Presbyterian Church, King's Road, Whitehead, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 9PU

Presbyterian Church, King's Road, Whitehead

This is a substantial double-height Gothic Revival Presbyterian Church built around 1900, located on the west side of King's Road in the small coastal town of Whitehead. It is a landmark building of special interest within the conservation area, retaining its original character both externally and internally.

The church is rectangular on plan with a square tower to the south-east, a double-height gabled projection to the east, and an attached single-storey link block to a hall to the north-west. Roofs are pitched and natural slate with concrete verges and a parapet to the tower.

The walls are constructed of rock-faced squared-and-snecked basalt over a stepped plinth on the principal elevation, with red brick quoins and dressings. Offset buttresses with stepped weathering are positioned throughout, and red brick in English garden-wall bond is used elsewhere. Windows throughout are pointed-arch-headed with stepped brick surrounds and voussoirs containing leaded stained glass, and feature flush red sandstone chamfered sills.

The principal elevation faces east and is gabled with a central gabled projection. It features a pair of pointed-arch-headed rebated chamfered entrances accessed by seven stone steps, set within a pointed-arch-headed recessed red sandstone bay. Above these are double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors surmounted by a central cinquefoil roundel, with a string course and central sandstone pointed recess with continuous stepped string course above. At the upper level sits a large pointed-arch-headed window with panel tracery, surmounted by a further stepped string course and a blind narrow slit window to the apex, flanked by offset buttresses and small windows on either side.

To the left of the principal elevation stands a four-staged square tower with set-back buttresses separated by brick string courses. The first and second stages contain single windows. The third stage features two pairs of cusped round-arch-headed louvered openings in red sandstone surrounds. The belfry stage is octagonal with sandstone quoins and contains a square-headed opening with paired cusped round-arch-headed louvered openings.

To the right of the principal elevation is a canted single-storey return containing a single window to the north-east, with an exposed wall containing a further single window.

The south elevation features five pairs of windows at the upper level, separated by buttresses. At ground floor level are square-headed tripartite windows with red sandstone mullions to each bay, with segmental-headed voussoirs and corbelled eaves. This elevation is abutted at the right by the tower and at the left by a modern hall. Access to the basement is via stone steps through a segmental-headed timber louvered door.

The north elevation is detailed similarly to the south elevation and is abutted at the right by the hall and at the left by the return. The west elevation, abutted by the modern hall, shows a blank exposed wall.

Internally, the ceiling configuration is unusual and the timberwork remains intact, retaining the original character of the church.

The site is bounded to King's Road to the east by hedging, with access through square reconstituted stone entrance pillars with recessed panels supporting a pair of cast-iron gates. To the south is a single gate supported by brick pillars.

The church first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902. "Whitehead Presbyterian Church" is recorded in the Valuation Revisions under Balfour Avenue in 1901, valued at £15. According to the Presbyterian Historical Society Congregational History, the congregation was formally erected by the General Assembly in June 1900.