St John’s Church of Ireland Church, Ballycarry, Larne, Co. Antrim

St John's Church of Ireland, Ballycarry, is an Early Victorian Gothic Revival cruciform church built in 1847 at the expense of David S. Kerr MP, of Redhall, and consecrated on 5 October 1854. The architect is not known. The listing covers the church itself together with the front boundary wall and gateway.

The building is constructed of greystone rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings, and takes a cruciform plan with a four-bay nave, transepts, and chancel. A square tower with a swept octagonal broach spire in ashlar sandstone rises in the angle between the chancel and the north transept, forming a prominent local landmark. The church retains almost all its original features inside and out, though minor internal alterations detract somewhat from its interior appearance.

WEST FRONT

The principal entrance faces west. The west front is symmetrical, with a west gable flanked by a single lancet window on each side and a centrally placed lower gabled porch projecting forward. The gable walls are of snecked greystone with sandstone ashlar dressings; the sandstone copings are weathered and rise from shaped kneelers, and there is a small square sandstone chimney at the apex. Weathered buttresses stand at the outer corners. A projecting moulded weathering runs along the plinth, and a projecting string course runs at sill level. All windows are simple Gothic-arched lancets with chamfered reveals and sills, projecting label mouldings terminating in moulded mask-like stops, and fixed glazing of small quarries set in lozenge-pattern cast iron tracery.

The porch is gabled in similar walling but without a string course to its front face, and has weathered buttresses at its outer corners. The central doorway is very tall with a Gothic arch, moulded chamfered reveals, a projecting drip moulding, and label stops matching those of the windows. The two-leaf Gothic-panelled doors are new replacements, probably approximately to the original pattern. Above the doorway is a cusped lozenge-shaped panel inscribed "Erected by David S. Kerr Esq AD 1847", with a projecting drip moulding and mask-like label stops. Broad, deep sandstone flagged doorsteps are flanked by an original ironwork bootscraper on each side.

The north side of the porch contains a tall Gothic-arched doorway detailed as the main entrance, except that the arch and drip moulding run into the main gable to the left without a mask-like stop. The sandstone of the reveals is badly weathered and much crumbled, with some smooth cement render repairs. The two-leaf Gothic-panelled doors here are original and retain their original Gothic Revival door latch, though a modern handle has been added. The doorstep is of sandstone flags with one original ironwork bootscraper on the left-hand side. At kneeler level there is a moulded sandstone frieze with a moulded cast iron gutter above, and a new cast iron downpipe in the angle with the west gable. The porch roof is slated in Bangor Blues in regular courses with a black tiled ridge.

The south side of the porch is similar to the north but contains a small window rather than a doorway: the lancet has a shouldered head with chamfered reveals and fixed glazing of small quarries in lozenge-pattern cast iron tracery. A projecting moulded string course runs at sill level, with a moulded cast iron gutter and a new downpipe in the angle with the west gable.

NORTH ELEVATION

The north elevation shows a four-bay nave to the right of a projecting transept gable, with the square tower and spire to the left of that gable. Walls of nave and transept are as at the west front, with a projecting string course at sill level and buttresses marking the extremities of the transept gable and the nave bays. Roofs are slated as elsewhere, with new moulded cast iron gutters and downpipes. Windows in the nave and the side of the transept are coupled lancets glazed as elsewhere, with mask-like label stops; some spalling is visible to the reveals of the coupled windows. The transept gable contains a triplet of windows with the central lancet taller than the flanking pair, and a cusped lozenge-shaped panel above the windows, with a moulded apex to the gable coping.

The tower has coupled windows to its ground floor, glazed as elsewhere, except that the left-hand lancet has been given later replacement glazing of translucent glass with aluminium horizontal glazing bars, which is considered inappropriate. The tall upper stage of the tower has a triplet of window openings detailed as those in the transept gable, containing louvres, with a projecting sill between shallow clasping buttresses at the corners. A circular recessed panel set in a lozenge-shaped surround is in the wall below the louvres. A projecting moulded cornice runs along the top of the tower with a mask-head corbel course beneath it. The swept octagonal broach spire in ashlar sandstone surmounts the tower. At the base of the tower, the ground is open to form a lightwell, closed by an iron bar grille; within it an iron ladder descends to a rectangular ledged timber door giving access to the basement of the tower.

EAST ELEVATION

The east elevation shows a projecting gable flanked to the left by the side of the south transept and to the right by the rear of the tower. The east gable contains five Gothic-arched lancets arranged in ascending height toward the centre, glazed and detailed as elsewhere, with mask-head stops at the extremities of a continuous label moulding. One small narrow window with a shouldered head, similar to that on the south side of the west porch, is placed on each side of the main windows. A PVC soil pipe is fixed to the left-hand extremity of the east gable. The gable is surmounted by an octagonal turret corbelled out from the main plane of the wall, with a miniature swept sandstone spire above it.

The east face of the tower and spire are similar to the north face, except that at ground storey there is a projecting gabled porch set between a deep buttress to the right and the chancel wall to the left. The porch gable has a Gothic doorway with original two-leaf panelled doors, all detailed as to the north side of the entrance porch. There is spalling to the sandstone reveal on the left-hand side, and a narrow cusped Gothic sunken panel in the gable above the doorway. New cast iron rainwater hoppers and downpipes are fitted to each side of the doorway, and the doorstep is of sandstone flags. The porch roof is slated as elsewhere with weathered copings to the gable.

Set back to the left of the east gable is the east side of the south transept, with blank walling as elsewhere, interrupted by the projecting gablet of a porch entrance. This porch contains a tall narrow Gothic-arched doorway with original two-leaf Gothic-panelled doors set in a deep sandstone reveal with a projecting drip moulding over. The label stops are carved in the form of bull-terrier dogs' heads, an unusual feature explained by the fact that David S. Kerr reserved the south transept for the use of his family and had these carved to represent his favourite bull terriers. Clasping buttresses with weatherings flank each side of the doorway, and the steeply pitched roof of the porch gable is constructed entirely of weathered ashlar sandstone — an unusual feature. A sandstone flagged doorstep is in place here. Below the south transept, Kerr had a burial vault created, access to which is believed to be gained by removing the doorstep. The vault was later taken over by the McAuley family but has not been opened since.

SOUTH ELEVATION

The south elevation comprises a four-bay nave to the left of the transept gable, with the side of the chancel to the right. The nave and transept are similar in treatment to the north elevation. The side of the chancel has a narrow Gothic doorway with original two-leaf Gothic-panelled doors, detailed as elsewhere, with a sandstone doorstep. A new moulded cast iron gutter with a downpipe is fitted to the right-hand side. Some spalling to the stonework of the spire is visible on the south side where iron dowels have rusted.

HISTORICAL NOTES

The south transept has been used by successive owners of Red Hall ever since Kerr reserved it for his family. The bell in the tower was cast in London by John Warner and Son in 1867 and is inscribed "Templecorran 1867". The original oil lamps in the church were replaced by electric flood lamps in 1934. A new west door was fitted in 1993, the church was re-slated in 1994, and new electric quartz radiant heaters were fitted in 1995. The church stands within the area of a scheduled monument (ANT47:10).

SETTING

The church stands in its own churchyard with grassed lawns all around. No graveyard memorial of any special interest or distinction is present. To the rear of the church is a single-storey temporary building, not visible from the entrance front. The churchyard is bordered by mature trees and hedges, which enhance the character of the building considerably.

The front boundary wall is of basalt rubble with basalt rock copings. The gateway consists of two square sandstone piers with stop-chamfered corners, flared bases, and moulded caps with weatherings, hung with a pair of original cast iron gates with ornamental finials, some of which are damaged or missing. To the left of the left-hand gate pier is a stile of three concrete steps.

Abutting the front boundary wall to the north is the basalt rubble boundary wall with cement copings of the adjacent old Templecorran graveyard. At the south-west corner, the original front boundary wall stops and abuts a newly constructed section of basalt rubble wall with rock copings, though this new section is noted to have reticulated pointing and a flat edge to the line of overhanging copings. The boundary on the north side is formed by a humped basalt rubble and earth bank, breached near the north-east corner to give access to the old Templecorran graveyard. The east boundary is similar to the north. The south boundary is formed by a hedge. The adjoining old Templecorran graveyard, with its picturesque ruins dating from at least the 17th century, adds considerable to the historic character of the setting.