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

Old Court Church of Ireland Chapel

This small, single-storey stone-built chapel stands at the northern end of Old Court village, on the outskirts of Strangford, backed against a low wooded cliff-face overlooking Strangford Lough. The building is set within secluded grounds approached from the south-west by a narrow, beech-lined lane that crosses a very small stone bridge near the chapel's north-east end. The site contains a small graveyard to the north and south of the chapel, with headstones dating back at least to 1725, a low stone boundary wall to which some headstones are attached, and several large yew trees.

The chapel has evolved gradually between 1848 and 1909 from an original 1629 structure described as being "of the plainest construction". During this period it was greatly altered and extended with the addition of an unusual reducing round tower (actually a chimney) in 1848, a chancel in 1857, a vestry in 1874, a transept in 1882, and a north aisle in 1908. The resulting building displays a mildly eclectic character with gothic details and an overall loose Arts and Crafts feel.

The asymmetrical western front elevation faces west and is dominated by the crow-stepped gable of the nave in rubble stone, with the short west face of the north aisle to its left. The gable is symmetrical and features a small projecting porch at ground level with a large pointed arch window directly above. The porch's east face, finished in dressed stone, consists of a crow-stepped gable with hipped coping and a pointed arch open doorway with concave reveal and moulded archivolt. A small cross-shaped recess sits just above the doorway. The north and south faces of the porch are blank. The porch itself has a reducing bevelled base and a shallow gabled stone roof. Inside, a pointed arch doorway features moulded reveal, label moulding with rose-shaped stops, and a studded timber door. The inner porch walls contain large plain recesses and the floor is laid in brick-like tile.

The large pointed arch window above the porch has stone panel tracery topped with a quatrefoil, bevelled dressed stone reveal, and plain label moulding. It contains pictorial stained glass. Some crow-steps to the gable appear partly formed in brick, while the short north and south sides of all crow-steps appear rendered. The short west face of the north aisle features regularly arranged (but roughly in-out) dressed stone quoins, a moulded string course above the window, and a sloping lean-to parapet with a plain string course and dressed coping. It contains a relatively large single window with panel tracery, dressings, and label moulding similar to (but not identical with) the nave window above, with glazing arranged in small lattice panes.

The north elevation comprises, from left to right, a small portion of the chancel, the north face of the lean-to vestry attached to the chancel, the large gable of the transept, and the north aisle (the latter two sections set further forward). The very east end sits on sloping ground at the cliff-face top. All portions except the small chancel section are in rubble stone similar to the front elevation, though the vestry rubble is generally larger in scale. The chancel section is blank, finished in render, and has a diagonal reducing buttress. The vestry's north face is also blank. The transept's large gable resembles the nave's but with the front faces of the actual crow-steps in brick. It contains a single large pointed arch window with panel tracery, bevelled reveal, and stained glass. To the left of the vestry is a pointed arch doorway with bevelled stone reveal, in-out dressings, angular label moulding with leaf stops, and foliage mouldings as spandrels; the timber door is badly weathered. To the right are three small, high-level cross-shaped windows with stone dressings and plain leaded glazing. This north aisle face has quoins and a parapet matching its east face.

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

The east elevation is difficult to view in close up 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 vestry to the right. This entire elevation is finished in cement render, no doubt due to weathering on this seaward side. The apex of the nave gable features a small pointed arch opening with louvering. The chancel contains a relatively large window with panel tracery similar to the transept window, label moulding with decorative stops, and stained glass. Diagonal reducing buttresses flank the chancel. The boiler house lean-to has a flat arch window whose frame could not be clearly seen. The vestry has a small pointed arch window largely filled with lattice panes.

The rubble stone used for most of the building appears to be greywacke, undoubtedly quarried from local fields, with dressings and the porch in light-coloured sandstone. The roofs of the nave, transept, chancel, boiler house, and vestry are natural slated, with the porch roof in stone. The north aisle roof, hidden behind its considerable parapet, is presumed to be lean-to and probably also slated. Rainwater goods are cast iron and lead, with some downspouts round and others square. At the north elevation where the transept gable meets the north aisle, a square lead downspout is attached to the wall with decorative brackets and topped by a prominent lead hopper dated 1908 and moulded with a fleur-de-lis.