Granshaw Presbyterian Church, 54 Gransha Road, Comber, County Down, BT23 5QA

A free-standing double-height Gothic-style Presbyterian Church of pink sandstone on an east-west axis, with square bell-tower; built c.1880 and located north of the Gransha Road in the borough of Castlereagh. Rectangular plan with buttressed pinnacles and three-stage bell-tower to southeast corner; abutted to rear by a single-and-two-storey modern extension. Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, raised stone verges and finials; buttressed pinnacles to three sides having masonry offsets. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on cavetto moulded eaves with square downpipes. Walling is rock-faced ashlar pink sandstone laid in rough courses with high chamfered plinth; string course between stages. Windows are paired leaded-and-stained glass lancets with ogee heads in Gothic surrounds with chamfered sills. Geometrical bar-tracery windows to east and west. East-facing gabled vestibule with square bell-tower at southeast corner. Gabled vestibule has two geometrical bar-tracery windows to gallery level and a double-leaf timber-sheeted entrance door flanked by paired lancets to ground-floor; trefoil window opening to apex. Entrance door in Gothic surround with two semi-engaged colonnettes and a pitted stone medallion to recessed panel above door; surmounted by hood mould with foliated finial and carved label stops. Pinnacle to northeast corner has octagonal cornice to finial and paired Gothic hood moulds to a square base; slender slots to shaft on angled buttresses having offsets and plinth. Bell-tower has three narrow lancets to first stage (trefoil aperture in Gothic surround to south elevation), elongated paired lancets to second stage and paired louvered openings to belfry. Spire with a decorative projecting stone pinnacles to four sides. Marble memorial plaque to south elevation of tower c.1915. The south elevation is four sets of paired windows wide, divided by buttresses. The west (rear) elevation has paired geometrical bar-tracery window to gallery level. To right at ground-floor is the outline of a door surround. To left is a single-storey flat-roof modern porch, abutted by a single-and-two-storey extension (of little interest). The north elevation is four sets of paired windows wide, divided by buttresses. To left is a modern half-panelled double-leaf timber door with ramped access. Setting: Prominently sited north of the Gransha Road, on an elevated site with cemetery to south and east. Bounded to road to south by low rubble stone wall and hedgerow. Cast-iron gates with square piers and finial-head railings to splayed entrance at southeast; cast-iron pedestrian gate to southwest entrance. Tarmacadamed pathway leads to large car-park with modern double-height church hall to east. Variety of tombs and headstones to cemetery dating from the latter part of the nineteenth-century. Roof: Pitched natural slate Walling: Rock-faced pink sandstone Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass lancets and geometrical bar tracery RWG: Cast-iron