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

St John's Church of Ireland Church in Ballycarry is a cruciform church built in 1847 in the Gothic Revival style. It is constructed of greystone with sandstone dressings and features a square tower with a broach spire positioned in the angle between the chancel and one transept.

The main entrance faces west, presenting a symmetrical ecclesiastical west front. The west gable is built of snecked greystone with sandstone ashlar dressings, weathered sandstone copings rising from shaped kneelers, and a small square sandstone chimney at the apex. Weathered buttresses mark the extremities. A projecting moulded weathering runs along the plinth, with a projecting string course at cill level.

The windows are simple Gothic-arched lancets with chamfered reveals and cills. Each window features a projecting label moulding terminating in moulded mask-like stops. The glazing consists of small quarries in a lozenge pattern held within cast iron tracery. All windows throughout the church follow this detailed specification.

The west porch is gabled with similar walling but no string course to its front face. Weathered buttresses mark its extremities. The central doorway is very tall with a Gothic arch, moulded chamfered reveals, projecting drip moulding, and label stops matching those of the west gable windows. The two-leaf doors are Gothic-panelled, with replacements made to approximately the original pattern. Above the main 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. Sandstone flags form a broad and deep doorstep, with original ironwork bootscraper on each side.

The north side of the porch contains a tall Gothic-arched doorway detailed as the main doorway, but 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. Two-leaf original Gothic-panelled doors remain, with an original Gothic Revival doorlatch and modern handle. A sandstone flagged doorstep has one original ironwork bootscraper to its left-hand side. A moulded sandstone frieze runs at kneeler level, with a moulded cast iron gutter above; a new cast iron downpipe has been installed 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 instead of a doorway. The window has a shouldered head to a lancet with chamfered reveals and fixed glazing of small quarries in a lozenge pattern of cast iron tracery. A projecting moulded string course runs at cill level, with a moulded cast iron gutter and new downpipe in the angle with the west gable.

The north elevation comprises a four-bay nave to the right of a projecting transept gable, and a square tower with spire to the left of the gable. The walls of the nave and transept match the west front treatment, with projecting string courses at cill level and buttresses marking the extremities of the transept gable and the bays of the nave. Roofs are slated as previously, with new moulded cast iron gutters and downpipes. Windows in the nave and side of the transept are coupled, glazed as specified, with mask-like label stops. Windows in the transept gable are arranged in a triplet with the centre lancet taller. Some spalling is evident on the reveals of the coupled windows. A lozenge-shaped cusped panel appears in the transept gable above the windows, with a moulded apex to the gable coping.

The tower has coupled windows to the ground floor, glazed as previously, except the left-hand lancet has later replacement glazing of translucent glass with aluminium horizontal glazing bars, which is inappropriate. The tall upper stage of the tower contains a triplet of window openings detailed as those to the transept gable, with louvres within. A projecting cill runs between shallow clasping buttresses at the extremities. A circular recessed panel in a lozenge-shaped surround appears in the wall below the louvres. A projecting moulded cornice crowns the top of the tower, featuring a mask-head corbel course. An octagonal broach spire of ashlar sandstone surmounts the tower. At the base of the tower, the ground is open to form a lightwell with an iron bar grille closing it, containing an iron ladder descending to a rectangular ledged timber door providing access to the basement of the tower.

The east elevation comprises a projecting gable flanked to its left by the side of the south transept and to its right by the rear of the tower. The east gable has five Gothic-arched lancets arranged in ascending fashion toward the centre, glazed and detailed as previously, with mask-head stops to the extremities of a continuous label. A small narrow window with a shouldered head, matching those to the side of the front porch, appears to each side of the main windows. A PVC soil pipe is attached to the left-hand extremity of the east gable. The gable is surmounted by an octagonal turret corbelled out from the main plane, with a miniature swept spire in sandstone to the turret.

The east face of the tower and spire is similar to the north face except the ground storey has a projecting gabled porch between a deep buttress to the right and the chancel wall to the left. The porch gable has a Gothic doorway with two-leaf original panelled doors, all detailed as those to the north side of the entrance porch. Spalling to the sandstone reveal is evident at the left-hand side. A narrow cusped Gothic sunken panel appears in the gable above the doorway. New cast iron rainwater hoppers and downpipes have been installed to each side of the doorway. A sandstone flagged doorstep is present. The porch roof is slated as previously, with weathered copings to the gable.

Set back to the left-hand side of the east gable is the east side of the south transept, with blank walling detailed as previously, except for the projecting gablet of the porch entrance. A tall narrow Gothic-arched doorway has two-leaf original Gothic-panelled doors set in a deep sandstone reveal with a projecting drip moulding over. The label stops take the unusual form of carved bull-terrier dogs' heads. A clasping buttress with weatherings flanks each side of the doorway. An unusual feature is the steeply pitched roof to the gable of the porch, which is entirely built of weathered ashlar sandstone. A sandstone flagged doorstep is present.

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

The church stands in its own churchyard with grassed lawns all around. No graveyard memorial of special interest or distinction is present. To the rear of the church stands a single-storey temporary building not visible from the entrance front. The churchyard is bordered by mature trees and hedges. The front boundary wall is of basalt rubble with basalt rock copings. The gateway comprises two square sandstone piers with stop-chamfered corners, flared bases, and moulded caps with weatherings. A pair of original cast iron gates with ornamental finials, some damaged or missing, hangs between them. To the left of the left-hand gate pier is a stile constructed of three concrete steps. Abutting the front boundary wall to the north is a basalt rubble boundary wall with cement copings, serving as the boundary to the old Templecorran graveyard. At the south-west corner of the boundary, the original front boundary wall stops to abut a new boundary wall constructed of basalt rubble with rock copings but featuring reticulated pointing and a flat edge to the line of overhanging copings. The boundary of the north side is formed by humped basalt rubble and earth, breached near the north-east corner to give access to the old Templecorran graveyard. The boundary to the east is similar to the north. The boundary to the south is formed by hedge.