St Malachy's RC Church, Kilcoo Village, Dublin Road, Ballymoney, Castlewellan, Co Down, BT34 5HP

St Malachy's RC Church

St Malachy's is a two-storey Gothic Roman Catholic church built in 1901, situated at the centre of Kilcoo village, approximately 4.5 miles south-west of Castlewellan, with its own grounds containing a small graveyard to the east and the parochial house to the west. The former school also remains within the curtilage.

The church is approached from the Dublin Road (which runs to the south) and presents its front gable facing south. The most prominent feature is a tall three-storey pinnacled tower positioned to the right (east) and slightly set back from the main façade.

The main entrance is formed by a slightly projecting gabled porch with a pointed arch doorhead, archivolt and drip moulding with label stops. The porch walls are splayed at the base to match the main walls, and the apex is topped with a small stone cross. The double timber doors are diagonally sheeted with decorative strap hinges. Flanking the porch are tall narrow 'arrow loop' windows. Directly above are three tall pointed arch-headed windows, the central one being taller and wider. The gable apex contains a small louvered window opening and is surmounted by a Celtic cross. Each corner of the front gable has stepped reducing buttresses to the front and sides, with small gabled minarets at the buttresses.

The tower rises in three storeys on its south, east and north faces (the west faces are obscured where the tower abuts the main building). At ground level, the south and north faces have squat pointed arch-headed windows. The east face contains a diagonally sheeted double door with plain fanlight recessed within a segmental arched opening. The first floor of all three visible faces is lit by tall lancet windows. The second floor of all faces has tall pointed arch-headed louvers. All window openings feature smooth stone dressings. The tower is finished with minarets displaying tall pyramidal caps with metal finials, between which are simple castellations.

The east façade, to the left of the tower, has a single lancet window with plain glazing. To the right of the tower, the façade is divided into five bays, each framed with reducing buttresses. Each bay contains paired lancet windows with smooth stone dressings. To the far right is the blank west side of the sanctuary.

The west façade also features five bays with paired lancet windows and buttresses identical to those on the east side. To the left is a small lean-to porch. The south face of this section is blank. The west face of the main body has a central diagonally sheeted door with sash windows (without astragals) on either side. To the far left is a one-and-a-half storey projecting gabled bay. This bay has two widely spaced pointed arch-headed windows at ground floor level and paired sash windows (without astragals) at first floor level, surmounted by a relieving arch. The north face of the building contains two small paired sash windows.

The rear north gable has three high-level lancet windows centrally placed, with reducing buttresses at each corner to both front and sides. To the right is the north side of the two-storey section. To the left of centre is a paired sash window without astragals, fitted with decorative security grills.

The roof is finished in Bangor Blue slate with eaves supported on projecting stone brackets. The eaves of the one-and-a-half storey section to the west have exposed rafter ends. All gables have shallow smooth stone parapets. The gutters and downpipes are cast iron, the latter in a mixture of square section and round profiles. The external walls rest on a small projecting plinth.

The external walls are finished in dark grey-blue rock-faced granite with smooth light sand-coloured stone dressings. A small area of stone loss reveals a brick core, indicating that the external stone is cladding rather than structural. The roadside boundary is marked by a low stone wall in matching stone. Decorative wrought iron gates are supported on square gate pillars set in a semi-circular screen wall.