St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Ballymacricket, Glenavy, Crumlin, County Antrim, BT29 4LY

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Ballymacricket

St. Joseph's is a Gothic-revival style Roman Catholic church built around 1868 to designs by architect John O'Neill. It stands on the north side of Chapel Road in Glenavy, County Antrim.

The church is rectangular on plan with its nave aligned east to west. At the south side is an engaged square tower with two stages, topped by a splay-footed slated spire. A gabled sanctuary projects to the east, with a single-storey extension to the north connecting to a similarly detailed side chapel built in 2006.

The roofs are pitched natural slate with grey ridge tiles. Raised flat stone verges with stone cross finials mark each apex. Moulded kneeler stones and a corbel table support replacement metal rainwater goods. The walls are constructed of roughly coursed rock-faced basalt above a projecting sandstone plinth. They feature contrasting ashlar sandstone stepped quoins and angle buttresses with weathering to both the nave and sanctuary.

Windows throughout are cusped-headed lancets containing leaded stained glass with margin lights. They sit within stepped chamfered ashlar surrounds with rock-faced voussoirs above and flush ashlar splayed sills. Secondary glazing has been added to the exterior.

The principal south elevation is dominated by the two-stage square tower at its left and centre, abutted by a single-storey pitched entrance porch of similar detailing. The exposed area to the right contains four windows. The tower's first stage features a lattice-glazed window to the south elevation and a diminished window at higher level on the west. The second stage base comprises two courses of contrasting ashlar with weathering to all corners. Each face contains a single louvered belfry opening set in a stepped chamfered ashlar surround with rock-faced voussoirs above and flush ashlar splayed sills. The tower terminates in a splay-footed natural slate spire with slate-hung gabled lucarnes featuring louvre boards to each facet. Both lucarne and spire end with replacement metal crenellated ridges and finials.

The adjoining single-storey entrance porch adjoins to the east and features a central decorative entrance within the south gable. This comprises replacement timber-sheeted doors set in a Gothic style ashlar surround with a recessed first-pointed arch fronted by continuous torus mould, colonettes surmounted by crocketed capitals, and a pointed-arched headed hoodmould with a label stop resembling a human head. To the right of the entrance is a diminished cusped pointed-arched headed window. The west gable contains a group of five symmetrical diminishing cusped lancet windows with leaded stained glass and margin lights in stepped chamfered ashlar surrounds.

The north elevation of the nave is six windows wide. The north elevation of the sanctuary is abutted by a double-height pitched sacristy of similar detailing. The north gable contains a central window and is abutted by a later similarly detailed lean-to extension, which connects to a modern glazed extension aligned north-south providing access to the side chapel to the north.

The east gable is abutted by a lower sanctuary of similar detailing. The east gable contains a geometric tracery window with leaded stained glass comprising two cinquefoils surmounted by a central quatrefoil, with two further windows to its left cheek. The right cheek is abutted by the double-height sacristy.

The church stands within a churchyard containing grave markers dating from the early nineteenth century to the present day. The site is bounded to the road at south and east by roughly coursed rubble walling with soldier coping supporting replacement mild steel railings. Square-plan ashlar piers with cross-gabled caps surmounted by stone cross finials at the south support replacement mild steel gates. Replacement square-plan piers with plain square caps provide access to the cemetery and small car park to the east.

The adjacent side chapel, built as part of the 2006 extension, features similar external detailing to the main church.