Moore Memorial Hall, Ballywatt Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry

Moore Memorial Hall

An early-twentieth-century free-style detached blackstone church hall, dated 1910 and built to designs by Vincent Craig. The hall stands within the grounds of Ballywatt Presbyterian Church, to the west side of Ballywatt Road, east of Coleraine.

The building has a rectangular plan with a single-storey canted projection to the northeast, a quadrant corner bay to the re-entrant angle, and a gabled entrance porch to the northwest. A large modern L-shaped extension has been added to the southwest, detailed similarly to the original hall but of little interest.

The pitched roof is covered with rosemary tiles and has rounded ridge tiles. Raised stone verges feature plain finials and kneeler stones. An octagonal chimneystack rises at the northeast gable, while a broad ashlar sandstone chimneystack is positioned at the southwest gable. Cast-iron cavetto moulded rainwater goods are mounted on projecting sandstone eaves.

The walls are constructed of random squared rock-faced blackstone with ribbon pointing and red sandstone dressings. A chamfered sandstone string course crowns a tall plinth at the northeast elevation.

Windows throughout are bipartite mullioned leaded lattice with coloured glass, set within chamfered blocked sandstone surrounds with chamfered sills.

The northeast elevation is dominated by a gable with a wide, shallow, segmental-headed rectangular tracery window containing three cusped-headed lights, the central light being narrower. The canted projection at ground floor has a hipped roof and a tripartite mullioned window with cusped heads. The quadrant corner bay at the re-entrant angle features mullioned four-pane segmental-headed windows.

The southeast elevation has four sets of bipartite windows. A gabled porch abuts this elevation, opening to the northeast. The porch has a timber-sheeted entrance door in a pointed segmental-arched opening with chamfered blocked sandstone surround, accessed by three concrete steps. Above the door is a lozenge-shaped terracotta datestone in a moulded surround, carved in high relief and reading "19/MOORE/MEMORIAL/HALL/10". The porch features a cusped-headed window to its southwest elevation and a bipartite cusped window to its left cheek.

The northwest elevation has six evenly-spaced bipartite windows with an offset buttress dividing windows at the far left and at the north corner.

The building sits on a large site surrounded by farmland. The road frontage at the east is bounded by a roughcast rendered wall with roll-top coping. The entrance from Ballywatt Road comprises original square red ashlar sandstone piers with tall polygonal caps on chamfered pedestals, supporting original cast-iron gates. A modern cattle-grid has been added at the entrance.

The site also incorporates Ballywatt Presbyterian Church to the south, accessed via concrete steps with modern metal handrails. To the east stands a granite obelisk memorial dedicated to three members of Ballywatt Presbyterian Church who died during the First World War. A modern metal swing gate is situated to the southeast. To the southwest is a mid-twentieth-century cement-rendered single-storey hall of little interest.