Forkhill Parish Church, Church Road, Forkhill, Newry, Co. Armagh, BT35 9SX

Forkhill Parish Church

This is a converted mid-18th-century barn church built in 1767, constructed in granite with sandstone dressings, now restored and converted to residential use. The building retains many original features and maintains legible evidence of its ecclesiastical plan, with external character largely uncompromised. The retention of original gate piers, gates, and graveyard preserves the church's significance within the village.

The church is aligned west to east on the west side of Church Road, with an entrance porch to the west. It has a pitched natural slate roof with leaded stone verges and a modern skylight to the north pitch. The east gable has a chimney with moulded concrete coping. The west gable features a finely dressed bellcote with stone coping supported on moulded kneelers and topped by a trefoil finial. The bell is contained in a Gothic-headed voussoired opening and is inscribed 'No 2 / 392 / Naylor Vickers / C1 1837 / E. Riepes / Sheffield / Patent'. The bell has been restored to working order. Half-round metal rainwater goods are supported on an advanced moulded stone eaves course.

The walls are random rubble over an advanced chamfered base course. All windows are lattice-glazed lancets set within stepped and chamfered dressed sandstone reveals with decorative Gothic arches over. The west gable is squared and snecked stone. The entrance porch is detailed as the church; its north face has a central pair of Gothic-headed wood-grained timber sheeted doors with wrought-iron strap hinges, and its west face has a lancet window to centre. The south face is abutted by a narrower boiler-house with cat slide roof.

The north and south elevations are identical, each with three paired lancets; those to the west end of the north elevation are plainly glazed with obscured glass. The south elevation is abutted by a lean-to vestry to the extreme east end. The east gable is almost completely abutted by a slightly projecting sanctuary with a pitched natural slate roof and stone verge supported on moulded stone kneelers with a trefoil finial. The sanctuary has three central lancets, that to centre being taller. The vestry is squared and snecked granite with a monopitched natural slate roof with granite kneelers, and has a shouldered timber door with strap hinges to its west face, accessed by two granite steps, and a central rectangular window in its south face.

The church is set within a churchyard containing 18th- and 19th-century memorials, all facing east. It is enclosed on all four sides by a rubble-stone wall with field stone copings. Access from the road at the northeast corner is by a vehicular entrance to the left and pedestrian entrance to the right, both with pairs of square-in-section gate piers supporting wrought-iron gates. The vehicular entrance has a pair of dressed granite carriage bollards and the pedestrian entrance has three bowed granite steps.

According to the 1837 Ordnance Survey Memoir, this church was erected in 1767 and financed by the late Richard Jackson, who also endowed the nearby school. At that time it had 26 pews, each seating six people, and a small gallery. The church measured 72 feet by 22 feet. It closed for worship in 1989. The first survey card records a number of memorials which were contained within the church, including Rev William Smith (died 1841), Henry Alexander of Forkhill House (son of National Alexander, Bishop of Meath), and Anne Jackson (died 1876, daughter of R.H. Richard Jackson). The font was dedicated to the memory of Emily Quinn and placed on 26 June 1876. The north wall contained a stained glass window dedicated to the memory of Alexander Murdock of Drogheda (died 1899), now donated to a newly built church within the area.