St John’s C of I Church, Glynn, Larne, Co Antrim

St John's Church of Ireland, Glynn, is an attractively sited early Victorian church built in 1840 and designed by the important Irish architect Charles Lanyon, who provided his services free. The foundation stone was laid in 1839, and the church opened on 9th December 1840, with consecration following on 20th July 1841.

The building is a small rectangular church in Gothic Revival style, constructed of snecked basalt with painted sandstone dressings. It presents a gabled form with a gabled porch to the front and a gabled vestry to the rear. The main entrance front faces north and is symmetrical, with a single lancet window positioned either side of the projecting porch.

The roof is laid with natural slate, Bangor blue in regular courses, set between gable copings of cream painted sandstone with black ridge tiles. The projecting eaves course consists of blocking stones around the building, with a timber fascia of more recent date. A projecting weathering course runs to the plinth all around the building.

The entrance porch is gabled with sandstone copings and kneelers, painted. Above the entrance is a four-centred basalt arch with chamfered ashlar sandstone dressings, also painted. The original entrance consists of plain rectangular wooden panelled double doors below a panelled wooden tympanum, painted brown; the metal doorknob is a later replacement. A trefoil motif with lobed stem, presumably intended to form a cross symbol, appears in a rectangular panel above the entrance. A concrete step, not original, now precedes the entrance. Current plastic guttering and downpipes are recent replacements, and the stone pointing throughout is of reticulated type and not original.

The windows throughout are of lancet form set in projecting chamfered surrounds within basalt arches with splayed cills. Those on the front wall have cast iron frames painted white, cusped at the top and containing metal glazing bars of lozenge pattern with opening vents. The glazing is plain except for translucent glass to the two lowest rows of quarries. The porch windows are smaller with wooden frames and glazing bars in the same style, with plain glass throughout; some rot is apparent to the west window of the porch. The east gable contains a three-light window of similar type to the front.

Above this east gable window is a small open louvred lancet serving the roof space, positioned above a stone-framed datestone inscribed 'St John's Church AD 1840'.

The south front is a blank wall with a projecting gabled vestry at its centre, constructed in similar walling to the church but with a gable lacking its coping. The vestry appears to have been enlarged from an original projection; its plinth weathering comprises a mixture of original stones and newly cut sandstone replicas. A window surround on the west side of the vestry retains its original form, though the glazing is recent and does not follow the original pattern. Windows and doorways on other sides are set in recent surrounds of projecting cement render with inappropriate glazing; plate glass appears to the east side, and a timber top-hung vent to the south side. Large concrete steps have been added. The recent pointing is of smeared type.

The west gable is similar to the east, with a three-light window set in a projecting breakfront with chamfered shoulders to the gable. Above this window is a sandstone bell-cote projecting on a corbel course and hung with a bell in a pointed opening. Some tinted glass appears in the windows, with some panes broken.

The church stands in a secluded rural setting at the end of a lane, on a slightly elevated site. The grassed area to the front has a cement path from the gateway. An old graveyard with the overgrown ruins of an ancient church (historic monument no ANT 40:10) is adjacent to the building. The modern graveyard lies to the rear.

The entrance gates are of ornamental ironwork of 19th-century origin, mounted on large cylindrical gate piers of basalt rubble with shallow pitched sandstone caps. One pier is smooth cement rendered, while the other is partly roughcast and limewashed and is abutted by a rubble stone wall to the western boundary. The other pier is abutted by a small pedestrian gate of modern ironwork mounted on a short square section smooth rendered pier attached to a low return of the front boundary retaining wall.

A new rear porch with integral toilet was added in 1993. The church lies within the area of the historic monument of the old church ruin, no ANT 40:10.