First Newry Presbyterian Church, Sandy's Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1EN

First Newry Presbyterian Church, Sandy's Street, Newry, is a granite-faced classical church dating from 1829–1830, set back from the north side of Sandys Street with its gable facing south. The hall and outbuildings lie to the rear. The plot of ground was acquired in 1828 and construction began the following year; the church opened for worship on 22 September 1830. The interior was remodelled in 1876 to designs by W.J. Watson, the work executed by local building contractor Alexander Whelan at a cost of £1,000. A hall was added to the rear in 1865 for use as a Sunday School and meeting room, two further returns were added as Sunday School classrooms for adults in 1898, and an organ was installed in 1901 and replaced by the present organ in 1903.

THE CHURCH

The façade is constructed entirely in ashlar granite, two storeys high and three bays wide, over a projecting base course. Single pilasters mark each corner, with a pair of pilasters flanking the central bay. These support an entablature over which sits a blocking course with a narrow projecting string course and cornice. The entablature breaks forward over the middle bay, which is pedimented and contains a tympanum bearing a rectangular granite plaque with raised lettering reading 'MDCCCXXIX' (1829). The roof is a pitched natural slate hipped roof, and cast metal rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

At the centre of the middle bay, the entrance is reached by a one-step-high granite flagged platform, with later ramps in smooth dressed granite to either side, fitted with modern metal handrails. The entrance itself consists of a pair of four-panel grained timber doors, each with a fixed two-panel leaf above. The granite doorcase is shallow, with ears, tapering moulded jambs, and a moulded cornice over. An electric light is positioned directly above the door. Unattached metal bootscrapers stand at either side of the entrance platform.

Above the doorcase are two shallow platbands: the lower one runs behind the door cornice, and the upper one sits at first-floor window cill level; both continue between the pilasters across the full width of the façade. At first-floor level above the door is a window with a voussoired flat head and stained glass divided into four panes, the upper two with trefoiled heads; the upper left pane also has an inset opening light. Each end bay has one window per floor of identical design, though those at ground floor are diminished in height.

The first bay of each side elevation is similarly detailed in ashlar granite, with a door at ground floor level (reached by three steps) and a window above, the bay terminating with a further pilaster. The side door openings have plain voussoired heads but no doorcase; an electric light is fitted above the door on the left elevation. Beyond this bay, the walls are in lined cement render with a projecting platband between ground and first floor and a raised eaves course. Four window openings are provided at each storey, all matching the front elevation in design including the ground-floor diminishment. A wrought-iron lantern bracket is affixed to the right elevation to the right of the door in the first bay. Also on this elevation, a flight of granite steps leads down to a basement door (fitted with a modern door), with a modern metal railing running around at ground level. The back gable of the church is abutted by the hall.

The church forecourt is bounded at the front by tall metal spear-topped railings set on a chamfered granite plinth, with two pairs of entrance gates supported on ashlar granite pillars with moulded caps. The gates match the railings in their spear tops, with the addition of double centre bars incorporating elliptical inserts. The piers are square granite ashlar with a cornice and shallow pyramidal capstone. Boundary walls to the sides and rear are partly in rendered rubble granite. The forecourt and side passages are tarmaced.

THE HALL

The hall is a large single-volume structure attached to the rear of the church, aligned at right angles to the church's axis and projecting out to each side. It has a natural slate roof with moulded granite copings (lead-dressed to the west side), ogee cast-iron gutters, and circular downpipes. A stepped granite chimney with three stacks joined by a moulded cap sits on the right (east) gable. The walls are in coursed rubble granite on a granite plinth, with a projecting ashlar granite eaves course and moulded knee-stones. Stepped vee-jointed granite quoins and finely dressed stepped granite dressings are used throughout at all doors and windows.

On the south-facing elevation of the left projection of the hall, beyond the church, is a doorway with a grained timber sheeted door and a plain semi-circular fanlight, set into a similarly profiled arched opening with a projecting keystone. The corresponding elevation on the right projection is abutted by a small porch with a flat roof hidden by a blocking course and constructed in a similar manner to the hall. Its south face has a segmental-headed door opening without a fanlight, and its right cheek (to the east) contains a small 1-over-1 sash window.

The left elevation of the left projection has five equal-width semicircular-headed window openings, rising in height towards the centre, all with granite cills. The three middle windows share a common ashlar surround with keystones; the outer windows are more widely spaced with individual ashlar surrounds to match. The centre window is a 3-over-3 sliding sash with horizontal divisions, flanked by 2-over-2 sashes; the end windows are 2-over-1 sashes. The corresponding right elevation of the right projection is partly abutted by a more recent single-storey boiler room, leaving only the middle window and the one immediately to its right visible from outside, with the head of the window to the left also partially visible. The gable apex contains a blind circular opening with raised keystones at the four cardinal points. The right side of this gable is abutted by a small flat-roofed annexe.

The boiler house has a flat roof and rendered walls. Inside, the hall windows have been infilled and the wall rendered. The right cheek of the boiler house is blank, and the rear elevation contains a modern 1-over-1 top-hung window. The small annexe has a 1-over-1 sash to its south elevation and is otherwise blank.

The rear elevation of the hall has a single-storey return at each end, both projecting beyond the hall gables. The right return (as viewed from the rear) has a hipped natural slate roof with exposed rafter tails and semicircular metal gutters, and its walls are lined and rendered. Its south-facing elevation has a door of grained, framed and sheeted timber with a semi-circular fanlight over. Three windows on its left (west) wall are all 1-over-1 semicircular-headed sliding sashes, and the rear wall is blank. The left return has identical roof and wall construction but is longer and has a pitched roof, at the centre of which is a rendered chimney. Its right (east) wall has two sets of paired 1-over-1 sashes in semicircular openings, and the back wall is blank. Between these two returns is a modern flat-roofed, lined and rendered infill of T-plan, which envelopes the north-east corner of the right return and partly abuts the west elevation of the left return. This infill has no features of interest.

THE INTERIOR

The interior is largely original and double-height, with a fine three-sided gallery. New pitch pine pews were installed during the 1876 remodelling, along with a new gallery front, pulpit, and heating apparatus.