Tullyvallen Secession Meeting House, Newtownhamilton, Co.Armagh

Tullyvallen Secession Meeting House is a modest single-storey, four-bay rendered hall-type church built in 1851 to designs by an unknown architect. It stands in a rural upland location on the north-west side of Tullyneil Road in the townland of Tullyvallan, and is also known historically as the Meeting House of Tullyvallen Session and locally as the 'Bog Meeting House'. The building is owned and used by the Reformed Presbyterian Church.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The church takes a T-plan form, facing south-east, with a rectangular main hall block oriented south-west to north-east. Smaller entrance blocks flank both gable ends, and a single-storey rear return to the north-west was added later, most likely as part of an extensive renovation carried out in 1986, though this cannot be confirmed with certainty — the return does not appear on the fifth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1955–56 but was recorded in place by the First Survey Record of 1992.

The main block has a pitched roof with half-hipped gables covered in fibre cement slates, with angled black clay ridge tiles. The eaves are flush with a painted timber fascia, and rainwater is carried by aluminium ogee guttering discharging to square-section uPVC downpipes; the rear return has square-section aluminium downpipes. Walling to the main church is finished in painted roughcast render with smooth render detailing to window and door openings, a rendered plinth band, and raised quoins. The rear return is finished in roughcast cement render with slim concrete cills and a smooth cement rendered plinth.

Windows to the main church are pointed arch Gothic uPVC casements with Y-tracery, opening sections, and painted dressed stone cills. Those to the rear return are square-headed top-and-side-opening uPVC casements. The uPVC windows and fibre cement slate roof were installed during the 1986 renovation, which also included the construction of a new ceiling, an asphalt floor, and the installation of a new heating system; the building was officially reopened on 26th September 1986.

PRINCIPAL ELEVATION (SOUTH-EAST)

The main south-east elevation presents four Gothic pointed arch windows across the four bays of the main hall, with a datestone near eaves level at the centre of the façade inscribed: 'TULLYVALLEN SESSION MEETING HOUSE BUILT 1851'. The main church block is flanked by two lower entrance blocks, each having two painted vertically sheeted timber doors facing south-east. The south-west block serves as the main entrance porch; the north-east block is now disused. The façade is finished in painted roughcast render with raised render quoins throughout.

SOUTH-WEST ELEVATION

This side elevation faces south-west toward the newer church hall. It presents the half-hipped gable of the main church block, fronted at centre by a lower gabled single-bay entrance porch. A square-headed uPVC window at the centre of the porch has six panes and a painted stone cill. There is an entrance on the south-east face of the porch. A painted smooth cement render plinth is present on the north-west side of the porch on the main church block only, and a modern floodlight is fixed to the south-east side of the hipped gable. The south-west elevation of the rear return is significantly set back from the south-west gable of the church, and has a glazed uPVC door opening onto a concrete footpath, with three uPVC windows to the north-west side of the door.

NORTH-WEST ELEVATION (REAR)

The rear elevation consists of the main church block flanked by the blind walling of the entrance blocks at its south-west and north-east gables. The church block has a single Gothic pointed arch uPVC window positioned off-centre toward the south-west, and is fronted toward its north-east end by the lower single-storey rear return, which has no openings in its north-west gable wall. A trace of a second pointed arch window is visible in the walling of the main church block where the pitched roof of the rear return meets it, indicating the church originally had two pointed arch windows on this elevation. The main church block is finished in painted roughcast render similar to the front elevation.

NORTH-EAST ELEVATION

This side elevation presents the hipped gable of the main church block, fronted at centre by a lower gabled single-bay entrance porch. A square-headed uPVC window at the centre of the porch has six panes and a painted stone cill, with an entrance on the south-east face of the porch. The north-east elevation of the rear return is significantly set back from the north-east gable of the church and has two three-part uPVC windows.

INTERIOR

The interior is characterised by its simplicity, consistent with the congregation's theological values. It contains a pulpit and pews but no ornamental decoration and no organ. Some original internal joinery survives.

SETTING

The church is set within an associated graveyard that has some mature trees to the north. The graveyard is primarily accessed via modern galvanised metal gates hung on square-section pillars with a pebbledash finish and reconstituted stone pyramidal caps to the south-east boundary. Two concrete footpaths diverge from the main gate and lead to the separate entrance blocks at the south-west and north-east gables. The south-east boundary is formed by a dwarf modern block wall with smooth render finish, topped to the south-west of the main gate by modern galvanised metal railings; the walling to the north-east of the main entrance has a pebbledash finish. There are two further sets of gates along the south-east boundary — one to the north-east of the main entrance leading into the graveyard, and one to the south-west leading to a gravelled and concreted parking area in front of and beside the church hall. The church hall, built approximately 2006 and officially opened by the Reverend S. McMahon, Moderator of the Reformed Synod, on 28th May 2006, is a five-bay hall in a similar style to the church, with a pitched natural slate roof, six-panel polished timber doors, and uPVC pointed arch windows with Y-tracery.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Seceding Presbyterian Church was founded in Scotland in 1733, when the Seceders split from the Church of Scotland over fundamental issues of patronage and in opposition to state control of the Church. The first Seceding minister in Ulster was installed in County Antrim in 1746, and by the end of the 18th century there were 46 seceding clergymen in the province.

The congregation at Tullyvallen was formed following a schism at Clarkesbridge Secession Church in the mid-19th century. Clarkesbridge Meeting House had been established in 1791 as a seceding congregation, but in 1843 the Reverend William McAlister joined Clarkesbridge to the Presbyterian General Assembly without consulting his congregation on the details of the procedure. A minority refused to follow their minister and split from the congregation, the division led by a number of McAlister's own elders. Those who left did not immediately possess a meeting house of their own but continued to worship at Clarkesbridge, which led to numerous disputes — including one violent incident in which an elder attacked the entrance door with a sledgehammer so that the majority could gain entry. The minority congregation contested ownership of the meeting house and attempted to bring a legal case against the majority, but were unsuccessful when the final decision fell to the landlord, who sided with the General Assembly. This defeat led to the decision to construct a new house of worship. The congregation met for a time at a disused building in Milltown, Cortamlet, before building a permanent meeting house at Tullyvallen in 1851, located a mile to the north of Clarkesbridge Presbyterian Church.

The meeting house was first recorded on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1860, which depicted it as a simple rectangular structure consistent with the current layout, along with a small building to the south-west that aerial photographs from the mid-20th century reveal to have been a single-storey dwelling, most likely a manse for the incumbent minister (now demolished). The contemporary Griffith's Valuation of 1859 assessed the Seceding Meeting House — which was exempt from taxation — at £11 and 5 shillings, and the value of the site remained unchanged throughout the Annual Revisions from 1864 to 1929, suggesting few structural alterations were made during this period.

Ministers made a number of unsuccessful attempts to bring the congregation into the Reformed Presbyterian Church during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it was not until 1927 that the congregation finally joined the Reformed Church. Tullyvallen Reformed Presbyterian Church and the congregation of Fairview Reformed Presbyterian Church became a joint charge in 1934 when the Reverend R. B. Cupples was appointed minister of both congregations. The church was listed at category B in 1993 and continues to be used as a place of worship, drawing members from families in the north of County Armagh along the border, from the Newtownhamilton and Keady regions.