Trinity Church of Ireland Church, Soldierstown Road, Poobles, Aghalee, County Antrim

Trinity Church of Ireland Church, Soldierstown Road, Poobles, Aghalee, County Antrim

This is a free-standing, rendered Church of Ireland church originally dating from the 17th century, with significant alterations carried out in the early 19th century. It stands on an attractively elevated rural site on the north side of Soldierstown Road. As a hall and tower type church of considerable age with a restrained exterior, it represents a good example of an early Church of Ireland church. Although the interior has been partially altered, most of the external fabric survives intact. The building has group value with the nearby rectory, and its significance is further enhanced by a good-quality gate screen and a historic outbuilding. The church retains strong meaning within the local community, and its historical connection with Richard Owen — the engineer of the Lagan Navigation, who is buried in the churchyard — adds to its importance within the wider heritage of the Lisburn area.

Architectural Description

The church is rectangular on plan, oriented on an east-west axis. A square-plan, three-stage rendered steeple rises at the west end, surmounted by an octagonal, copper-sheeted spire with a weather vane set behind a parapet wall with masonry coping and stone corner pinnacles. Plastic hoppers and downpipes break through the parapet wall. The pointed-headed entrance in the south elevation of the tower has replacement hardwood panelled doors with an overpanel. Above the entrance is a diminutive square-headed opening, and pointed-headed openings appear on all four elevations at the upper stage, each with decorative hood mouldings and foliate label stops. The upper-stage openings have timber louvres, and the lower-stage opening to the west has modern stained glass.

A chancel was added to the east end in 1899, and a single-storey-over-basement vestry and parish room abuts the north nave elevation, built around 1982. The roof is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles and cement coping to slightly raised gables. Cast-iron guttering on decorative iron brackets runs to a concave stone eaves course, with cast-iron downpipes. The walling is roughcast render with a smooth render plinth course. Window openings are pointed-headed with decorative hood mouldings, masonry sills, stone Y-tracery and leaded stained glass.

The south nave elevation is two windows wide. The west gable is abutted by the tower, and the north nave elevation is largely masked by the vestry wing, leaving only a single window opening exposed. The vestry wing has a shallow pitched artificial slate roof and 2/2 timber sash windows. The east gable is abutted by the shallow gabled chancel, which is narrower than the gable itself. Both are finished in ruled and lined cement render. The chancel has cement coping, a stone finial to the apex, a natural slate roof with exposed rafter feet, and decorative kneeler stones. Lateral buttresses flank either side, and a central pointed-headed east window with a hood moulding, geometric stone tracery, masonry sill and stained glass with storm glazing occupies the east face. Each cheek of the chancel has a lancet opening with hood mouldings, splayed flush sills and leaded lattice windows.

C. E. B. Brett noted that one extraordinary feature of this otherwise restrained church is the unique form of label stop employed at the ends of all the dripstones over doors and windows: at first glance resembling a stylised bunch of grapes, on closer inspection like nothing so much as a wasp's nest.

Setting

The church stands on an elevated site laid out with stone and marble grave markers dating from 1770 to the present. A bitmac path runs perpendicular to the road, opening via an iron gate screen on rendered piers with splayed walls and decorative cement coping. The gate screen continues along the road frontage. A diminutive single-storey structure to the west of the gate screen has a natural slate roof and a single hardwood door. A large community hall to the rear was built around 1980.

Historical Notes

The earliest reliable accounts suggest the church was built by Lord Conway in 1666 or 1667, with Brett recording a consecration date of May 1667, while the Ordnance Survey Memoirs give a build date of 1686. The name "Soldierstown" derives from two companies of foot soldiers stationed near the site during the 1641 rebellion.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1833 to 1838 describe the church as "an oblong edifice one-storey high and slated, with a handsome tower attached to the west end." The interior was lit by two Gothic windows on each side and one large Gothic window on the east gable, where the communion table stood. A gallery at the west end was supported in front on timber columns, with the pulpit placed against the north side wall, elevated above the floor. The baptismal font was of marble on a cut stone pedestal. A framed canvas depicting the royal arms of Charles II hung on the south wall. The church could accommodate 362 people. A staircase to the gallery originally stood at the west end but was removed in 1836 to the tower. The Memoirs record the spire as 21 feet high, with the entire tower measuring 106 feet and housing a bell of 4 hundredweight made by a Mr Henry Parkes.

The Townland Valuation of around 1835 records the church as a first-class-plus building measuring 70 feet by 28 feet and 20 feet high, with the tower listed at 40 feet and a schoolhouse recorded as part of the church building. The entire site was valued at £9 19s. The church vestry and schoolhouse were built in 1719 by the Reverend William Walkington.

The oak roof was slated in 1792. In 1827 the side walls were raised, a new roof was installed, and various other improvements were carried out at a total cost of £184. The spire was installed in the same year at a cost of £100, replacing an earlier spire dating from 1713. A rectory was also built as part of the 1827 works.

The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 to 1833 records the building as "Soldierstown Church," shown as an oblong building with a large north-pointing return. Between 1858 and 1900 its name changed to "Trinity Church." Griffith's Valuation of 1856 to 1864 valued the church at £14 and the church schoolhouse at £1 5s, values which remained unchanged through the Annual Revisions to 1928, though by 1927 the schoolhouse had become a Sunday school.

A new chancel was added in 1899 during a major refurbishment, constructed by a Mr Frank Forsythe. New seating and a wooden roof were installed at the same time. In 1922 an Evans and Barr pipe organ was installed at the west end of the church, dedicated to men from the parish who had served in the First World War. The walls were roughcast in 1923. Two stained glass windows were presented by a Mr John Bullick in 1932; a third, earlier window was erected in 1890 in memory of Isaac Turtle of Laurel Hill. A modern lighting system and six chandeliers were installed in 1975. An eagle-shaped brass lectern was gifted to the church in 1956 by the local Orangemen and Royal Black Preceptory Brethren. In 1982 a new parish hall was erected and damage to the church roof was repaired. The tower was completely renovated and re-plastered in 1999.

The oldest gravestone in the churchyard is the 1689 tomb of the Charleton family. The grave of Richard Owen, engineer of the Lagan Navigation, who died in 1830, is also located here.