St. Malachy's Parish Church of Ireland, Main Street, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6AE

St. Malachy's Parish Church of Ireland, Hillsborough

St. Malachy's is a Gothic revival Church of Ireland church dated 1774, cruciform in plan and facing west, set on an elevated site on the east side of Main Street, Hillsborough. It is one of the architectural highlights of Ulster and may represent the arrival of the 'Georgian Gothick' style in Ireland. Built with aspirations to cathedral status, it dominates the small town and is remarkable for the quality and survival of its interior as much as for the grandeur of its exterior. The site has been a place of religious worship since the early 17th century, and the present building stands on the foundations of its 1636 predecessor.

Historical Background

The current church is the third to occupy this site. The first was built in 1636 by Peter Hill, Sheriff of County Down, but was burnt down during the 1641 rebellion. A second church was established in 1662 by Colonel Arthur Hill, who also built the nearby Hillsborough Fort. That building stood for a century before being extensively reconstructed and greatly enlarged at considerable expense by Wills Hill, the first Marquis of Downshire, who is said by tradition to have spent £20,000 on the project. The new church was built on the cruciform outline of its predecessor, and remnants of the earlier walls are believed to have been incorporated into the new construction.

Although Brett suggested a building period of 1760 to 1775, the church was actually completed in 1772, probably after around twelve years of construction, with the opening service taking place on 22nd August 1773. The 210-foot spire was added in 1773, designed and built by James and David McBlain. The architect of the main church building has never been definitively identified. It was almost certainly an English architect, as original plans and a model for the building were sent from London for Wills Hill's inspection. Brett put forward several possible candidates but acknowledged that no conclusive evidence has yet been found.

An 1803 map of Hillsborough shows an illustrated image of St. Malachy's — there named simply 'church' — with no discernible difference from the building as it stands today. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1834–37 describe it as "a handsome, Gothic Building" with a ground plan of 111 by 99 feet, cruciform in shape. They note it was "built of whinstone corniced and buttressed with freestone," with a "lofty" freestone spire, pews, a small gallery for organ and choir, stained glass windows, and accommodation for 600 persons with an average attendance of 500. Ordnance Survey maps from 1834 to 1920 show no discernible alteration to the church beyond minor variations to the name of the adjoining graveyard.

In the first Townland Valuation of 1834, the church was valued at £46, with one third of its value deducted. Griffith later valued it at £75, and the Annual Revisions record no change in that value through to 1930. Despite this, in 1898 Sir Thomas Drew completed an extensive renovation that included the installation of a new chancel floor in Irish marble.

In 1923, a G. P. England chamber organ that had previously been in Hillsborough Castle since 1795 was installed in the choir. Between 1951 and 1956 the church was restored at a cost of £14,000, with Sir Albert Richardson of the Royal Academy serving as honorary architect. During this work the north transept tower was converted into a Vestry Room, and the old Vestry Room at the west entrance was removed to allow an unobstructed view into the church from the entrance door. In 1956, Sir Albert Richardson presented a gift of new bronze light pendants to mark the completion of the restoration. In 1972, in recognition of Canon John Barry's service to the church, two extra bells were added to the original eight that had existed since 1772. A further arched door opening was inserted into the south elevation of the tower in 1994.

The famous Snetzler organ, later associated with Hamilton Harty and his father, dates from 1773.

Exterior

The church is a free-standing rubble and sandstone building in the 'Gothick' manner, cruciform in plan, with an entrance steeple to the west, a chancel and gabled sanctuary to the east, and north and south transepts each abutted by a smaller three-stage tower. The roofs are finished in natural slate with roll-moulded clay ridge tiles, and the gables are pierced by stone pinnacles. Lead valleys and lead-lined coping appear to the rear sanctuary gable and to the gables abutting both transept towers. A deep moulded sandstone eaves cornice runs around the building, with cast-iron guttering supported on shaped iron brackets and cast-iron downpipes. The walls are random rubblestone with a low rubble plinth course, possibly incorporating stonework from the earlier church, finished with lime pointing. Sandstone ashlar weathered and pinnacled lateral buttresses appear to all gables. Window openings throughout are equilateral-headed with sandstone surrounds and sandstone Y-tracery containing leaded glazing.

The Steeple

The steeple is a square-plan three-stage rubblestone tower with sandstone ashlar diagonal buttresses weathered to each stage and a continuous moulding running to all sides. At the top of the tower, a sandstone frieze enriched with shields and rosettes leads to a continuous cornice, above which is a quatrefoil-pierced parapet. The buttresses rise above the parapet as gableted piers and tapered pinnacles.

Above the tower rises an octagonal-plan sandstone ashlar spire with annular mouldings incorporating a trefoil opening to four sides. The spire has three stages of diminutive lucarnes to four sides, each with trefoil openings, and is surmounted by a copper ball finial and a gilded weather vane.

The upper stage of the tower contains an equilateral-headed opening on a continuous sill course to all four sides, with perpendicular stone tracery and timber louvres to the bell-chamber. A further continuous moulding is interrupted on three sides by an ogee-arched moulding: to the west this contains a replacement clock-face, below which is an elaborate carved sandstone square panel showing the Hill family crest and the inscription '1636, Per Deum Et Ferrum Obtinui'. The middle stage of the tower has a further equilateral-headed window opening to three sides, each with three cusped lights containing leaded glazing, resting on a continuous sill course. Below the front elevation opening is a further carved square panel bearing the Downshire family crest and the inscription '1774, Per Deum Et Ferrum Obtinui'.

The lower stage of the tower has a compound equilateral-headed sandstone door opening with clustered colonettes on octagonal plinth blocks and double-leaf timber doors with iron studs, iron door furniture, and bulls-eye glazing to four panels on each leaf. The south elevation of the tower has a further arched door opening, inserted in 1994, with a deeply moulded sandstone surround and a studded panelled timber door.

The tower connects to the nave by a lower, narrower linking section containing the gallery and baptistry, with a single lancet opening to either side and a quatrefoil opening above.

Nave, Transepts and Chancel

The north nave elevation is abutted by the gabled north transept, which is one window deep with three windows to the right and one to the left. The transept is further abutted by a three-stage square-plan north tower. This rubble tower has a continuous moulding to each stage, with quatrefoil panels to the upper stage, equilateral-headed openings with stone Y-tracery to the middle and lower stages, and lancet openings to both side elevations, all glazed with leaded lights. Below the lower stage is a four-centred arched opening with a plain stone surround and steel panelled door giving access to a crypt. To the east elevation of the transept is a further slender door opening reached by a flight of stone steps. The south nave elevation is abutted by the gabled south transept and south tower, matching the arrangement on the north side.

The gabled east chancel elevation is abutted by a shallow gabled sanctuary with diagonal pinnacled buttresses, a pinnacle to the apex, and a tall equilateral-headed east window containing stone perpendicular tracery and leaded lights. A blind quatrefoil panel appears to the gable. The sanctuary has a blind lancet to either side elevation.

Setting

The church stands on an elevated, landscaped site well back from the building line of Main Street, approached by parallel tree-lined tarmac avenues enclosed by an entrance screen flanked by gabled gate lodges. Rubblestone boundary walls enclose the driveway and church grounds, and a tarmac area encircles the church itself. A lych gate to the north gives access to a large square-plan cemetery. The driveway continues to the south, connecting the church to Hillsborough Fort.