Hillhall Presbyterian Church, 163 Hillhall Road, Lisburn, BT27 5JA

Hillhall Presbyterian Church is a free-standing, gable-fronted rendered and stone hall and tower Arts and Crafts church built in 1902 to designs by the notable architect Vincent Craig. It is located on an elevated site set back within its own grounds to the north of Hillhall Road in Lisburn, with a large cemetery to the east and car parking to the west.

The building is constructed on a T-plan, facing south with a square-plan three-stage belfry entrance tower to the southeast. The pitched natural slate roof features horizontal bands of green slate, roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles, and a lead-lined timber louvred ventilation lantern to the centre. Lead valleys and ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering and downpipes run to a chamfered stone eaves course. A single rendered chimneystack with terracotta pots rises to the rear gable.

The walls are rough-cast lime rendered with tapered buttresses flush to all gables and between all window openings to the nave. Slender cusped window openings are executed in tooled limestone with splayed flush sills and Art Nouveau leaded glazing throughout.

The double-height gabled front south elevation features a large semi-circular limestone window opening containing five cusped lancets with leaded glazing, resting on a splayed sill between corner piers with decorative capstones. Below are two cusped window openings flanking a central squat buttress with offset. The gable rises from corner piers with decorative capstones and diaper work beneath the semi-circular opening. A raised stone coping tops the front gable with a decorative apex stone.

The square-plan tower has a pyramidal natural slate roof with four corner panelled stone piers carrying decorative capstones, surmounted by a lead pole and weather-vane. Sprocketed eaves extend beyond the corner piers, sheltering tripartite cusped stone belfry openings on all four sides with timber louvres. Metal clock-faces are attached to the south and east sides. At the tower base is a shallow lead-lined entrance gable flanked by a buttress to the left and a plinth wall with offset to the right. A pointed-arched door opening in limestone ashlar features stop-moulded jambs and archivolt with decorative label stops and hood moulding. A pair of vertically-sheeted timber doors with iron furniture opens onto semi-circular stone paving.

The west side elevation features a lozenge-shaped limestone window opening and three groups of three cusped window openings flanking tapered buttresses. The west transept gable has a terracotta fleur-de-lis finial, flush tapered buttresses giving a battered profile, an oculus opening, and a five-light cusped stone window below with decorative naturalistic stained glass. The east side elevation mirrors the west, with the tower to the left.

The rear elevation is abutted by a single-storey multi-bay rendered church hall dated 2002, with natural slate roof, buttresses and oculi emulating the Arts and Crafts elements of the original church.

The principal entrance gates are modern steel replacements on original sandstone piers repeating the detail of the tower corner piers, with the site enclosed to Hillhall Road by hedging. A two-storey manse stands to the west.

Hillhall Presbyterian Church represents one of the finest examples of Arts and Crafts ecclesiastical architecture in the province, retaining most original internal and external fabric and detailing as testimony to Vincent Craig's assured ability. While the 2002 hall extension to the rear detracts from the integrity of the original design, the excellent detailing and rural setting make this an exceptional work.

The congregation traces its origins to at least 1750, though it had no dedicated meeting house until around 1765 when the congregation moved to a site given by Mrs Law of Hillhall, subsequently taking the name Hillhall. The original earthen-floored, thatched meeting house was renovated in 1826 and slated. The building was rebuilt in 1876 with a church hall added in 1893. A pipe organ was installed in 1956. The father of Dame Iris Murdoch, the novelist and philosopher, is thought to have been a member of this congregation.