Gardenmore Presbyterian Church, Victoria Road, Larne, Co Antrim

Gardenmore Presbyterian Church, Victoria Road, Larne, County Antrim

This is a Gothic Revival church built between 1913 and 1915, designed by the Belfast firm of architects Hobart and Heron, with the builder J. Ferris of Larne. The foundation stone was laid on 7th October 1913, and the church was opened on 3rd July 1915. It is of local and social importance, and of wider architectural interest because its cruciform plan — comprising a nave and chancel with transepts — is unusual for a Presbyterian church. The tower was left unfinished when the church opened in 1915 and was eventually completed in 1966, at which point the bell from the previous church was installed. The building retains all its original features both inside and out.

The church is laid out on a cruciform plan with a nave, chancel, transepts, and a battlemented entrance tower. The main entrance faces south. The walls throughout are of rock-faced blackstone rubble with reticulated pointing and buff sandstone dressings. Roofs are covered in Cumberland green slates in diminishing courses, with decorative ridge tiles, and are finished with gable copings. Moulded cast iron gutters and square-section cast iron downpipes, all painted green, run to each extremity of the nave and chancel walls.

South-facing elevation

The south-facing elevation consists of a three-bay nave with a three-stage tower projecting forward to the right and a gabled transept projecting forward to the left, with the side of the chancel set back behind. The main entrance is in the base of the tower: a Gothic arched doorway dressed in sandstone, recessed with chamfered edges and a moulded drip moulding. There are some smooth cement-rendered repairs to the voussoirs. The double doors are Gothic arched, original ledged oak, stained and varnished, with large ornamentally treated scrolling wrought iron hinges, handles, and escutcheon. Four concrete steps lead up to the doorway, with original bronze handrails attached to the door surround, returning tight to the wall face following the line of the angle buttresses of the tower. A modern tubular steel handrail has been added to the right-hand extremity of the steps, on a later additional step.

The angle buttresses of the tower rise in three weathered stages through two levels, linked at first-floor level and belfry level by moulded string courses across the front face of the tower. There is one window in the first floor of the tower — a Gothic lancet with a drip moulding and stormproof glazing over original leaded lights — and just below the next string course, a modern rectangular lamp. In the belfry storey there is a tall lancet opening with a drip mould containing timber louvres. The dressings of the belfry opening, the quoins to the extremities with one simplified gargoyle spout in stone angled to each side at the top, the weatherings to the tops of the flanking buttresses, the string courses to the top and bottom of the belfry stage, and the crenellations to the parapet are all in grey-coloured reconstituted stone.

The east face of the tower at ground level has a single lancet window dressed as the nave windows, with stormproof glazing; plinth and string courses at first-floor level; a blank first-floor wall with a string course above; and the belfry storey matching the entrance front. The nave has two tall, narrow paired lancets in each bay between tall weathered two-stage buttresses; the windows are dressed in sandstone with chamfered reveals, flush with the main wall, with a sandstone weathering to the plinth. Cast iron guttering sits on angle-fronted stone corbels with a rectangular-section cast iron downpipe to each extremity of the nave. The west face of the transept is blank, with guttering and corbel course as on the nave. The transept gable has two-stage weathered angle buttresses to its extremities, an arcaded four-light window to the lower part dressed as those to the nave, and a large Gothic arched four-light traceried window above with a drip moulding over the arch. The side wall of the chancel is blank stonework with a plinth at the base; the chancel roof is of green slates with moulded cast iron gutters on an angled stone eaves course, and a rectangular-section cast iron downpipe discharging into a square concrete surround to a drain.

East elevation

The chancel gable contains a central Gothic arched three-light traceried window detailed similarly to the transept gable, with two-stage weathered buttresses to each side and a similar buttress to the right-hand side of the gable. To the left-hand side of the gable there is a small rectangular window with a timber fixed light and a bottom-hung toplight, all glazed with tinted leaded work in lozenge shapes. Circular cast iron downpipes run to each side of the window. To the right-hand extremity of the chancel gable there is a short length of wall with a stone eaves course and cast iron gutter to the hipped return of the swept-down main chancel roof.

To the left-hand extremity of the chancel gable, a gabled single-storey vestry projects forward, with walling and roof to match the church. The vestry gable has quoins to its extremities, a rectangular two-light timber fixed window with two bottom-hung top vents glazed as the other rectangular windows, and a chimney in the apex of the gable. A rectangular-section cast iron downpipe runs from the cast iron gutter on a stone eaves course to the short south wall of the vestry. Projecting from the base of the vestry gable is a short low basalt wall with a sandstone coping returning across its face, enclosing concrete steps down to a basement. There is a rectangular timber ledged door to the basement with a stone surround and a small rectangular timber louvred window to the left; a modern iron gate of curvilinear design, considered appropriate, is fixed across the top of the steps.

Behind the chancel gable, the blank gable of the main nave rises to a higher ridge height, with the east walls of the transepts extending to each side. Roofs are as the main nave, with moulded cast iron gutters on stone corbel courses, rectangular-section cast iron downpipes near each extremity, and an angle buttress to the right-hand extremity.

The north face of the vestry is a blank wall to the right with a gabled projection to the left forming a back porch, containing a rectangular timber fixed-light window with a bottom-hung top vent glazed as the other vestry windows, with moulded cast iron guttering and a rectangular-section cast iron downpipe.

North-facing elevation

The north-facing elevation consists of a three-bay nave wall as described, with a two-storey gabled projection to the left containing a stairway to the gallery, and the gabled transept projecting to the right. The gallery stairwell gable has two-stage angle buttresses to its extremities, a single Gothic lancet window to the ground floor as before, and a three-light rectangular sandstone mullioned window to the first floor with a rectangular Tudor Revival style drip moulding over the window and stormproof glazing over original leading. The east face of the gallery stair projection is blank, with moulded cast iron gutters on a stone corbel course. The transept gable to the right is similar to the previous transept but has three tracery-light roundels, not stormproof glazed. The west face of the transept is blank, with gutters and corbel course as before.

To the right of the transept gable, the west side of the back porch contains a rectangular doorway with double doors of timber ledged construction in a herringbone pattern, with original iron handles. There are moulded cast iron gutters on a stone eaves course and a rectangular-section cast iron downpipe to the right of the doorway. Three original concrete steps run between the transept gable and a low plinth wall of sandstone-coped basalt, leading up to the doorway, with a grey granite doorstep into the porch.

West elevation

The west elevation comprises the two-storey gable of the nave with the three-stage tower to the left and a two-storey bay to the right, all in basalt with sandstone dressings. A sandstone weathering runs to the plinth at uniform height across all three elements of the façade. The nave gable has five arcaded lancets to the lower storey, all stormproof glazed over original leaded lights, and a five-light arcaded window raking up to the central light in the upper storey, also stormproof glazed, with a moulded string course running level with the bottom of the sills. In the apex of the gable is a blind sandstone ocular panel containing a quatrefoil motif, with a semi-circular drip moulding. To the right-hand extremity of the gable there is a projecting buttress of four stages, terminating at the top with a chamfer-edged coping.

To the right of the gable, the two-storey front of the gallery stair projection has a Gothic arched doorway with a moulded drip moulding containing Gothic arched double doors of ledged oak, varnished, with elaborate decorative wrought iron hinges and original iron handles and escutcheon. There is a granite doorstep and two rows of modern concrete paviors in front of the doors. Above is a three-light rectangular window with sandstone mullions but no drip moulding, with stormproof glazing over original leading. The roof is slated as before, with moulded cast iron gutters on stone corbels, a rectangular-section cast iron downpipe to the right, and a two-stage angled buttress to the extremity of the wall.

To the left-hand extremity of the main nave gable, the wall disappears behind the three-stage angle buttress of the tower, which is matched by a corresponding buttress to the other extremity of the tower. The ground floor of the tower has a pair of lancets as before; the first floor has a sandstone string course with a single lancet above, with a drip moulding; the belfry storey has a string course with a tall louvred lancet above it; quoins to the extremities of the belfry storey with stone angle spouts below the crenellated parapet as on the south front.

Boundary and setting

The church stands on an elevated site overlooking a main road within the built-up area of the town, flanked to the west by an Edwardian library and to the east by a two-storey detached house. A detached modern church hall stretches behind the church. There are grassed areas across the entrance front divided by tarmac paths, a tarmac driveway to the east continuing around the rear, and a tarmac car park to the west.

The southern boundary wall is of basalt rubble with reticulated pointing and a moulded sandstone coping. Moving from right to left, the boundary features are as follows: a square-section basalt pier dressed in sandstone with Gothic panelled sandstone gablets at the extreme right-hand corner; abutting it, a later lower square pier in concrete block with a concrete capstone and a matching companion to its left, both hung with new iron gates of rectilinear design; a run of original boundary walling; a pair of original Gothic style stone piers as described, each surmounted by an original iron lamp standard of quaint design incorporating translucent glass panels; original wrought iron double gates with curvilinear details giving pedestrian access up four concrete steps to a tarmac path; a long run of original boundary walling; a pair of original Gothic panelled stone piers with a single pedestrian gate of original wrought iron in a similar design; a run of original boundary walling with moulded coping terminating in a single Gothic panelled pier; and a further run of basalt rubble walling with rough-cut basalt rock copings, broken in the centre by a pair of later rectangular-section cement-rendered, lined and blocked piers with concrete capstones hung with modern iron gates of rectilinear design giving vehicular access to the tarmac car park.

The western boundary is partly wire fence on concrete posts and partly modern dry-dashed walling. The northern boundary is visually formed by the modern dry-dashed two-storey church hall. The eastern boundary at the front is formed by a hedge.

The listing extends to the church, the gateways, and the boundary wall to the front.