Moneyreagh Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church, 50 Church Road, Moneyreagh, County Down, BT23 6BA

Moneyreagh Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church

Moneyreagh Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church is a single-storey, gable-fronted church built in 1770, sitting on a T-shaped plan to the east side of Church Road in the centre of the village of Moneyreagh. It replaced an earlier meeting house on the same site, believed to have been a simple mud-walled, thatched barn erected in 1719 when the congregation was first formed in the early 18th century. The present building is an unpretentious but well-proportioned structure of considerable local and social importance, and is among the earliest surviving church buildings in the area. Its largely intact Georgian interior, original entrance gates, early 19th-century cemetery, and unspoiled rural setting together make this a particularly well-preserved example of a rural Irish Non-Subscribing Presbyterian church. A stone panel on the west elevation, set in a moulded surround, records: "This house was built in 1770 by the Revd James Makain Minister."

Exterior

The roof is pitched, finished with natural slate, blue-black angled ridge tiles, and raised stone verges. The walls are painted roughcast render with a plinth and quoins, and a projecting string course runs at both sill and lintel level. Rainwater goods are cast-iron ogee profile on projecting eaves, though the listing record also notes aluminium rainwater goods. Most windows are replacement round-headed uPVC units; a number of leaded and stained glass or clear glass casements have also been replaced. Where original or early windows survive, they retain projecting masonry sills, label stops, and moulded keyblocks. Two leaded and stained glass windows to the west wall are early.

The principal elevation faces east and is dominated by a gabled vestibule with a central entrance door surmounted by a tripartite leaded and stained glass square-headed window. The entrance door itself is a replacement six-panelled timber door set in a moulded surround, with a segmental-headed transom light and decorative carvings to the spandrels. It is flanked by panelled pilasters surmounted by a corniced canopy carried on scrolled console brackets. The exposed north and south faces of the east elevation each have a single replacement uPVC window.

The south elevation mirrors the arrangement of the east, with a gabled vestibule and central entrance of the same design, surmounted by paired round-headed windows — replacement uPVC — separated by a dividing panelled pilaster and finished with a label mould with keystone. The exposed east face of the south elevation has a replacement uPVC window. The north elevation repeats the south elevation, but with the addition of a carved roundel above the window; its exposed east face also has a replacement uPVC window.

The west elevation is six round-headed windows wide. The two central windows retain slender leaded and stained glass casements; the remaining windows to left and right are uPVC replacements. At the centre of this elevation is a working numbered clock face set in a moulded masonry surround, and directly below it the inscribed stone panel recording the date of construction and the name of the founding minister.

Interior

The interior retains its largely intact Georgian character. Historically, the congregation sat on forms rather than pews — a common arrangement until the 19th century, when pews were considered a luxury — and these forms were repaired at the congregation's expense at least twice a year. A gallery, now removed, once contained box pews allocated to the poor, and was later enlarged to accommodate up to seven hundred people. In 1837, one thousand pounds was spent on a flagged ceiling and general improvements to the meeting house. The gallery was removed at some point thereafter.

Historical Background

A congregation was first established at Moneyreagh in the early 18th century and a meeting house was built in 1719. In 1721, a conflict within the Synod of Ulster over subscription to the Westminster Confession came to a head; in 1725, seventeen ministers and their congregations were excluded from the Synod and formed the Non-Subscribing Presbytery of Antrim. The Moneyreagh congregation appears to have been without a minister until 1725 and did not initially form part of this movement. The present, more substantial slated building was erected on the same site in 1770.

Following a further dispute within the Synod of Ulster in 1829, a number of ministers and their congregations seceded to form the Remonstrant Synod, among them Fletcher Blakely, minister of Moneyreagh. The Remonstrant Synod and the earlier Non-Subscribing Presbytery of Antrim gradually drew closer and finally united in 1910 to form the General Synod of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland.

The meeting house is shown and captioned on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, together with a graveyard. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs provide a plan and description, noting a T-shaped ground plan with principal dimensions of 80, 28, and 26 feet, built in 1770 by subscription and capable of accommodating approximately 700 people. The Townland Valuation of 1828–40 lists it as a Presbyterian Meeting House and Sessions House, valued at £13 6s. On the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, the building is captioned as a "Unitarian Meeting House," and Griffith's Valuation values the buildings at £17, later raised to £25, classifying them as B+ — indicating good repair. The Annual Revisions record no significant changes thereafter.

In 1933, a new sessions house was presented to the church as a memorial to the Porter family. Renovations carried out in the early 1960s cost £6,250, and a further £1,000 was spent in the late 1960s in preparation for the congregation's 250th anniversary.

Setting

The church is set to the east side of Church Road, at the centre of the village. To its east and south lies the cemetery, which contains tombs dating from the early 19th century. The cemetery is bounded to the north by a rubble stone wall. To the front of the church stand two large neoclassical-style tombs enclosed by decorative railings. The boundary to the road and to the north is formed by a low roughcast rendered wall with coping stones surmounted by metal railings, with square rendered gate piers with pointed caps and original metal gates.

To the north of the church stand the associated three-bay, two-storey manse and the national school, both of independent listing interest. To the northeast is a small church hall, later in date than the church but similarly styled, with a modern extension to its east. These associated buildings, the original gates, the cemetery, and the boundary wall collectively reinforce the historic and group value of the site.