Loughinisland C of I parish church, Newcastle Road, Seaforde, Naghan, Downpatrick, BT30 8PL

Loughinisland Church of Ireland Parish Church

A relatively simple single-storey Gothic church set on a slight rise at the end of a tree-lined drive on the east side of Newcastle Road, just north of Seaforde. The rise on which the building stands is believed to have been the site of a medieval church.

The church comprises a nave and tower of 1720, a spire dating from around 1820, and transepts and chancel added in the 1860s.

The three-storey tower is centred on the west face. At the base of the west side is a timber door set within a simple pointed arch opening with moulded dripstone and label stops. The six-panel timber door has 'Y' gothic tracery to the framing and chamfered stone dressings. The first and second floors each have single pointed arch openings with 'Y' tracery framing. The first-floor opening contains small diamond panes, while the second floor has timber louvers. The south face of the tower is identical to the west face. The north face is similar but lacks the ground-floor door. The east face abuts the main gable and is mostly obscured, though a louvered window opening appears at second-floor level. The top of the tower is castellated with a 'minaret' feature with crockets at each corner. An octagonal copper-clad spire surmounts the tower. The tower covers most of the main west gable of the church proper, with the exposed cheeks either side left blank.

The south elevation has two pairs of tall lancet windows. The left pair has small diamond panes with hopper ventilators, while the right pair has stained glass. At the far right is the projecting gable of the south transept. Two tall lancet windows, slightly shorter and more widely spaced than those of the main elevation, are centred on this gable with stained glass and a small glazed trefoil feature surmounting them. The exposed west face of the transept is blank.

The rear east elevation is complex. At the centre of the main gable is a gabled chancel extension with a large semicircular-headed leaded window, flanked by small buttresses to either side. To the left of the chancel extension is a further gabled extension housing the vestry. Centred on this extension is a pointed arch-headed door with chamfered stone dressings and a plain sheeted door with strap hinges, surmounted by a small glazed trefoil feature. To the far left of the south face of the vestry extension is a pair of lancet windows with diamond panes. The south face of the chancel extension is blank.

The north elevation is broadly similar to the south, but two minor extensions have been added: a small lean-to porch was added to the east face of the north transept, and a very small lean-to extension was added to the left of centre of the north face of the same transept.

The walls are finished with plain unpainted render. Roofs are covered with Bangor Blue slate with cast-iron rainwater goods. Stone parapets cap the gables. The roofs to the transepts, chancel, and vestry are progressively lower than the main roof.

The roadside entrance is marked by a set of wrought-iron gates with sandstone pillars surmounted by shallow pyramidal caps. Curved railings connect to two further smaller rendered pillars, with a wrought-iron pedestrian gate to the north side.