Parish Church of St. Mary (C of I), John Mitchel Place, Newry, Co Down, BT34 2BP

Parish Church of St. Mary (Church of Ireland), Newry

This is a rectangular nave church in Gothic style, built from ashlar Newry granite with pitched natural slate roofs and granite dressings to parapets, windows, doors and other details. The church comprises a nave, a chancel positioned at the west end (geographically), flanking vestry and organ chamber blocks, and a detached four-stage spired tower attached to the church by a short link block.

The Tower

The square entrance tower stands towards John Mitchel Place and is the most ornate element of the building. It rises in four stages with corner buttresses that have raised and moulded bases. The buttresses rise to the full height of the tower at the front and step inward slightly at the second stage. They are decorated with recessed quatrefoil and lancet panels throughout.

At ground floor level, two granite steps lead up to the main entrance. The doorway has a four-centre arched head with stepped voussoirs, set within a blind arch of two orders. One order is decorated with diamond studs, the other with chevrons. The arch springs from pilasters with a vee channel down their centre. The entrance contains a pair of stained oak four-panel doors with a glazed timber tracery fanlight above, and a cast metal lamp (formerly gas, now electric) hangs above.

The second stage displays a Gothic window opening with moulded jambs, a hood mould on carved heads, and a corbelled apron panel. Immediately above is a cartouche depicting a seated abbot flanked by yew trees. A gable-shaped string course runs across above this and continues as cinquefoil gablets around the buttresses.

The third stage features diamond-shaped granite moulding surrounding a white-faced clock. Above is a horizontal string course between the corner buttresses. The fourth stage contains a tall hood-moulded Gothic opening with chamfered jambs and vertical tracery, behind which are wooden louvres. The roof is surrounded by a projecting stepped and crenellated parapet supported by five moulded brackets. Each corner of the parapet has a pinnacle with a cinquefoil gablet beneath and a metal finial cap. An octagonal ashlar masonry needle spire rises from the top.

The left and right cheeks of the tower replicate the façade in every respect except that the ground floor doors are narrower and there is no cartouche. The rear wall is identical from the gabled string course upwards, but features a sheeted timber diamond panel without a clock. Round metal down pipes run on both sides of the tower on this elevation.

The Link Block

Between the tower and nave is a short two-stage link block. The ground floor has a small square window, and above is a small Y-traceried lancet window with hood mould. A moulded string course runs across above, with a moulded crenellated parapet stepped behind it. The upper floor also contains a lancet window with a similar crenellated parapet. Both sides of this block are identical, with all window openings having chamfered surrounds and cills.

The Nave

On the gable of the nave, on either side of the link block at ground floor level, is a small four-centred hood-moulded window with chamfered surrounds. At first floor, on each gable, is a tall Gothic window with Y tracery, hood mould, moulded jambs and a projecting apron panel on three moulded brackets. Each gable corner has a buttress surmounted by a gableted and capped pinnacle, forming the ends of a plain crenellated parapet that rises up each gable pitch.

Along the sides of the nave at ground floor are five small traceried windows within four-centre arched openings, each with a stepped square voussoir and chamfered surrounds. Directly below each window is a small rectangular opening for under-floor ventilation. At first floor level are five tall hood-moulded Gothic openings with Y-tracery lancets and chamfered surrounds. These windows are equally spaced and separated by four full-height three-stage buttresses with recessed panels to the top stage. These buttresses finish flush with the bracketed eaves course, above which is a moulded cornice. The buttresses at the west end of the nave are identical. Plastic down pipes and metal gutters serve these elevations.

The Chancel and Flanking Rooms

The chancel abuts the west end and is flanked by a vestry to the south and an organ chamber to the north. The side rooms are slightly instepped from the nave, with an angled pinnacled buttress at their join with the nave and an angled stepped and pinnacled buttress to their outside corners. Each side elevation has a small rectangular window with a flat hood mould at ground floor, a Gothic window with hood mould at first floor, and above that a tall louvred window with hood mould and Y tracery similar to that on the tower. All these windows have chamfered surrounds.

A metal-sheeted door set within a square-headed and chamfered opening rises three steps up on the south wall. Both side rooms have stepped and gabled parapets. Identical window sets appear on the west-facing walls of these rooms, with parapeted gables above and a moulded string course beneath.

The chancel projection insteps from the side rooms and has an angled and stepped three-stage buttress to each outside corner. Its rear elevation has five traceried lights in a large Gothic-headed opening with a moulded cill course continuing around the cheeks. Above is a small vent, over which is a plain parapeted gable surmounted by a stone cross, with a moulded string course underneath. This string course continues underneath the plain parapeted cheeks (which have no openings) and meets the rising string course from the side rooms.

At the north-west corner, between the chancel projection and organ room, is a modern boiler room with a flat concrete roof and dashed walls.

Setting and Ancillary Features

The grounds are laid out in lawns with a semicircular gravel drive from John Mitchel Place up to and along either side of the building. Two sets of gates with railings on the street façade have quatrefoil-section ashlar granite piers. The gates and railings are modern, with finials and details salvaged from the previous gates. Boundary walls to sides and rear are random rubble with quarry-faced copings on the side walls. On the rear wall (to St Mary's Street) is a cast and wrought iron pedestrian gate flanked by square strap-pointed piers with oversailing pyramidal caps.

A small lean-to toilet abuts the inside south-west corner. This structure has an asbestos slate roof and cement-rendered walls, enclosed by a cement-rendered wall. At the north-west corner is a modern flat-roofed building with an external oil tank.