St. Hildas Church of Ireland, Rowan Drive, Seymour Hill, Kilmakee, Dunmurry

St Hildas Church of Ireland, Rowan Drive, Seymour Hill, Kilmakee, Dunmurry

A double-height symmetrical geometric modern cruciform plan church dating from 1969, designed by architects Anthony F. Lucy & Co. The building is located within the Seymour Hill housing estate, east of the main Belfast to Lisburn road, approximately one mile south of Dunmurry. It stands adjacent to the former church and hall designed by Denis O'Donoghue Hanna.

The church comprises a geometrical series of symmetrical projecting brick facades, each element defined and separated by lateral narrow strip glazing, creating a single interior space. The building features a shallow pitched pyramidal copper-clad roof with a central spire over clerestorey glazing. Cruciform flat-roofed bays and secondary accommodation complete the form. The walls are constructed of red brick in stretcher bond with zinc coping. Rainwater goods are uPVC with concealed gutters, elongated hopper heads, and box section downpipes flanking each elevation.

Windows are rolled, stained and leaded timber casement frames. Timber doors feature Georgian-wire glazed panels. The principal elevation faces north and is symmetrically arranged with a bi-partite double-height flat-roofed projection with central glazing, abutted by a matching diminished single-storey porch. The porch front incorporates recessed entrance doors; the left cheek has centrally located doors whilst the right cheek is blank. The east elevation matches the front double-height projection and is abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed side chapel with a parapet rising at the east facade and a large concrete cap surmounting the central projection. Single-storey foyer and office accommodation with elongated windows is located at the re-entrant of the main body and the north face of the service block. The rear and west elevations mirror the front elevation in detail, with the west elevation featuring full-height central glazed strip and no central abutment.

The foundation stone was laid in November 1969 and the church was consecrated in December 1970. The design puts the sanctuary at the centre, breaking with traditional church forms. The organ was gifted from St. Andrew's, Belfast, which closed in 1970. The cross on the east wall marks the centre of the sanctuary from the cutting of the first sod.

The surrounding setting comprises a housing estate of two-storey terrace dwellings with grass areas to the north and east, and a car park to the south with a primary school beyond. The former church, erected circa 1950, adjoins to the north-east—a double-height red-brick barn-style building with steel-framed windows and single-storey flat-roofed front entrance, also with copper roofing.

Historically, following post-war housing expansion, the Church of Ireland Diocesan Council obtained a central site in the rapidly expanding Seymour Hill area. In May 1958 a dual-purpose church and hall was dedicated to St Hilda, chosen as the dedication matched that of nearby Dunmurry parish church to St Colman (St Hilda assisted St Colman at the Synod of Whitby in 664). The hall was designed by Denis O'Donoghue Hanna and built by William Grace & Co for £17,000. By August 1964, the area had expanded sufficiently to establish a new parish of Kilmakee, prompting the construction of this new church. Anthony F. Lucy, who began his practice in the 1920s as a domestic dwelling designer, became known in the 1950s and 1960s for church architecture.