Old Court (C of I) Chapel, Old Court, Strangford, Co Down

Old Court Church of Ireland Chapel, Strangford, County Down

This is a small-scale, single-storey, stone-built Church of Ireland chapel with gothic details and an overall loose Arts and Crafts character. It reached its present form through a series of alterations and extensions carried out between 1848 and 1909, all of which gradually transformed what had originally been a plain rectangular structure built in 1629. The chapel and its boundary wall are both included in the listing.

Origins and Historical Development

The building originates with a chapel constructed in 1629 by Valentine Payne (or Pain), agent of George Fitzgerald, 16th Earl of Kildare, who then owned Strangford. An inscription recorded on the chapel bell read: "Valentine Payne Esquire, who hath to wife Elizabeth L.F. [shape of the cross], who builded this chapel and gave this bell in anno domini 1629", with a coat of arms below depicting three scallop shells, three crosses, a half moon, three beasts, three birds, and something resembling a cup with a half moon in it. The 18th-century historian Walter Harris records that around 1740–44 the chapel was "repaired and beautified" by Robert, the 19th Earl. In 1814 Lord Henry Fitzgerald repaired the roof and paving. By the time of the Ordnance Survey in 1833–34 the building was described as "a very small church of the plainest construction" with a congregation of generally 100.

In 1835, Henry, Lord De Ros — Strangford's new landlord — repaired the chapel throughout. The following year it was recorded in the valuation as an old but well-maintained slated structure (grade 1C+), measuring 38½ by 24 by 9 feet. His successor William, Lord De Ros took a particularly active interest in the building, carrying out repairs to the walls and roof in 1840, general repairs to the roof and interior in 1847, and in 1848 raising the walls, replacing the roof, and adding the unusual round tower and chimney. New pews were installed in 1849. In 1855 he altered the pulpit, and in 1857 added the chancel and enlarged the west window. His final significant alterations came in 1866 when a cornice and bracket were added to the chancel, with further work to the tower. In 1874 the present reading desk and lectern were installed. The transept was built and new seating introduced in 1882. The east window was enlarged in 1891, and in 1894 the pulpit was removed and choir seats added. The chapel took on its current form in 1908 when the north aisle was constructed, the interior lined with dressed stone, and stained glass added to the transept and east windows. These alterations were dedicated in November 1909 by the then Bishop of Down, the Reverend J. B. Crozier. No major changes have been made since, though in 1940 many of the older headstones in the surrounding graveyard were placed against the boundary walling.

Setting and Grounds

The chapel stands within secluded grounds at the northern end of Old Court, on the northern outskirts of Strangford village, backing onto a low wooded cliff face overlooking Strangford Lough. It is approached from the south-west by a narrow, beech-lined lane that passes over a very small stone bridge near its north-east end. To the north and south of the chapel lies a small graveyard, with discernible headstones dating back to at least 1725, a low stone boundary wall to which some headstones have been attached, and several large yew trees.

Exterior Description

The building is constructed mainly in rubble stone, which appears to be greywacke undoubtedly dug from local fields, with dressings and the porch formed in a light-coloured sandstone. Roofs over the nave, transept, chancel, boiler house, and vestry are all in natural slate; the porch roof is in stone. The north aisle roof was not visible behind its substantial parapet but is presumed to be lean-to and probably also slated. Rainwater goods are cast iron and lead, with some downspouts round in section and others square. Where the gable of the transept meets the north aisle on the north elevation, there is a square lead downspout fixed to the wall with decorative brackets and topped with a prominent lead hopper bearing the date 1908 and a moulded fleur-de-lis.

West (front) elevation: The asymmetrical west-facing front elevation consists of the crow-stepped gable of the nave in rubble stone, with the short west face of the north aisle to its left in similar stone. The gable itself is symmetrical, featuring a small projecting porch at ground level and a large pointed arch window directly above it. The west face of the porch is in dressed stone with a crow-stepped gable with hipped coping matching the main gable, and a pointed arch open doorway with a concave reveal and moulded archivolt. Immediately above the doorway is a small cross-shaped recess. The short north and south faces of the porch are similarly finished but blank. The porch has a reducing bevelled base and a shallow gabled stone roof. Inside the porch is a pointed arch doorway with a moulded reveal, label moulding with rose-shaped stops, and a studded timber door. The inner walls of the porch have large plain recesses and the floor is finished in brick-like tile.

Directly above the porch is a large pointed arch window with stone panel tracery topped with a quatrefoil, a bevelled dressed stone reveal, and plain label moulding; it contains pictorial stained glass (see interior). Some of the crow-steps to the gable appear to be partly formed in brick, and the short north and south sides of all crow-steps appear to be rendered.

The short west face of the north aisle has regularly arranged, roughly in-and-out dressed stone quoins, a moulded string course just above the window, and a sloping (lean-to profile) parapet with a plain string course and dressed coping above. It contains a single window of relatively large size with panel tracery, dressings, and label moulding similar but not identical to the nave gable window, with the plain glazing arranged in small lattice panes.

North elevation: Moving from left (east) to right (west), this elevation comprises a small portion of the chancel, the north face of the vestry attached to the chancel in lean-to fashion, the large gable of the transept, and the north aisle — the transept and north aisle sections set further forward. The very eastern end of this elevation sits on sloping ground at the top of the cliff face. All portions except the small section of chancel to the far left are in rubble stone similar to the front elevation, though the rubble of the vestry is generally larger in scale. The short portion of the chancel is blank, finished in render, and has a diagonal reducing buttress. The north face of the vestry is also blank. The large transept gable is similar to that of the nave, but with the front (north) faces of the crow-steps in brick; it has a single large pointed arch window with panel tracery, bevelled reveal, and stained glass (see interior).

To the left of the vestry section there is a pointed arch doorway with a bevelled stone reveal, in-and-out dressings, angular label moulding with leaf stops, and foliage mouldings as spandrels. The timber door is badly weathered, with the stain and polish worn off. To the right of this doorway are three small, high-level cross-shaped windows with stone dressings and plain leaded glazing. This face of the north aisle has quoins and a parapet matching the east face.

South elevation: The south elevation is comparatively plain and is dominated by the long south face of the nave. At the right-hand (east) edge of the nave stands the small tower, which is in fact an artfully disguised chimney. To its right, set back, is the south face of the chancel with a small lean-to structure attached, presumably housing the boiler. The nave and tower are entirely in unadorned rubble stone; the chancel and boiler house are rendered. The nave has two relatively small pointed arch windows with paired lancet timber frames, plain lattice panes, brick-dressed archivolts, and plain stone sills. The chimney and tower is round and reduces in telescopic fashion, topped with a conical dressed stone cap with an opening at the apex. The upper half only of the south face of the chancel is exposed; both it and the boiler house lean-to are cement rendered and blank.

East elevation: The east elevation is difficult to see at close range due to the sloping cliff. It consists of the crow-stepped gable of the nave, largely obscured by the similarly styled gable of the chancel, with the boiler house to the left (south) and the vestry to the right. The entire elevation is finished in cement render, no doubt owing to weathering on this seaward side. At the apex of the nave gable there is a small pointed arch opening with louvring. The chancel has a relatively large window with panel tracery similar to the transept window, label moulding with decorative stops, and stained glass. There are diagonal reducing buttresses to the chancel. The boiler house lean-to has a flat arch window whose frame could not be seen clearly. The vestry has a small pointed arch window largely filled with lattice panes.