Hilltown Presbyterian Church, Main Street, Hilltown, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5U

Hilltown Presbyterian Church is a symmetrical barn church built in 1829 on the north side of Main Street, financed by public subscription at a cost of £500. It is now recorded only, having been delisted in 2002.

The building displays restrained external detailing in ashlar granite with ribbon pointing. The front elevation faces south and is topped by a hipped concrete tile roof with modern timber eaves board; the entire roof structure is modern. A chamfered projecting basecourse runs across the facade, with advanced V-channelled quoins and moulded eaves. The centrepiece is the main entrance, approached by two granite steps. The doorcase comprises a pair of modern framed and sheeted timber doors topped by a semi-elliptical headed fanlight with modern stained glass. The jambs are plain, but the head has moulded imposts and a moulded keyblock; each half of the arch consists of a fluted one-piece voussoir. Flanking bays contain single 8/8 sliding sash windows with fixed Y tracery semicircular heads, ashlar granite cills, advanced jambs, and moulded heads matching the doorway treatment. Three similar windows occupy the first floor, aligned with the ground floor openings.

The left and right elevations are identical. The basecourse continues from the facade, with the ground falling away to the rear. Walls are lined with smooth cement render featuring quoins matching the facade and a plain two-stage eaves. Four 8/8 sliding sash windows occupy the ground floor with slightly advanced, chamfered granite architraves. The first floor contains four 8/8 windows with fixed Y-tracery semicircular heads, similar architraves, and keyblocks.

The rear elevation displays a large modern Gothic window on either side of an advanced rendered chimney rising from a small boiler house abutting at ground floor centre and right. The boiler house has a natural slate monopitch roof, cement rendered walls, and window and door on the north elevation.

The church sits within a yard enclosed by a cement rendered dwarf wall supporting plain spike-topped railings. Gates to the centre have late 19th-century cast-iron posts with cable chamfers and acorn finials; the gates feature dog bars, the alternates of which rise to the top, all terminated with fleur-de-lys finials. To the left of the front elevation stands a small late 19th-century hall of no architectural interest; to the right is a small lawn. The sides and rear contain a graveyard with 19th-century memorials.

The original roof, visible in a 1960s photograph held in the Northern Ireland Architectural Archive, was slate with a radial fanlight to the main entrance. Modern roof structure and modern interior fittings, though the church retains original box pews, now detract from its overall character. The building is no longer considered to be of sufficient special architectural or historic interest for listing purposes.

Historical records include an Ordnance Survey Memoir of 1836 noting construction in 1829, and a letter dated 14 October 1833 from Reverend Robert Lockhart of Rathfriland to Thomas Parry at the Downshire Office in Hillsborough referring to a proposed lease and trustees. The 1834 Ordnance Survey map marks it as a Presbyterian Meeting House.