Second Dunboe Presbyterian Church, 236 Windy Hill Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 4JN

Second Dunboe Presbyterian Church is a symmetrical, T-plan rendered meeting house situated in a rural farmland setting on an elevated site to the north-west of Coleraine. The building has primary phases of construction dating from the mid-18th century, 1822, and 1859, and was formerly listed but was delisted in September 2015. Although it retains historic and social importance, the overall character and authenticity have been severely eroded by recent additions and extensive alterations to both the interior and exterior fabric.

The roots of the congregation date to 1749, when an application was made for a supply of sermon to the Antiburgher Synod — a body formed in Scotland two years earlier over the issue of the Burgher Oath, which required holders of public office to affirm approval of the established religion. No congregation was formally established for another forty years, however, until Charles Campbell was ordained in 1788. Until 1800 the cause was joined with that of Crossgar. The earliest building associated with the congregation was a thatched meeting house of stone and lime built by public subscription. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs give a date of 1740 for this early meeting house, though this conflicts with the early congregational history, which suggests the congregation did not exist until the 1780s. The meeting house was replaced in 1822, at a cost of £113, by a new thatched building. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record that this "seceding meeting house" was known as the "Whin Meeting House" because it was surrounded by furze bushes. By the 1830s the pews were unpainted, the floor was of earth, and the Memoirs describe the building as having "an unfinished appearance and in bad repair." At that period it was a simple hall-style building measuring 69 by 26 feet and 12 feet high, with a door at each end. It contained 37 box-style pews, one of which was a double pew and four of which had a canopy over, giving seating for 270 in total. The fenestration comprised six windows on each side with two larger central windows. The church appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830, captioned "Meeting Ho[use]", with a school to the east. It is listed in the Townland Valuation at £3 4s.

Following the Ulster Revival of 1859, a double-gabled transept was added, transforming the building into its present T-shaped plan — described by Girvan as "a traditional Presbyterian form." In Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64, the church, sessions house, caretaker's house, and outbuildings are valued together at £9. Porches were added around 1930, and valuer's notes from the early 1930s indicate these were originally individual to each gable; the porch visible in the first survey photograph of the 1970s is therefore a later addition still. At that period the church was lit by oil lamps, and a stable block is shown on the associated plan, though this is now gone. The church was listed in 1977 and on 28 April 1980 was re-opened after renovations that included a new floor and new pews and pulpit. In the 1990s the church was partly demolished and rebuilt: the entrance porch was reconstructed to a different design, and a new linking block was constructed connecting the church with the lecture hall to the east. The congregation was united with Ringsend on 1 January 1995, and membership stands at almost 100 families.

The present building is six openings wide, with the original single-celled hall-type church forming the basis of the structure, intersected along the south long-axis by a twin-gabled abutment of around 1859. The roof is pitched and re-slated, with replacement terracotta ridge tiles and replacement metal ogee rainwater goods to the eaves, mounted on a projecting rendered eaves course. All walling across the complex is pebble-dashed over a projecting cement-rendered base, with similar raised strip quoins to the corners. Window openings are pointed-arch with rendered reveals and projecting cement sills; windows are generally plain glass set in replacement stained-timber Y-traceried casements unless otherwise noted.

The symmetrical principal elevation faces north and is six windows wide. Each window contains leaded and stained glass within replacement timber frames; the outer windows are modern insertions, while the two at the centre are larger and date from the early 20th century. The east elevation is abutted by a modern single-storey pitched link block extending eastward to connect with the church hall — all of which are of little interest — and the remaining elevation on this side is blank. The south elevation contains a window to each side of the twin-gabled portion, which projects southward and has two windows on each cheek. The porch on the south elevation is abutted by a modern single-storey, gable-fronted porch with outwardly curved walls to the re-entrant angles. This porch contains a squared double-leaf, timber-sheeted entrance door with elaborate original hinges, with a modern Y-traceried plain glass pointed transom above; the porch is lit by three diminutive windows on each side. The west elevation is blank.

The church stands within a rural farmland setting. A graveyard lies to the north, a modern house to the south-west, and small car parks to the west and south-east. The site is bounded along Windy Hill Road by a low pebble-dashed, cement-capped wall, with primary access through a pair of matching piers supporting replacement metal gates. A tarmac path leads to the main entrance door, which has semi-circular concrete steps and modern metal handrails. Secondary access is via the link block to the east. Mature trees bound the site to the north-west and north-east.