St. Patricks Church of Ireland, 260 Upper Malone Road, Dunmurry, Belfast, County Down, BT17 9LD

St. Patrick's Church of Ireland is a cruciform Gothic Revival church designed by Sir Thomas Drew and built around 1870, incorporating an earlier tower dating from approximately 1795. It stands on the crest of a hill overlooking Drum Bridge, where the Upper Malone Road crosses the River Lagan, to the south of Belfast.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER AND EXTERIOR

The building has a steeply pitched, gable-ended roof covered in natural blue slate with green slate banding and clay ridge tiles. The half-octagonal chancel at the rear is covered by a hipped roof, finished with a finial cross and partial ridge rail. Rainwater goods are cast iron, with ogee-moulded gutters and box downpipes. The main walling is squared rubble with tooled sandstone quoins, surrounds, string and eaves courses, and coping stones. The earlier tower is built of split-stone rubble with cut stone dressings. Windows throughout are leaded stained glass set into stop-chamfered sandstone surrounds. The doors are diagonally timber-sheeted with wrought iron strap hinges and ironmongery.

THE TOWER

The tower is the dominant feature of the church and a prominent landmark in the wider landscape. It is built in three stages. The lower section is squared in plan, rising to cornice level. Above this, an octagonal middle section contains recessed geometrical timber-louvred equilateral arches with rubble surrounds, rising to a frieze level decorated with carved laurel wreaths and a dentil course. The tower is crowned by an octagonal stone spire, itself topped by a weathervane in the form of a cockerel.

The principal entrance to the church is located in the tower, on the right side of the east elevation. A blank oculus above the entrance carries the following inscription: "This church was built in 1798. The spire of which (being wood) was blown down in 1831. The present stone spire was built at the expense of John Charley of Finaghy 1833." The rear of the tower retains the gable remains of the earlier church, and there are modern external stairs leading to the belfry.

FRONT ELEVATION

The front entrance is located centrally in the west-facing principal gable, accessed by a modern ramp and steps. The door is set within an ordered equilateral sandstone arch with a plain moulded outer arch and a chamfered inset above impost level. It is embraced by a single-storey projected gable dating from around 1870, featuring a quatrefoil blank panel and a gable cross above, supported by chamfered stone pilasters on a plinth rising to cornice level. Above the doorway, a cut stone raked string course rises to a central apex and falls to a horizontal string course below, suggesting a pediment form.

The principal gable faces west and is symmetrically arranged with five round-headed arched openings containing stained glass at lower level, and a single, taller arched opening above. Coping stones fall to a flush gable shoulder with a gable cross at the apex.

NORTH ELEVATION AND TRANSEPT

The north elevation has three asymmetrically arranged stained glass windows, with the gabled north transept projecting to the left. The transept has lateral buttresses to either side, two large equilateral arched stained glass windows centrally placed, and an apex stone with a finial. At the bottom right corner is a ladder-box with dressed stone surrounds and a secure iron door. Each cheek of the transept has two smaller equilateral arched stained glass windows.

EAST ELEVATION AND CHANCEL

The east-facing rear elevation is asymmetrically composed, with a semi-octagonal projecting chancel at the centre and a single-storey lean-to hall with a half-hipped former vestry abutting to the left. The semi-octagonal chancel has battered lower stone courses. Each gable face carries carved sandstone geometrical tracery headed by a septfoil, with stained glass below, a trefoil above, and a plain gargoyle projecting from the kneeler stone. The right-hand cheek of the chancel has leaded lights. To the left is a rear shoulder arch entrance with a trefoil gablet above, accessed by five well-worn sandstone steps. The doorway has stop-chamfered sandstone surrounds, with an arrow-loop opening adjacent to the left. The former vestry has a square leaded lattice light with sandstone surrounds, and there is stepped access to a heating chamber below.

SOUTH ELEVATION

The south elevation is asymmetrically arranged, with a matching gabled transept abutting to the right, complete with a chimney stack. A projecting single-storey modern flat-roofed vestry, built around 1960 using sympathetic materials, proportions, and details, sits in the middle. The earlier tower adjoins the composition to the left via a recessed single-storey link.

INTERIOR

The main body of the church has retained its original character, most notably expressed in a high-quality collection of stained glass windows. These include works by Messrs Heaton, Butler and Bayne of London; Rosenkampf of London; Ward and Hughes of London; and Caldermac of Belfast. The windows are primarily dedicated to the memory of important families and individuals from the local area.

SETTING

The church sits within a rubble masonry perimeter wall on the crest of its hill. On approach from the road, visitors pass through the associated listed lych gate — itself a notable feature, erected in 1878 and inscribed "In loving memory of John Ferguson Montgomery of Ballydrain, died 1876. Erected by his sister Ellen Caldwell 1878." A processional route of yew trees, presented by Thomas Montgomery in 1885, lines the path up the hill to the entrance. A driveway leads to a car park on the left. To the right is the graveyard, surrounded by mature trees that partially screen the church and grounds from the road. The rear of the church looks out over open fields.

HISTORY

The present church was built around 1870, when Sir Thomas Drew was commissioned to rebuild an earlier church on the site. The surviving tower formed part of that earlier construction, which had a barn-style nave attached to it, as shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834, captioned "Drumbeg Spire" and "Church." This earlier building was itself a replacement of an even older church that had served both Drumbeg and Drumbo parishes. When Drumbo parishioners erected their own Parish Church in the townland of Ballylesson around 1790, the separation appears to have prompted Drumbeg parishioners to obtain an Order in Council for a new church in 1796.

The precise date of the earlier church's construction is contested by the historical sources. The inscription over the front entrance states 1798. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s give 1768, while Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland states it was "rebuilt by subscription in 1795, by aid of a gift of £461." The original timber spire was blown down in 1831 and replaced at the expense of John Charley of Finaghy in 1833.

The Townland Valuations of 1828–40 valued the church at £10 11s; Griffith's Valuation of 1863 raised this to £16. Following the rebuilding in 1870 — at a cost of approximately £2,500 — the Annual Revision Valuations increased the figure to £49.

Of the late 18th-century church, only the west tower and part of the west wall of the nave remained at the time of rebuilding, as recorded in the Archaeological Survey of County Down. The new church adopts a cruciform layout, joining the north elevation of the tower and extending eastwards with a vestry and heating chamber projecting from the east elevation. The church, dedicated to St. Patrick, was consecrated on 20th December 1870.

The vestry built around 1960 is widely understood locally to have been constructed using stone salvaged from the former gate lodge at Ballydrain, though this is not confirmed by documentary evidence cited here. It was built to match the main church and does not detract from the building's special interest.