St. Paul's Parish Church, St. Paul's Road, Articlave, Castlerock, Co. Londonderry, BT51 4UN

St Paul's Parish Church, Articlave, is a free-standing Church of Ireland church of hall and tower type, built around 1690 and standing to double height throughout. It is rectangular on plan, orientated on an east-west axis, with a square-plan bell-tower rising from the west gable. The church sits within a burial ground enclosed by rubblestone walls, set back to the north of St Paul's Road. It was extensively renovated around 1835 and again around 1991.

The building is constructed in random rubblestone with cement pointing throughout unless otherwise noted. The roof is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles, set behind slightly raised gables. The west gable has cement over tooled stone coping, while the east gable has cement coping with lead flashing and moulded cement kneeler stones, surmounted by a cement-rendered block. Cast-iron guttering is carried on iron drive-through brackets fixed to a tooled stone eaves course.

Window openings throughout are pointed-arched with voussoired stone heads and tooled sandstone sills.

The bell-tower is square on plan and rises in two stages, with full-height shallow clasping corner buttresses at each corner. These buttresses are surmounted by four tooled sandstone ashlar pinnacles, and the tower is finished with a crenelated parapet wall. A cut stone platband separates the lower and upper stages, with a further projecting cut stone string course at the base of the parapet. Blind loops are formed in the buttresses. The bell stage has pointed-headed openings on the north, west and south elevations, each fitted with timber Y-tracery frames and timber louvres. To the lower stage on the west elevation is a further pointed-headed window opening with a smooth rendered surround, containing an original pointed-headed bipartite latticed wrought-iron window with a floral light to the head and storm glazing.

The south nave elevation is three windows wide. At its west end is a pointed-headed door opening formed in voussoired stone, fitted with a replacement hardwood door and hardwood overpanel. Above the door is a stone oculus with a replacement leaded light. Immediately adjacent to the door is a wall-mounted slate sundial with Roman numerals inscribed with the words: 'TIS GREATLY WISE TO TALK WITH OUR PAST HOURS, AND ASK THEM WHAT REPORT THEY BORE TO HEAVEN A.D. 1832'. The window openings on the south elevation have replacement hardwood frames with leaded coloured glazing and storm glazing dating from the late 20th century. The west gable of the nave is abutted by the bell-tower.

The north nave elevation is also three windows wide, with rough-cast rendered walling. The window openings have smooth rendered surrounds and original wrought-iron latticed windows matching those of the tower, each incorporating a pair of stained glass panels to the centre. At the west end of this elevation is a diminutive square-headed window opening fitted with a four-light timber casement window.

The east gable has rough-cast rendered walling with a central pointed-headed east window with a smooth render surround. This window has a replacement tripartite Gothic tracery hardwood frame with leaded coloured glazing and storm glazing.

The listing extends to the church itself together with its gates, piers and boundary walling.

The church was built in 1691 on land granted by a Captain Jackson, with consent from Bishop Hopkins. Bishop King consecrated the building on 2 June 1691. It was established to replace an earlier medieval church at Downhill, approximately one and a half miles to the northwest, the ruins of which survive within Downhill demesne. That earlier church is said to have been founded by St Patrick, with documentary evidence of a building on the site in 1291. Walter McQuillan was slain and Conor O'Kane burned there in 1532 by the sons of Donal O'Kane, the cleric. The Clothworkers' Company had the Downhill church well repaired in 1622, and it remained in use until the new church at Articlave was completed. The village of Articlave is thought to have been the first settlement established on the Clothworkers' Company estates in 1611, chosen for its proximity to a nearby river, and it was preferred over the old Downhill site when the time came to build the replacement church.

The church appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830 as a simple nave and tower, and its plan form has remained essentially unchanged since that time. It was listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828 to 1840 at a valuation of £6 6s, rising to £19 10s in Griffith's Valuation of 1856 to 1864, with no further significant changes in the subsequent annual revision period. The First General Revaluation of the early 1930s notes that although old, the church was still in fair condition due to frequent repair.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs provide a detailed account of the church in 1835, when it was undergoing renovation at the expense of the Board of First Fruits. At that time it had no windows on the north side, and the works were intended to renew and reposition the windows to improve light throughout. The pews had been removed, and the pulpit and reading desk were to be altered. The church was heated by two stoves positioned in the centre of the nave, the cost of which was met by Sir James Bruce, the second baronet of Downhill, and the archdeacon, who also provided candles and fuel. The four pinnacles atop the tower each carried a weathercock at this time. There was a vestry room at the west end, and the nave floor was flagged with freestone. Sir James Bruce and his family occupied a double pew with a canopy overhead, as did the Barnett family of Banbrook. Further pews were reserved for the archdeacon and his family, for any visiting worshippers, and for Alexander Esquire, the proprietor of the land on which the church stood. The pulpit and reading desk were positioned in the centre of the south wall, and a globe fitting with five branches provided light at evening services in winter. The Memoirs also noted a need for a gallery, which was added at some point after 1835. The chancel is formed not by an addition to the building but by the insertion of a shallow arch at the eastern end of the nave.

The slate sundial on the south wall, although inscribed with the date 1832, is described elsewhere as dating from 1823 and carries the inscription: 'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours and ask them what report they bore to heav'n.'

The church is of considerable historical significance as the place where William Alexander was admitted to the priesthood in 1848. Alexander subsequently became Bishop of Derry and Raphoe in 1867 and Primate of all Ireland in 1896. His wife, Cecil Frances Humphreys, became a celebrated hymn writer, author of hymns including 'There is a green hill far away' and 'All things bright and beautiful'.

The building was listed in 1977 and given a complete renovation in 1991 to mark its tercentenary.

The church sits on the north side of St Paul's Road within the village of Articlave, set back from the road within a lawned burial ground containing grave markers, tombs and monuments ranging in date from the 17th century to the present day. The site is enclosed to the road by rubblestone walls with stacked coping. A pair of rubblestone piers and wrought-iron gates give access via a bitmac path to the church entrance. One of the entrance piers carries a stone plaque inscribed 'DUNBOE PARISH CHURCH 1691'. A further pair of sandstone ashlar piers at the northwest corner leads to a bitmac footpath providing access to the car park.