Second Presbyterian Church, Maghera Street, Kilrea, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 5QL

Second Presbyterian Church, Maghera Street, Kilrea

This is a freestanding, symmetrical Presbyterian church built in 1838, set within a graveyard on an elevated site at the junction of Maghera Street and New Row, at the western end of Kilrea. The listing covers the church building and its boundary walls. The church is double-height with a gallery and is single-cell in plan, rectangular in form. An abutting single-storey rear return dates from the early 20th century. Despite some internal refurbishment, the building retains largely intact architectural detailing and a relatively well-preserved interior. It is a modest building, characterised by simple detailing and proportions, and remains an important social and historic feature within the community of Kilrea.

Architecture

The pitched roof is covered in slate with angled grey ridge tiles, cast iron half-round rainwater goods, and plain timber bargeboards to the gable ends. The walls are built in roughly coursed and squared greystone with raised, painted stone quoins and coping to an advanced plinth course. Window openings are pointed-headed with hood moulds surmounted by voussoir rubblestone heads, and the windows themselves are multi-pane with Y-tracery in timber set within painted stone surrounds.

The principal elevation faces south. At its centre is a fixed timber-sheeted tympanum over a double-leaf timber-sheeted door with painted masonry surrounds and a hood mould. The Y-tracery motif is repeated in timber above the square-headed door opening. A window flanks the door on each side. A painted projecting string course connects the eaves and forms a simple pediment. A painted panel at the centre of the gable reads: 'Kilrea Presbyterian Seceeding Church Erected A.D. MDCCCXXXVIII'.

The west elevation is four windows wide. Its left side is abutted by a modern mono-pitched extension of no architectural interest, which connects to the vestry. The north gable is blank and is abutted by a single-storey, roughcast, pitched-roof extension dating from the early 20th century. This extension has camber-headed timber casement windows and two rendered chimneys positioned in line with the west and east walls of the church. The east elevation, described as the main elevation, has three windows, with two windows to the gabled left cheek. Two modern timber-framed windows occupy the left side where the modern extension abuts. The right cheek has two windows flanking a central chimney with a decorative cast iron hopper, and the right side abuts the main church body. The west elevation is lit by four windows, corresponding to the east elevation.

Setting

The church sits within an elevated graveyard bounded by roughly hewn and coursed rubble walls to the north, east, and west. The south boundary wall is roughly squared and coursed with angled copings surmounted by modern metal railings. The main entrance is approached via stone steps and modern metal gates from Maghera Street. A modern concrete universal access ramp has been added to the north-east, with secondary access through a replacement metal gate fixed to a concrete pier abutting the rubble wall.

History

The church is dated 1838 by the plaque on its main elevation and is first shown captioned 'Meeting House' on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1853. At that time it sat within its existing boundary, with some development appearing nearby to the east along Maghera Street and to the south on New Row. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830 shows that development in Kilrea was previously concentrated around the central Diamond, making this church one of the early structures erected during the town's mid-19th-century expansion on its western edge.

The architect is unknown, though James S. Curl (1986) records that the plans were inspected, amended, and approved by William Barnes, architect to the Mercers' Company. Griffith's Valuation of 1856 lists the building — referred to as the 'Second Presbyterian Meeting House' — along with its graveyard, as being occupied by the Reverend Joseph Dickie and leased from the Mercers' Company, with a valuation of £25.

The third and fourth edition Ordnance Survey maps (1905 and 1925–33) show that a small return was added to the rear of the building before 1905, by which time it was captioned 'Second Presbyterian Church'. The building was further extended to the north and west sometime between 1905 and 1925. During the mid-to-late 20th century, this single-storey extension was expanded southward and now incorporates the concrete universal access ramp.

The church's origins are closely bound up with the history of the Worshipful Company of Mercers', one of the principal Livery Companies of the City of London. During the Plantation of Ulster, the Mercers' Company was granted direct control over a proportion of land in County Londonderry amounting to 33.5 square miles, centred on the districts of Kilrea and Movanagher. By the mid-17th century the estate had been let to nominated individuals, many of them absentee landlords, and it fell into severe decline. Following the death of the final tenant, Alexander Stewart, in 1831, the Mercers' Company took direct repossession of the estate. Kilrea became the capital of the proportion, and in the decades that followed, the Company instigated an ambitious programme of improvements intended to raise productivity, general welfare, and the overall appearance of the estate, with particular focus on Kilrea itself. Architects George Smith and William Barnes were appointed to the Company, and a cohesive design plan for the development of Kilrea was generated, with public buildings largely funded by the Company.

J. W. Kernohan (1912) notes that before the church was built, the congregation of Second Kilrea — having separated from the main Presbyterian congregation — met in a room on Bridge Street that had previously been used for sealing linen cloth. In 1833, the Reverend James McCammon was appointed as their first minister; Kernohan records that he gave assistance in the construction of the church building but died shortly after it opened in 1839. Curl (1986) records that the Mercers' Company donated £100 to the congregation to assist with the erection of the building.