Ballycastle Presbyterian Church, Castle Street, Ballycastle, County Antrim, BT54 6AS

Ballycastle Presbyterian Church is a two-storey Presbyterian church on the south side of Castle Street, to the west of Ballycastle town centre. It is a good example of an 'evolved' Presbyterian church whose form clearly reflects the journey made by many such buildings during the 19th century from simple barn-like structures to somewhat more ornate medieval and gothic edifices. The building as it stands today is the product of four distinct phases: an original structure of 1827, an extension of around 1850, a remodelling of the front gable and addition of a round tower in 1896, and a large modern extension to the rear in 1996.

The church is set within relatively spacious grounds, with a former schoolhouse (now the church hall) of 1886 immediately to the west and a graveyard beyond it. To the east of the church is a relatively narrow lawn, and to the north a much larger lawn with a central pathway and several mature trees. The building has an irregular plan: the original section to the south sits on an east-west axis; the circa 1850 addition extends northward from this; the 1896 front gable and round tower stand at the north end of that addition; and the large hall extension of 1996 is attached to the south end.

The north-facing front gable of 1896 is constructed in rock-faced coursed sandstone with dressed sandstone to the openings, and is vaguely Tudoresque in character. At ground floor centre is the main entrance: a recessed Tudor-arched doorway with a splayed dressed sandstone reveal and a dripstone moulding over it. The doorway is flanked by short reducing buttresses, and between and above them spans a moulded gable feature with leaf-like decoration. To the left of the doorway is a narrow pointed arch window with stained glass, and an identical window stands to the right. Directly above the doorway is a large pointed arch window with Perpendicular-like timber tracery and leaded lattice panes, also with a dripstone moulding over it. Close to the gable apex are two small, narrow, pointed arch recesses. At the left-hand (east) edge of the gable there is a full-height diagonal reducing buttress topped with a gable-like finial. The apex of the main gable itself is also topped with a finial.

To the right (west) of the gable, on the north-west corner of the building, stands a tall three-stage round tower topped with a steep copper-clad conical roof with weathervane. The tower is in the Celtic Revival style favoured by many local churches in the late Victorian and Edwardian era, though its design lacks something of the deliberate rusticity of most examples: it does not have a batter, and the copper cladding to the roof is not typical of the style. It is finished in the same rock-faced sandstone as the front gable, with moulded string course bands delineating each stage. Small slit windows follow the line of the internal stair. The windows to the first stage have pointed arch heads; those to the second stage have flat arch heads. To the third stage there is a large pointed arch opening to each of the four compass points, each fitted with timber double lancet tracery and louvres.

The east elevation consists of three distinct sections. To the far left is the large modern hall of 1996, which is of little architectural interest and has a plain functional appearance. To the right of this is a large projecting gable — the gable end of the original 1820s church — finished in dry dash render with a smooth render base course and moulded in-and-out quoins. At its centre is a relatively large pointed arch window with timber double lancet tracery and stained glass, and close to the apex is a small narrow pointed arch recess. The short south face of this gabled projection has a narrower pointed arch window with stained glass but without tracery, finished in painted lined render. The short north face is finished similarly and has a comparable window with a moulded dripstone over it. To the right of the projecting gable is the east face of the circa 1850 addition, finished in the same manner, with two similar pointed arch windows — one with stained glass, one with plain leaded lattice panes — and a much smaller pointed arch window with stained glass at the far right.

The west elevation broadly mirrors the east in reverse, though both the gable and the west face of the circa 1850 addition are finished in dry dash. The window in the gable has slightly more complex tracery and a plain smooth render surround. A relatively recently added dry dash rendered wall with an archway spans between this side of the church and the hall to the west.

The gabled roof is slated and has an overhang with plain bargeboards and decorative ridge tiles. The rainwater goods are cast iron, with uPVC replacements to the modern southern extension. The church grounds are enclosed from Castle Street to the north by a low rendered wall with decorative late Victorian railings. The entrance to the grounds is through a gateway with square pyramidal-capped rendered pillars and gates of similar design to the railings. The gates and railings are included within the extent of the listing.

The history of the building is documented in some detail. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of July 1831 record that the original rear portion was built in 1827, though a later addition to the same memoir — written in 1833 or 1835 — states the church was built in 1831. This later date appears unlikely, since the original writer, working in 1831, makes no reference to the church being either newly completed or under construction. The official church history by Reverend A.W. Godfrey Brown, written in 1981, states that moves to form a Presbyterian congregation in Ballycastle began in 1826, with the church erected in 1827 to 1828. The Ordnance Survey map of 1832 shows the building as a plain rectangular structure on an east-west axis. According to Godfrey Brown, the original structure had doors at the east and west ends, thirty pews fitted with gates, and a double pew in each corner. The valuation of 1835 refers to a session house measuring 25 feet by 16 feet by 6½ feet, believed to have been a separate structure. By the time of the Ordnance Survey map of 1856, the large addition to the north is shown, and the valuation of 1858 records its dimensions as 11 yards by 6 yards by 2 storeys, with a return — that is, the original section — of 17 by 12 by 2 storeys, and the detached session house at 8 by 5 by 1 storey. The northern addition is graded 1A in the valuation, suggesting it was relatively recent at that date, possibly less than ten years old. Later valuations make no mention of the 1896 remodelling, as churches were exempt from rating, but Godfrey Brown confirms that the round tower and remodelled front gable were added in that year. During the mid 20th century a small hall was built to the rear and the old session room renovated and extended to connect with it. In 1996 that section was destroyed by fire, and the present larger extension was built in its place.