Magheramorne Presbyterian Church, Magheramorne, Larne, Co Antrim

Magheramorne Presbyterian Church is a rectangular church dating from 1876, with a two-storey gabled projection and engaged square tower at one end and a gabled porch at the other. The church stands in a very rural location on a sloping site with distant views over Larne Lough, facing downslope from the main road.

The main entrance faces south. The south elevation consists of the side of the church with a low gabled porch projecting at the right-hand extremity and a tall gable projecting to the left-hand extremity, with a three-stage square tower to its right. The tower projects in front of a low lean-to bay in the angle between it and the nave. The roofs are of Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with terracotta ridge tiles and terracotta finials to each gable. The eaves overhang on projecting rafters with shaped and notched ends. The walls are of basalt rubble with later reticulated pointing and a projecting plinth with chamfered yellow brick weathering. Cast iron gutters and downpipes serve the roofs throughout.

The main front of the church has three pairs of coupled Gothic lancet windows with yellow brick dressings and arches, projecting sandstone cills, and decorative leaded glazing in Art Nouveau patterns incorporating medallions in the upper area. The porch to the right contains rectangular double doors of ledged timber in a diagonal pattern, set within yellow brick jambs with a plain sandstone head surmounted by a Gothic relieving arch in yellow brick. The recessed basalt spandrel panel contains a sandstone shield inscribed 'AD 1876'. A curved metal lamp bracket, a later addition, sits below the shield. The porch has a slated roof with chamfered timber barge boards on projecting brackets with shaped and notched ends. The shaped ends of the barge boards have small quatrefoil perforations. The soffits to the overhang are sheeted with tongued and grooved boarding. A concrete step lies flush with a ramped concrete pathway across the front of the church. The porch wall returns at the left to the main block, where there is one small lancet window with yellow brick dressing, glazed with stained glass. A cast iron gutter and downpipe serve this section.

The large gable at the left-hand extremity of the south elevation has a tall triplet of Gothic lancets set in a yellow brick arched surround with a projecting sandstone cill. The glazing is leaded clear glass in a lozenge pattern with margin lights, with fixed lights and a square horizontally pivoted opening panel near the top of the central lancet. In the apex of the gable is an ocular window in a yellow brick surround, with a leaded clear glass fixed light in a lozenge pattern. The barge boards on brackets match those of the porch.

At the right-hand side in the same plane stands the square three-stage tower. The ground floor has a rectangular doorway similar to the other porch, with an identical datestone but without the lamp bracket. To the left of the doorway is a PVC downpipe from a short PVC gutter serving the overhang of the gabled roof to the left. Above the doorway is an ocular window set in two recessed yellow brick surrounds, with leaded clear glass in a lozenge pattern. A chamfered yellow brick cornice above is partly obscured by cast iron guttering. The tower is crowned by a slated pyramidal roof of truncated form surmounted by an open timber triple-arcaded belfry with a slated spire roof. The belfry has lattice timbers below cusped heads. The spire has a swept profile with an iron finial on top. The other three faces of the belfry and spire are similar to the front. The side wall of the tower at first floor level facing west is blank. The side facing north is also blank, with a PVC downpipe discharging onto the roof below. The side facing east has an ocular window as on the front, with a small Gothic lancet below it at ground floor level, glazed with leaded clear glass in a lozenge pattern with margin lights. To the right of the east-facing wall of the tower is a single-storey bay in the angle with the nave, with the roof swept down over it. It has a cast iron gutter and downpipe and a small Gothic lancet matching those of the tower.

The west elevation has a broad slated roof with a chimney at the left-hand end. The chimney is built of yellow brick with a cornice of three brick courses. To the right of the chimney, the ridge tiles are broken by a small gablet marking the end of the nave roof. The gablet has barge boards as on the porch, incorporating a cusped wooden arch over two louvres with notched edges. Below the gablet, and on axis with it, the eaves line of the main roof is broken by a lower gable over a pair of tall coupled lancets with a large circular tracery light, all dressed in yellow brick. The lancets contain Art Nouveau leaded motifs and the roundel has stained glass. The barge boards and brackets match those elsewhere. To each side of the coupled window and roundel is a Gothic lancet containing decorative leaded glazing of floral character. At the extreme right is a pair of coupled lancets of clear glass in a lozenge pattern as elsewhere. Cast iron gutters with two cast iron downpipes serve this elevation.

The north elevation consists of the long elevation of the nave with a tall gable to the right-hand end, both in the same plane. The nave elevation is of the same character as the front and contains a single lancet to the left-hand end followed to the right by four pairs of coupled lancets, all glazed as on the entrance elevation of the nave. The roof is slated as elsewhere, with a cast iron gutter and one cast iron downpipe. The gable to the right has two tall lancets containing decorative leaded glazing of floral character, surmounted by a blind ocular basalt panel with a yellow brick surround containing an uninscribed sandstone shield. At the apex of the gable is a yellow brick chimney as on the west elevation. Most of the plinth of the gable is obscured by a flat-topped cement roof of a partly rendered concrete block bunker built into the slope of the site and projecting to the north. This poor-quality construction contains a store and two toilets with glazed rectangular timber doors.

The east elevation comprises the end gable of the church with a low porch on the entrance elevation set back to the left. The main gable has a triple-light window of tall lancets with a high cill-line, surmounted by an ocular window, all dressed in yellow brick as elsewhere and all containing stained glass. The side wall of the porch set back to the left contains a small lancet of stained glass, as on the west side of the porch. A cast iron gutter serves the porch with a cast iron downpipe in the angle with the main gable.

The church stands on sloping lawns and grassed areas on all sides. A concrete path runs from the main gateway, extending along the east side of the church and across the front. The boundaries are formed by a mature hedge to the front, a line of mature trees to the west, a hedge and fence to the rear, and a hedge to the east with tall trees beyond.

Standing detached to the rear is a modern flat-roofed single-storey prefabricated building, inappropriate in form and materials. Detached to the east is a single-storey gabled building contemporary with the church, built of basalt rubble with yellow brick quoins and yellow brick surrounds and angled cills to small Gothic-arched windows—one in each gable and two in the west side. All have wooden louvres except the left-hand opening on the west side, which has a two-pane fixed timber window with iron bars to the interior but without glazing. The roof is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with terracotta ridge tiles and projecting rafters with shaped ends. Timber barge boards on projecting brackets, all with shaped ends, are new replacements. The building is in the course of being re-roofed. The east elevation has red brick walls containing two rectangular ledged timber doors; a third doorway is now bricked up.

The main entrance gateway consists of a pair of square piers of roughly coursed snecked basalt rubble with rough basalt coping stones and a projecting plinth of angled yellow brick. Curved screen walls of basalt rubble with similar copings and plinth to the piers project forward to each side and terminate in square piers similar to the main pair. The original double gates are of ornamentally treated wrought ironwork.