St Malachy's RC Church, 15 Ballykilbeg Road, Ballykilbeg, Downpatrick, Co Down, BT30 8HJ

St Malachy's RC Church is a simple, two-storey gabled Roman Catholic church built in 1836-7, situated on the west side of Ballykilbeg Road, approximately 5 miles west of Downpatrick in County Down. The building is constructed of snecked fieldstone rubble with granite in and out quoins, and the roof is slated with stone parapets. It replaced an earlier single-storey church dating from 1745.

The front gable faces east. At ground level is a gabled entrance porch with granite quoins, a slated roof, and stone parapets. The porch has two pointed arch doorways with timber sheeted double doors and brick dressings—one on the east (gabled) face and one on the south face. A small stone panel above the east doorway, installed relatively recently, is inscribed 'St Malachy's c.1745 1775 1837', recording the dates of building work. The east doorway's brick dressings appear to be modern replacements. The porch also has a pointed arch window with brick dressings and a timber plate tracery frame with stained glass. A stone cross stands at the gable apex.

Above the porch on the main front gable is a large pointed arch window with similar tracery but featuring three lancets. The brick dressings to this arch are more recent than those to the rest of the opening, and a relieving arch sits above. The north and south façades are largely similar, each displaying four tall pointed arch windows with frames matching the porch window pattern, and buttresses positioned between them. A relieving arch sits above each buttress. Some brick dressings have been renewed and stonework beneath the windows has been repointed, creating an impression that the windows may have been reduced in size, though this seems unlikely. The buttress stonework is not tied into the main walls, suggesting they may have been added at a later stage.

The rear gable features a large central pointed arch window with geometrical tracery in a timber frame. Attached to the rear gable is a single-storey gabled vestry extending northward as a gabled bay. The vestry has a timber sheeted door on its east face and a small sash window with Georgian panes (6/6) on its south face. To the right of the vestry and also attached to the main gable is a small flat-roofed, breeze block-built boiler house with a small sash window on its north (gabled) face. The vestry roof is slated with stone parapets, and a rendered chimney stack rises from the vestry roof against the main rear gable. Cast iron rainwater goods are present throughout.

The church was built at a cost of £600, with construction beginning in July 1836 and due for completion in summer 1837, as recorded by Ordnance Survey memoir writers who visited in December 1836. The Poor Law valuers also documented the building's construction in 1836. The old church, measuring 54½ feet by 22½ feet by 8 feet with a return of 29 feet by 22½ feet by 8 feet, was still standing when the valuers surveyed the area, though foundations had already been laid for the new structure.

The interior has witnessed various alterations over the years, with the most significant change occurring around 1935 when a coffered ceiling was added. Externally, the rear vestry may have been extended at some point, and an extra doorway has been inserted in the porch. The building is of definite architectural and historic interest.