St Patrick's RC Church, Church Road, Ballynahinch, Co. Down, BT24 8AF

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church is a somewhat eclectic two-storey cruciform church with a square tower, situated on high ground on the east side of Church Road, to the south of Ballynahinch town centre. It began life in 1807 as a simple rectangular, barn-type structure, and — like many rural Roman Catholic churches in Ulster — evolved into a considerably more imposing building through the mid to later 19th century, acquiring the French Gothic influences typical of that period while retaining elements of an earlier Classical style. The tower and transepts were added in 1866 to designs by the architect W.J. Barre.

Historical Development

The original 1807 building is recorded in the 1834 valuation and described in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs as "a plain slated rectangular building in good repair, standing nearly east and west, 72 feet long and 30 feet broad." The church was badly damaged in the Great Wind of January 1839 and largely rebuilt between approximately 1840 and 1843, at which point more decorative Classical features were introduced. In 1866 W.J. Barre added the tower and the north and south transepts. A gallery was installed in the 1890s. The render to much of the façade may date from the early to mid 20th century. Around 1994 the entire orientation of the building was fundamentally altered: what had been the south transept was greatly extended to become the new nave, with the former nave becoming the chancel. A parish hall was added to the site at the same time.

Exterior

The principal (south-facing) gable of the nave contains the main entrance, a semicircular-headed door opening framed by a doorcase with a moulded archivolt and simple double pilasters, set on simple projecting stones. The doorcase is surmounted by a pediment-like moulding with a small Celtic cross motif at the apex. The double doors have vertical timber sheeting and decorative wrought iron patch hinges. Directly above the entrance is a large rose window comprising a central circular scalloped light surrounded by nine small quatrefoil windows, all glazed with leaded and coloured glass. This window is surmounted by a moulded drip with label stops, and to either side of the central moulding are smaller mouldings without windows. At each corner of the façade are projecting square, pier-like buttresses with in-and-out quoins, surmounted by decorative square stone pinnacles with tall square-based pyramid-shaped roofs. The main gable carries a small stone stylised Celtic cross at its apex.

The west façade of the nave has three tall, evenly spaced, semicircular-headed windows positioned to the left of centre. To the right is a larger projecting square buttress of the same type as those on the main gable. Between the buttresses the main wall is set back and contains a semicircular-headed window similar to those on the nave façade but smaller. The east façade mirrors the west façade. The gabled east wall of the east transept has a central rose window similar to that on the nave gable, but without a drip moulding. The apex carries a Celtic cross and there are square stone pinnacles to either side of the gable, as elsewhere. The south side of the east transept is blank at upper level and has a small timber door with a small bracketed roof canopy. The north side is partly obscured by a two-storey lean-to extension comprising a vestry at ground level with a meeting room above; the remainder of this elevation is blank. The north side of the lean-to has a recessed door opening to the right and a window opening with a modern window frame, also to the right.

The east wall of the chancel — originally the north transept — is largely obscured by the lean-to extension. The north wall follows the general pattern of the south and east gables but has at high level a small rose window set within a large drip moulding, and at lower level two blind semicircular-headed openings. The west face of the chancel has a large, mainly blind semicircular opening with small paired pointed-arch windows at its base.

The west gable of the west transept is similar in composition to that of the nave gable but carries small rose windows to either side of the main rose window. The main tower is positioned to the right of this gable. The north side of the west transept has three evenly spaced semicircular-headed openings. The south face is largely obscured by a small single-storey lean-to and has a small semicircular-headed window above it.

The Tower

The three-storey square tower is finished with a helm slated roof surmounted by a tall cast iron cross. Each corner has a full-height projecting buttress capped with a small decorative stone pinnacle. Each face of the tower has a small gable that merges with the ridge of the helm roof. At the upper level, a small roundel sits above paired louvred semicircular-headed openings on each face. The second level of each face is blank, with the buttresses at this level featuring quoins in dressed sandstone. The west face carries a small datestone inscribed 1866. At ground level the north face of the tower is obscured by the main building and the east face by a small lean-to projection. The south and west faces each have a small semicircular-headed window with sandstone dressings. Below sill level the wall surface changes from greywacke to battered ashlar sandstone. The base of the tower is in sandstone but incorporates a greywacke band approximately one metre above ground level.

Setting and Boundary Treatment

The space in front of the main entrance is defined on the west side by a colonnaded screen wall built around 1994, on the east side by a high retaining wall, and on the south side by the modern parish hall also dating from around 1994. The western boundary is enclosed with substantial wrought iron railings and gates, the base of one of the gates being inscribed with the foundry name of Sheridan, Dublin. To the south of the church is a large two-storey parish hall and a tarmac car park.