Seymour Street Methodist Church, Seymour Street, Lisburn, County Antrim

Seymour Street Methodist Church, Lisburn

This is a free-standing, symmetrical, double-height polychromatic brick Methodist church built in 1876, sitting on an elevated site on the east side of Seymour Street and facing west. It is T-shaped on plan, with a single storey over a basement to the main body and a pair of gabled projections to either side of the nave. It is a highly decorative late Victorian building, closely related in character to the nearby Manse and Victoria Crescent. The church terminates the view when approached along both Seymour Street and Castle Street from the west, making it a landmark in this part of Lisburn city. Most of its original fabric survives both internally and externally.

Exterior

The roof is finished in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles, set behind raised stone verges to all gables, which rest on corbelled kneeler stones. Decorative angled brick eaves courses carry moulded cast-iron guttering, with cast-iron downpipes below.

The walling is in red brick laid in English garden wall bond, enlivened with flush yellow and black brick courses, black brick diaper-work, a projecting black brick course, and a diamond-course to the frieze. To the south elevation, the plinth course is in splayed rock-faced basalt ashlar, topped by an angled black brick course.

The window openings throughout are double-height and round-headed, with alternating red and yellow brick heads, stop-chamfered reveals, splayed sandstone sills, and leaded coloured glazing with storm glazing behind.

West Front

The principal west-facing gable has stone coping and an angled brick course, with skew tables to the corbelled kneeler stones and a nail-head course below. At upper level is a large gothic-arched recess formed in polychromatic brick, supported on squat stone columns with stiff-leaf capitals, and containing a sandstone plate tracery rose window with leaded coloured glazing. At lower level, a carved sandstone stiff-leaf cornice runs the full width of the gable, returning to meet the nave projections on either side. Below this are three round-headed door openings — originally an open portico — the central opening flanked by a pair of polished stone columns with stiff-leaf capitals and matching stiff-leaf moulding at impost level, again returning to meet the nave projections on either side. The three openings are now filled with double-leaf timber glazed doors and timber fanlights above, inserted around 1970.

North Nave Elevation

The north nave elevation is abutted at the west end by a full-height gabled projection. This has a circular opening at upper level with a gothic yellow-brick flush band, containing a sandstone plate tracery rose window. At lower level are three round-headed window openings with a flush stone hood band and stiff-leaf label stops, all with leaded coloured glazing. The remainder of the nave elevation has four full-height round-headed window openings.

South Nave Elevation

The south nave elevation mirrors the north in its gabled projection at the west end, with an identical circular rose window at upper level with gothic yellow-brick flush band. At middle level are three round-headed window openings with a flush stone hood band and stiff-leaf label stops and leaded coloured glazing. At basement level this projection is abutted by a gable-fronted entrance porch with a round-headed door opening to the west cheek, now fitted with replacement glazed timber doors and an overlight. The remainder of the south nave elevation has four full-height round-headed window openings, with four segmental-headed openings at basement level fitted with uPVC windows.

Rear and Later Additions

The rear gable is abutted by a lower two-bay two-storey vestry. The south elevation of the vestry is intact, with round-headed window openings to the first floor and segmental-headed openings to the ground floor fitted with uPVC windows, together with a segmental-headed entrance with a lean-to canopy in natural slate supported on paired corbels and a replacement steel door. The vestry is abutted to the north by a gable-fronted two-storey rendered extension built around 1990, and is further abutted by a large red brick extension dated 1987. A two-storey red brick extension attached to the vestry was built around 2000.

Setting

The church stands on an elevated site at the east side of Seymour Street, to the north of Wesley Street. The entrance from the street is approached by a flight of concrete steps to a raised platform with decorative cast-iron standard lamps. The site is enclosed to the west by a low red brick wall with decorative cast-iron railings and matching gates. The south boundary is partly enclosed by a low rubblestone wall with yellow and black brick courses and cast-iron railings, and the south nave elevation is further enclosed by a low polychromatic brick wall. To the north is a tarmac car park.

Historical Background

The foundation stone of the new Wesleyan church and school-house was laid in 1874. According to the Belfast Newsletter, Sir Richard Wallace had provided the Methodist congregation with the site — described as one of the best in Lisburn — as a free gift, with the intention that it would accommodate the church and schools as well as a manse and garden grounds for each of the ministers. The architect was William Gray, himself a Methodist, who also designed a Methodist church in Dromore, County Down. The builders were Messrs Thompson of Ballymacarrett, Belfast.

The decision to build a new church arose from the increasingly unsatisfactory condition of the existing Methodist chapel in Market Street, which had been erected around 1772 and enlarged in 1783. By 1874, the raising of Market Street had left the chapel in a sunken position, and slaughterhouses had been established close to the rear. The minister at the time, the Reverend Mr Knowles, noted that the building, while substantial, was somewhat antiquated and would require considerable expenditure to bring it up to requirements. The new church, school, two ministers' residences and associated buildings were expected to cost nearly £4,000.

The church was designed to seat 430 people. An end gallery only was to be provided initially, with provision made for side galleries if needed later. The architectural approach was described at the time in the Irish Builder as "a modification of continental Gothic. No special style will be strictly followed, the principle governing the design being an appropriate employment of inexpensive materials, with due regard to fitness of purpose together with the requirements and comfort of the congregation."

The completed building was opened in November 1875 at a final cost of under £2,700. It was warmly received by contemporary observers: the Belfast Newsletter reported that during the opening services it had been visited by very large numbers of people, and that the general view was that it was "so effective in appearance, tasteful in appointments, and perfect in all its arrangements, it may be considered a typical example of a complete Methodist Church."

A large schoolroom was built beneath the church and was initially used as a Sunday School before opening as a National School in 1886. As numbers grew, accommodation became cramped and a new school was built behind the church to designs by B. J. St John Phillips, with Messrs James McNally as contractors, opening in 1908. It continued in use as a school until 1966, when it was converted for use as a church hall. That building eventually became too expensive to maintain and was replaced by a new suite of buildings completed by Messrs William Dowling, opened in 2000.

Lisburn occupies a prominent place in the history of Irish Methodism: John Wesley visited the town on several occasions, first in 1756 and again repeatedly during the 1770s and 1880s.

Alterations and Later Works

Several alterations have been made to the church over the years. In 1912, railings, gate piers and gates were fitted to the church and manse. The present pipe organ — originally water-powered — was installed in 1920 as a First World War memorial, with the change to electric power made around 1930 when electricity became available in the town. The installation of the organ involved alterations to the positioning of and access to the choir and pulpit. In the 1930s, wooden sills and pillars on the inside of the windows were removed and replaced, and the windows themselves were replaced with more richly coloured versions. Four memorial windows dating from around 1934, 1963, 1985 and 1997 have been donated to the church.

In the late 1960s, renovation work included removal of the gable finials, repointing, restoration of stonework and redecorating. In 1970, the originally open front portico was enclosed and fitted with three sets of double doors. In 1934 a porch was added to provide an entrance from the Wesley Street side. Further improvements in 1985 and 1994 included a new kitchen and choir room and a disabled access ramp.