Methodist Church, Curran Road, Larne, Co Antrim

Methodist Church, Curran Road, Larne, County Antrim

This is a good example of a late Victorian church by the leading local architect of the period, which retains almost all of its original features. It was designed by Samuel P. Close in 1883 and built in 1884, with the foundation stone laid by Mrs Stewart Clark of Kilnside, Paisley, on 14th April 1884. Building operations were superintended by John A. Bowman, who subscribed £300 toward the construction. The stained glass chancel window was paid for by Reverend James B. Brady, a native of Larne resident in the United States of America.

Architectural Overview

The church is a Gothic Revival building in the Early English style, comprising a nave and chancel with short transepts. It is built of yellow sandstone, rock-faced and laid in regular courses, with red sandstone dressings and roofs of green Westmoreland slates laid in regular courses for the most part, diminishing slightly toward the ridges, which are finished in red terracotta. The church stands on a corner site at a road junction within the built-up area of the town, with a terrace of houses adjacent to its entrance front and its own church hall complex attached to the rear.

Entrance Front (Ecclesiastical West End, Facing South)

The main entrance is in a porch at the ecclesiastical west end, which actually faces south. This end comprises a main gable flanked by a lower porch to each side. The main gable is six windows wide at ground level, with a buttress at each extremity projecting above a string course over the windows. The left-hand buttress carries an inscribed foundation stone. The windows are set in yellow sandstone arches with splayed cills and leaded glazing in a geometrical pattern. Above the string course, a large central traceried window lights the gable: it has a fanlight with cusping and three roundels, a red sandstone drip moulding with carved head label stops, and storm-proofing plate glazing over stained glass. The main gable has red sandstone copings on red sandstone kneelers, with a red sandstone finial at the apex.

The porch to the left of the main gable has a gabled roof running laterally, with a projecting gablet containing the entrance doorway. The doorway consists of a two-leaf ledged door in varnished oak set in a large red sandstone Gothic arch within a buff sandstone gablet. The drip moulding around the doorway has carved head label stops in red sandstone. In the apex of the gablet is a blank red sandstone shield panel, above which is a carved ornamental foliated finial in red sandstone. There is a moulded red sandstone eaves course, with moulded cast iron gutters and square-section cast iron downpipes, one to each side of the main entrance, with one fractured on the left. The buttressed sides of the entrance have red sandstone weatherings. To the right of the main entrance is one small lancet window with leaded glazing. The stonework of the main entrance porch has been repointed in an inappropriate fashion, though the rest of the entrance front retains its original pointing, which is in poor condition. Five concrete steps lead to the front door, contained by low stone walls terminating in low stone piers with chamfered edges. Modern tubular steel handrails have been added to each side, which are inappropriate.

The porch to the right of the main gable is smaller than the main porch, with a hipped roof as previously described. Its doorway is rectangular with carved top corners, surmounted by a traceried three-light fanlight, all in red sandstone, with a similar horizontal drip moulding terminating in foliated stops. The door is a two-leaf ledged oak door, but with new modern brass-coloured metal strip added to the base of each leaf. Four concrete steps lead up to the front door, with the top step flanked by low walls of shaped red sandstone blocks.

Ecclesiastical North Side (Facing West)

The nave is three windows wide, separated by buttresses, with the low gabled side of the front porch projecting to the right and a tall gabled transept projecting to the left. The side wall of the sanctuary is stepped well back to the extreme left. The entire elevation on this side has been repointed in an inappropriate fashion. The nave windows have leaded glazing as described previously, though the leftmost one contains stained glass covered by storm glazing. There is a cast iron downpipe at the left-hand corner with the transept. The transept gable has two tall lancets with leaded glazing as described, a red stone shield above, and a stone finial on the apex of the gable coping, with a blank inner side wall to the transept.

To the right of the nave windows, the rear wall of the porch projects forward and has two blind lancets blocked with red sandstone, which is original work, and a cast iron downpipe at the left-hand corner. The gable of the porch has a two-light traceried window with some decay to the stone of the cusping at the tracery roundel, and leaded glazing. At the extreme left, the side wall of the sanctuary has a single lancet with leaded glazing and a cast iron downpipe (with a hole in it). Affixed to this wall is a blue painted metal plaque with white lettering commemorating Dr James Boyd Brady, who donated the chancel window erected in 1885.

Ecclesiastical East End (Facing North)

The gable of the nave is surmounted by a stone finial, with the blank side walls of the transepts stepped back slightly and extending to each side. Projecting forward is the gable of the chancel, also surmounted by a stone finial, with a large three-light traceried window containing stained glass protected by storm glazing. To the left is a low modern porch of mid-20th century appearance, flat-roofed with a concrete coping and a pebble-dash finish with a smooth cement-rendered strip to the corner. It has varnished hardwood double doors with wire-glazed panels below a rectangular fanlight of similar glazing, reached down four concrete steps, and connects the church with a modern link block to the church hall complex.

Ecclesiastical South Side (Facing East)

The nave wall is three windows wide as on the opposite nave elevation, except that the easternmost window, which contains stained glass, has a protective iron grille affixed to it. There is considerable decay to the cill and jambs of this window. A cast iron downpipe sits in the right-hand corner with the transept. To the left of the nave, the rear wall of the hipped porch projects forward with one lancet window with leaded glazing, and a cast iron downpipe at the right-hand extremity. The end or side wall of the porch has one similar but larger lancet, with a cast iron gutter continuous around the eaves of the porch. To the right of the nave, the side wall of the transept projects forward as a blank wall. The transept gable has two tall lancets with leaded glazing, and the apex of the gable is surmounted by a square stone chimney with an offset and a battered stone cap above a cornice.

The transept gable is abutted on the left by a low retaining wall faced with buff sandstone to one side and snecked basalt rubble to the other, surmounted by a cement coping. This retains modern concrete steps to the right, which lead up to part of the modern hall complex — a gabled block in concrete brick with a concrete-tiled roof — and another flight of concrete steps down to the left leading to a basement below the nave and transept. The door to the basement of the nave is a flush wooden door painted white; the narrow casement to the basement of the transept is white-painted wood and is not original. A parallel low retaining wall of modern concrete block with concrete copings retains a grassed area to the left in front of the nave.

Boundary Walls, Railings and Gates

A grass lawn surrounds the church at the ecclesiastical west and north ends, with a tarmac car parking area against the east end extending around the rear of the hall complex. The boundary to the entrance front consists of ornamental iron railings with stylised leaf finials, mounted on low yellow sandstone walls with red sandstone copings, and curved iron brackets to the square-section rails at intervals. In front of the main porch is a concrete area with a gateway comprising a pair of square piers with red sandstone gabled capstones and double iron gates with similar detailing to the railings. In front of the smaller porch is a concrete pathway with a gateway of the same pier design but with a single iron gate. At the right-hand extremity of the front boundary stands a square-section pier with a pyramidal cap.

The boundary to the actual eastern side has an outer face of basalt rubble with basalt copings extending back to the level of the transept, then stepping down to a poor-quality wall of brick and concrete blocks linking to the hall complex. The basalt section has a gateway of modern ironwork design set in a segmental archway of purple firebrick with similar jambs, which is a later insertion. The inner face of the eastern boundary is buff sandstone at the front portion, terminating in another square pier with a pyramidal top, with basalt continuing beyond running back to the rear. The railings and walling at the entrance front sweep round to the western boundary to meet an octagonal sandstone pier with a weathered capstone, with two further octagonal piers along the western side terminating in a square pier. Beyond are further ornamental iron rails, original, on low rendered walls each side of the entrance to the car park, which is marked by modern square-section posts without gates. Beyond these, a run of original railings on a rendered wall sits between rendered square piers with pebble-dashed panels. The so-called 'Southern Cross' gate in the eastern boundary wall was donated by Robert Henderson in 1994.

Condition

The original pointing of the buff sandstone walls, including that of the boundary walling and some piers, is in poor condition with some joints open and some sprouting foliage. The red sandstone dressings are crumbling in places and showing cracks. Many roof slates have slipped out of position. Some fractures and holes are visible on the cast iron downpipes, and rust staining indicates cracks elsewhere.

Setting

The church hall complex attached to the rear is a gabled and slated building with Tudor-arched windows that have had their original frames replaced with modern hardwood, and flat-roofed extensions, having the appearance of a hall of early 20th century date that has been completely remodelled with the loss of its original fabric, to the detriment of the setting of the church itself.