Magheragall Parish Church, Ballinderry Road, Magheragall, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 2QS

Magheragall Parish Church is a free-standing, hall-and-tower, Gothic Revival Church of Ireland building dating from 1830–31, constructed with financial support from the Board of First Fruits. It stands on an elevated site on the north side of Ballinderry Road, surrounded by a cemetery, and is a prominent feature in an otherwise unspoilt rural landscape. The church was restored in 1992 and has group value with the nearby Magheragall Rectory.

The building is rectangular on plan, with an entrance tower at the west end, a later chancel added to the east around 1900, and a vestry attached to the northeast. The walling is galleted rubblestone with lime pointing, set on a chamfered sandstone plinth course, with sandstone ashlar quoins. The roof is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles and stone coping to both gable ends. Cast-iron guttering on decorative iron brackets is carried on a red sandstone eaves course, with cast-iron downpipes. The window openings are lancets formed in chamfered sandstone with hood mouldings, and are glazed with stone or timber Y-tracery and leaded coloured lights.

One of the more unusual external features is the stone lucarne rising from both the north and south elevations above the western bay of the nave. It has feathered stone coping surmounted by a trefoil and contains a lancet opening with leaded coloured glazing.

The three-stage, square-plan entrance bell tower at the west is built in rubblestone with sandstone ashlar clasping buttresses, which become octagonal at the upper stage. The upper stage is surmounted by octagonal stone pinnacles, and the roof is concealed behind a crenellated parapet wall. Each stage is divided by a plain projecting sandstone platband. The middle stage has an oculus to both the north and south elevations, formed in red sandstone: the north oculus contains a modern datestone inscribed "Built / 1831 / Builder R. Mc Henry / Restored / 1992", and the south oculus contains an iron clock face, installed in 1906. The upper stage has pointed-headed window openings with chamfered surrounds and hood mouldings on all four sides, fitted with timber louvres.

The tower's south elevation has a pointed-headed door opening with a stop-chamfered sandstone surround and hood moulding, fitted with replacement double-leaf hardwood doors and an over-panel. Above the entrance is a sandstone relieving arch beneath a carved stone plaque bearing the inscription: "This is the / Victory / that over / cometh the / world even / our / Faith". To the tower's west elevation, a pointed-headed lancet occupies the lower and middle stages, with a sandstone relieving arch, chamfered sandstone surround, and hood moulding, glazed with painted Y-tracery and leaded lights.

The principal south elevation of the nave, like the north elevation, is three windows wide. The east gable is abutted by a roughcast-rendered, gabled chancel added around 1900, with the vestry attached to its north side. The chancel gable features a pointed-headed breakfront containing tripartite lancet openings formed in chamfered sandstone on a single sill, with decorative stone coping over. The vestry has a catslide roof set at a different angle to the chancel, with a quadripartite stone lancet window to the east elevation and a door opening to the re-entrant angle. Three decorative stone box tombs are located in the re-entrant angle between the east gable and the chancel.

Internally, the walls have a cement finish throughout, though the overall impression is enlivened by the addition of the chancel and some decorative stained glass, both of which reflect the status of the local Anglican community and the skilled craftsmanship of the 19th century.

The site is enclosed by a rubblestone wall with cement coping. The pedestrian entrance to the west has steel gates and concrete piers. A modern steel railing runs along a concrete footpath leading to the entrance tower, with concrete steps, steel railings, and a concrete universal-access ramp at the entrance. Grave-markers in stone and marble, dating from the early 18th century to the present day, lie to the east, south, and west. A parish hall and car park are located to the east.

The parish at Magheragall has been recorded since as early as 1306. The original parish church was burned down during the Rebellion of 1641, and a replacement was erected in 1676. The current building replaced that structure in 1830–31. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs for Magheragall (1833–38) describe the church in some detail, recording it as "an oblong building one-storey high and slated, and measures 56 ft by 28 ft inside, walls three feet thick; and attached to the west end a very handsome tower, three-storey high … on the third storey a moderate sized bell bearing date 1762." The bell itself originates from the 1676 church, though a datestone within the tower reads "1830, Paul McHenry builder." According to the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, the cost of erection was £1,000, the majority of which was granted as a loan by the Board of First Fruits. The Irish Builder records that construction began in June 1830 and that the church was consecrated by Bishop Mant on 2 June 1831. The Townland Valuation placed the church's value at £12 8s., while Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records it at £19 10s., a figure that remained unchanged through the Annual Revisions until 1928.

In the 1830s the incumbent minister was the Reverend John Mussen, who lived in a thatched cottage beside the church on an income of £138 10s. per annum. The church could accommodate a congregation of 350, with an average attendance of 200 to 300 people. In 1897 George Blount of Belfast carried out extensive alterations and additions. The chancel was installed and a new graveyard consecrated in 1898, though a graveyard appears on Ordnance Survey maps as early as 1857. A new church organ was installed in 1875, and the clock was added to the tower in 1906, at which time the interior was also renovated. Electricity was installed in 1951, and new choir stalls were added in 1952. The tower was repaired in 1955, and the parochial hall was built close to the church in 1971. The church was listed in 1988, in which year it was also reroofed and a new vestry room built. Renovations to the chancel were carried out in 1994.