to the east elevation and the roof was raised. The north elevation was also extended at this time. A date stone was inserted to the apex of the projecting gabled bay on the principal east-facing elevation, inscribed "R.J.O MOORE/PASTOR/A.D. 1897".

A further extension was constructed to the front elevation around 1976, replacing the former sessions house.

The main church building presents a pitched natural slate roof with cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on bracketed eaves. The walling is dry dash on a smooth rendered plinth. The principal east elevation is lit by three windows and features a projecting gabled bay at the left with the date stone at its apex and a window at the right cheek; this gable is abutted by the modern entrance porch. The south gable has four boarded windows, with inner openings that are taller than those currently visible. The west elevation is four windows wide. The north gable is abutted at centre by the lower gabled extension; an opening at the left cheek features a modern panelled timber door accessed by three steps, and a lean-to abutment at the right is flush with the gable.

The original leaded-and-stained glass windows survive on the south elevation only, now boarded. The replacement windows throughout are pointed-headed Y-tracery timber lights in cement rendered surrounds with projecting concrete sills. A gabled extension with lean-to abutment adjoins the north side, and a modern church hall is situated to the south. Large modern extensions and replacement windows have substantially degraded the church's architectural interest.

The church stands on a rectangular plot set back from the road. The graveyard occupies the front, containing a variety of headstones dating from the mid-nineteenth century and modern burials to the rear. The boundary to the road is formed by a rockfaced stone wall with sandstone coping, ending in modern pebbledash and rendered square gate piers supporting cast-iron entrance gates. The rear graveyard is bounded to surrounding farmland by a pebbledash wall. A modern church hall stands to the south, with a tarmacadamed car park opposite, on the east side of Cashel Road.

Griffith's Valuation of 1856-64 records the "Presbyterian Meeting House, offices and graveyard" at £5 10 shillings and 10 shillings for the graveyard. At the time of the First General Revaluation in the 1930s, the meeting house was valued at £36 and recorded as being in fair to good repair with heating by hot water pipes. It contained 300 seats but no gallery, and graves were provided free. The associated plan from this period shows a heating chamber to the north, now demolished, and detached stables to the southwest, of which parts remain.

Reverend Robert Moore, minister from 1912 to 1960, served as a Member of Parliament and Minister of Agriculture for twelve years. On 1st January 1995, the congregation united with Second Dunboe, and membership currently stands at approximately eighty-five families.