Mourne Presbyterian Church, Greencastle Street, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4BH

Mourne Presbyterian Church

A barn church with a distinctive T-plan formed by a projecting entrance block, built in squared granite with Tudor Gothic detailing. The church is orientated north-south with the entrance at the south.

The main entrance elevation is gabled, constructed in squared coursed granite rubble with strap pointing. The south gable features moulded granite verges and five-stage ashlar-dressed buttresses at each corner. The first and second stages are delineated by chamfered string courses, the third is gabled with Gothic panelling, the fourth is plain and breaks above the gable, and the fifth broaches into an octagonal shaft surmounted by a pinnacle with a foliated finial. Each buttress has a chamfered base course that continues around the building.

The main entrance is at ground floor centre, accessed by two ashlar granite steps with rounded nosings. A pair of modern stained timber eight-panelled doors with a transom light of five leaded lancets are set within a two-order Tudor-headed arch with foliated spandrels and a label drip mould, above which is a small modern electric light. At first floor is a wide timber Tudor Gothic window with three cusped lower sections and an arcade of six cusped lancets above. The reveal is ashlar-dressed and chamfered with a canted cill and label mould. A chamfered stringcourse runs below the cill. An ashlar granite block with a hood mould, inscribed '1933', is set in the apex of the gable.

The advanced entrance bay projects to the west (left), with its side wall abutted to the right by a canted bay with a canted hipped natural slate roof. The wall between this bay and the nave contains a tall semicircular-headed window with two leaded and cusp-headed lights in an inset timber frame. The canted bay's end wall has a Tudor-headed opening with two similar timber lights. The exposed side wall of the nave has a tall semicircular-headed window matching that on the entrance bay's cheek. The nave gable has a raised and coped verge, abutted by a narrow two-storey return.

The remaining exposed wall to left and right at ground floor has a single semicircular-headed two-light window, with similar diminished windows above at first floor, and a small louvred timber vent in the gable. The return abutting the gable has a pitched natural slate roof. The right cheek facing the street has unrendered squared random granite rubble walls; the end gable and left cheek are dashed. The right cheek features a pair of modern stained timber panelled doors set within a Tudor-headed opening, with a projecting ashlar granite door case, carved spandrels, label mould, and a billet-moulded frieze to a narrow leaded roof. A large modern timber-framed leaded window fills the gable with a pitched head and three vertical sections.

The rear elevation of the nave has been extensively altered with numerous additions. The exposed wall at first floor right is dashed and contains a single two-light semicircular-headed timber window. At ground floor is a single-storey return with flat leaded roof and canted right corner, with dashed walls and a single modern window on the rear wall and window and door on the right cheek (with concrete stairs). To the centre is a two-storey flat-roofed canted bay with leaded roof aligned with the eaves of the main block. Its dashed walls have pairs of tall narrow leaded windows with pointed heads on each of the three main cheeks, each pair sharing a common concrete cill. To the left is a tall plain extension with a flat roof and dashed walls rising above the eaves line (housing a water tank). Its corner is canted to ground and first floors, with a single two-light opening at ground floor centre. Its left cheek is abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed return with dashed walls.

The right gable of the nave is raised and coped in squared random granite rubble, abutted by a narrow two-storey return. The remaining wall to left and right at ground floor has a single semicircular-headed two-light window, with similar windows above at first floor and a small louvred timber vent in the gable. The return has a pitched artificial slate roof with a large modern timber-framed leaded window in the dashed gable. Its left wall facing the street is in squared random rubble granite with a pair of modern stained timber panelled doors in a Tudor-headed opening with projecting ashlar door case, carved spandrels, label mould, and billet-moulded frieze (matching the opposite side).

The side wall of the nave contains a regularly coursed stone wall with a datestone inscribed '1989' and a tall semicircular-headed window with two lights in an inset timber frame. The right cheek of the advanced entrance bay has two datestones inscribed '1831' and '1756', abutted to the left by a two-storey canted bay. The main wall to the right has a full-height window as previously detailed. The canted bay has a datestone '1887' on its right cant and its front wall has a two-light window to each floor: the ground floor window is rectangular with two cusped lights, and the first floor window has two similar cusped lights with a Tudor Gothic head.

The roofing throughout combines natural slate on the main T-shaped form and pitched additions, with lower hipped and pitched sections also in natural slate. The complex features half-round metal rainwater goods. All walls are squared coursed granite rubble with strap pointing unless otherwise stated.

To the front of the church stands a war memorial, and to the rear is a graveyard with memorials dating from the late 18th century, including a monument to Alexander McDowell, a revenue man murdered by smugglers in 1793. On the edge of the graveyard to the south-west of the façade is a sundial. The front boundary to the street is enclosed by low modern metal railings with two matching sets of gates.