Raloo Church of Ireland Parish Church, Glenoe, Larne, Co Antrim

Raloo Church of Ireland Parish Church, Glenoe

A small gabled rectangular church in Gothic Revival style, built of snecked greystone in courses with sandstone quoins and dressings. The church was consecrated on 18th August 1842 and underwent restoration in 1979–80, being re-hallowed on 6th January 1980. A modern bronze plaque on the front wall records these dates.

The main entrance front faces east and is symmetrical, with a projecting gabled porch flanked by a single lancet window on each side. The porch features a Tudor arch over the entrance with chamfered ashlar sandstone dressings and rectangular timber double doors—each leaf three-panel—below a leaded fanlight of lozenge pattern. A quatrefoil panel, sunken in a lozenge-shaped stone, sits in the apex of the porch gable. The porch contains one Gothic lancet window in each side wall, similar to but smaller than those on the main church, with cusped framing of white painted wood. A concrete doorstep fronts the entrance.

Windows throughout are of Gothic lancet form set in projecting chamfered sandstone surrounds, with cusping to the heads in white painted stone. The glazing is leaded in lozenge pattern with clear glass, and cills are splayed sandstone. A projecting string course marks the plinth level.

The roof is finished in Bangor Blue slates in regular courses between gable upstands with sandstone copings and kneelers, topped with black ridge tiles. The fascia is moulded timber, though guttering and downpipes are modern PVC replacements.

The ecclesiastical west gable, actually facing south, contains a three-light window with the central lancet taller than the others, all set in a projecting breakfront. The breakfront has chamfered pinnacles to its shoulders and is surmounted by an ashlar sandstone bell-cote projecting on a corbel course, hung with a bell in a pointed opening. At ground level near the left extremity is a recessed rectangular opening dressed in chamfered sandstone containing a cast iron perforated door inscribed "Armagh Foundry".

The west elevation is symmetrical with a central projecting gabled vestry of rubble masonry. The main wall to the right of the vestry is blank; to the left is a single lancet window set in a smooth cement rendered surround lined and glazed direct without a cusped subframe. The wall is constructed in greystone rubble in rough courses with a projecting string course at plinth level. The vestry gable contains a rectangular timber ledged door with tongued and grooved Gothic tympanum, set in three recessed Gothic arches in smooth cement render, approached by three concrete steps. The north side of the vestry is blank; the south side has one Gothic lancet window with chamfered sandstone surround and plain wooden subframe.

The ecclesiastical east gable, actually facing north, contains a three-light window of similar lancets to the west gable, surmounted by a narrow blind lancet in the apex above a blank panel.

The church stands on an elevated site overlooking the main village, with a deep ravine to its rear featuring a waterfall amongst mature trees. A concrete driveway and forecourt front the church, with a grassy graveyard on undulating ground containing 19th and 20th century grave slabs of no special architectural interest. The entrance gates are of rectilinear pattern in flat ironwork set between square granite piers with weathered caps, all original. Rubble stone front boundary walling, now overgrown by hedges, runs along the boundary. A small pedestrian gate with similar granite piers stands at the northern end of the front boundary. The rear boundary is formed by modern wire fence with a steep drop to the river beyond.