Ballinderry Parish Church, Lower Ballinderry Road, Ballinderry, BT28 2NL

Ballinderry Parish Church is a Church of Ireland church built in 1824, designed by architect John Boyd in the hall-and-tower style typical of Board of First Fruits churches of the period. It stands on the north side of Lower Ballinderry Road, Upper Ballinderry, in an unspoilt rural setting, and remains in use as a parish church. The tower and spire together rise to 128 feet.

The building is constructed from roughly squared rubble stone, built to courses, with a projecting chamfered ashlar sill band running along the walls. Ashlar clasping buttresses with pinnacles are provided to the nave, chancel, and tower. The roof is pitched natural slate with raised stone verges, and the rainwater goods are u-profile cast-iron supported on a corbel table. Windows throughout are lattice-glazed lancets set in stepped brick surrounds with ashlar pointed-arched hoodmoulds.

The plan is rectangular, aligned east to west. At the west end, a square-plan three-stage tower abuts the centre of the principal entrance gable, topped by a slender octagonal ashlar spire. The exposed section of the west gable to the right is blank; to the left, an internal angle is filled by a lean-to annex.

The tower's first stage contains the principal entrance on its south face, with a replacement double-leaf timber panelled door surmounted by pointed-arched timber mock Y-tracery panels, all set within a pointed-arched chamfered ashlar surround. The west face of the first stage has a pointed-arched stained glass window set in a brick surround with a flush chamfered ashlar sill. The north face of the first stage is abutted by a later lean-to extension of similar detailing, with a pointed-arched lattice-glazed window to the north set in a plain ashlar surround with a flush chamfered sill.

The second stage of the tower, on its west face, contains a diagonal recessed ashlar panel with a plain surround. The inscription on this panel reads: "Erected / A.D. 1824 / by a Donation from the / Marquis of Hertford. / of £1000 / and £1200 / presented by the Parish / Rev James Stannus Vicar. / Turtle Bunting and Tho Russell / Church Wardens." The second stage also has square-headed lattice-glazed windows on the north and south faces, set in stepped brick surrounds with flush chamfered ashlar sills. The third stage has louvred belfry openings on all faces within brick surrounds, each surmounted by a clock face with a semicircular ovolo label mould. The third stage is finished with a crenellated parapet with plain pinnacles, from which the spire rises. The church clock was made at the Lagan Foundry by Messrs Coates and Young at a cost of around £60, but has not been operational since 1996 and has not been repaired since.

The north elevation of the nave is three windows wide; the window to the right contains leaded stained glass. The south elevation is also three windows wide. At the east end, the nave is abutted by a double-height chancel of similar construction and detailing, with a pitched roof; the exposed section of its south elevation is blank. The chancel's east gable contains a central stained glass reticulated flowing bar-tracery window set within a stepped ashlar surround. On the north side of the chancel, a single-storey lean-to extension contains paired lattice-glazed lancet windows to the north and a pointed-arched door opening to the east, fitted with a square-headed timber panelled door surmounted by a glazed fanlight, approached by two stone steps.

The interior detailing remains largely intact. The pine pews date from 1915. A painting of Charles II's coat of arms hangs from the gallery above the central aisle; it was brought from the old Middle Church in 1859 and is a 17th-century artefact originally hung in Portmore Castle, later restored at a cost of £6 by Anne Coates of Belfast. A stained glass window was added in 1862 by Thomas Walkington of Oatland Cottage, Ballinderry, in memory of his parents and his ancestor Edward Walkington, who was Bishop of Down and Connor in 1695. A further stained glass window was presented by the late William Gawley in memory of his parents and was rededicated in April 1991. The baptismal font was added in 1895, dedicated to the memory of the Reverend Benjamin Tisdall. The current heating system was installed in 1920 by Mid Ulster Heating Services. An organ was installed in 1861 at the expense of Thomas Walkington Esq., with an organist supplied by the Marquis of Hertford; the Lisburn Herald reported it was first played on 27 January of that year. Whether the current organ is the same instrument is unclear.

The church is set within a relatively large site and accessed via a tree-lined avenue from Lower Ballinderry Road to the south. The entrance from the road is through a symmetrical arrangement of square coursed rubble piers with galleted joints, supporting a double-leaf cast-iron gate with a cast-iron overthrow. The piers are abutted by a plinth wall with segmental coping that carries cast-iron railings enclosing the site from the road. The listing extends to the church, boundary walls, gate, and railings.

Historically, the church replaced the old Middle Church, which had previously served as the parish church. It was built during the incumbency of the Reverend James Stannus at a total cost of £2,200: £1,000 donated by the Marquis of Hertford, with the remaining £1,200 granted as a loan by the Board of First Fruits and supported by the parishioners. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1833–38 describe it as "a rather handsome building 70ft by 36ft" capable of accommodating 440 people. The architect is recorded as a Mr J. Boyd, identified either as James Boyd, who built St George's Church in Belfast in 1816, or as Joseph Boyd, who built the Belfast Savings Bank in King Street in 1829.

The church first appears on the 1832 Ordnance Survey map as a single oblong building. By the second edition map of 1857 the tower and chancel additions are visible, matching the current layout. The Townland Valuation of around 1835 records it as a first-class building with an attached town office, vestry, and stable, valued in total at £27. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 valued the church at £35, a figure maintained through the Annual Revisions until 1929. At the time of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs there was no graveyard within the church grounds; the parish burial ground was at the Old Church in Ballinderry. In July 1929 the Lisburn Herald recorded that the church was reopened after repainting and redecorating by M. Bullick and Son of College Square, Belfast. In April 1991 the church was again reopened following an extensive renovation and redecoration project that included installation of a new lighting system, toilet facilities, a new aisle carpet, and new church doors.