Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB23/05/003

Address :
Wesley Centenary Methodist Church Hamilton Road Bangor Co Down BT20 4JP

Townland:
Corporation

---

Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
23/07/2012 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
115/12

IG Ref:
J5062 8170

---

Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A double-height Gothic-style church dated 1891; built to the designs of James John Phillips. Rectangular plan form with extensive additions to the rear and side. Located in Bangor town centre; directly off Hamilton Road; opposite St. Comgall's Church (HB23/07/007A). Hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles; ventilation lanterns removed. Moulded stone eaves; cast-iron ogee moulded gutters and circular down pipes. Squared uncoursed sandstone rubble with ashlar sandstone dressings and string course; projected plinth course. Lancet windows in ashlar sandstone dressings with leaded and stained glazing; chamfered long-and-short reveals. Paired timber sheeted entrance doors with fixed overlight inset to lancet opening with two-stage chamfered sandstone surrounds; hood moulding with foliated head-stops. The principal elevation faces south and comprises a symmetrical gable fronting the main body of the church, extended to the left side. The gable comprises moulded parapet coping with apex cross; flanking lateral two-stage buttressing rising to gableted pinnacles; terminated with finial crosses. Paired front doors centrally located accessed by modern steps and handrail. Sandstone frieze inscribed with “Wesley Centenary Church 1891”. Triple lancet formation to first floor level; elliptical louvred oculus to gable head. Paired first floor windows to the left hand side of the gable-end; matching in detail. The left (west) elevation is partially abutted and enclosed by a two-storey extension dated 1964. View obscured. The rear gabled (north) elevation is rendered and abutted by a diminished two-storey gable. The right (east) elevation is six-bay wide and rendered. Each bay is separated by stepped buttresses and comprise paired windows with shared cills. Two-tier projected rendered corbel course. The site has been infilled with various abutting extensions, erected in different periods and in varying styles. Abutting the rear is a double height pebble-dashed hall erected 1924; gable ended with moulded detailing. Further to the rear is a two-storey modernist building erected 1965 comprising red brick and smooth render with minimal detailing. Infilling the west side of the site is a matching minimalist-style single-storey block. The front of the site is bounded by a low level artificial stone wall with low-level rail; installed 1965. Setting Located on the street close to a main junction in the centre of Bangor with two/three storey retail and commercial buildings and several landmark historic buildings including St Comgall's Church (HB23/07/007A) and the Masonic Hall (HB23/07/008) in the vicinity. Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Sandstone Window: Leaded and stained RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Phillips, JJ McKnight, Gordon

Historical Information

The church is dated 1891 and was constructed on a vacant plot on the then newly-created Hamilton Road in the centenary year of John Wesley’s death. It is first shown, uncaptioned, on the third edition OS map of 1901. Methodists in Bangor had originally worshipped in a hall formed from two small houses on the site now occupied by St Comgall’s church (HB23/07/007A), but by 1820 they had moved to a purpose-built meeting house in Sandy Row (later Queen’s Parade). Wesleyan Methodists were subsequently ousted from this building by New Connexion Methodists who later built a new church on the Queen’s Parade site. (HB23/07/010) (Patton, p.90; www.wchr.org.uk) Regular Methodist services began in July 1890 in the Good Templar Hall near the site of the present church, and in September of that year plans were submitted for a new chapel to accommodate 500 people. (www.wchr.org.uk) Building operations were commenced in February 1891 and a fundraising bazaar was held in St George’s Hall, Belfast in March 1891. The church cost about £1,800 of which £500 was still unpaid by the time the church opened. The façade was built with selected white stone ashlar from Glebe quarry, with dressings of Dumfries red stone and the remainder of the building of stone from local quarries with a rendered finish. A schoolroom and vestry were built at the rear. “All the work has been carried out by Messrs John Lowry & Sons of Great George’s Street from the plans and under the supervision of Mr J J Phillips, 61 Royal Avenue, Belfast.” (Belfast Newsletter) James John Phillips, born in Cork City, and himself a Methodist, was the architect of numerous Methodist churches throughout the north of Ireland. (1911 census; www.dia.ie) On 18th September 1891 the Belfast Newsletter announced that the first of a series of dedicatory services had been held at the church, attended by a very large congregation. The church was built principally to cater for summer visitors but hoped also to meet the needs of Methodists residing permanently in Bangor. The church first enters valuation records in the fieldbook dating from 1894-99 as a ‘Wesleyan Centenary Chapel’ valued at £80. (Annual Revisions) In March 1893 Bangor was established as a separate circuit and in October it was decided to purchase the house adjoining the church to provide a manse. In March 1897 a new Sunday school premises was built to the rear of the church. (www.wchr.org.uk) In 1912, the Irish Builder invited tenders for additions and alterations to the building ‘according to plans and specifications prepared by Mr Jas A Hanna, Belfast’. It would appear that the alterations made included an increase in the church’s seating capacity and the installation of a pipe organ and choir stalls with an organ chamber and vestry beneath, the valuation consequently being increased to £100. An extension known as the Epworth Hall was opened in March 1924 and this raised the valuation further to £135 in 1925. (www.wchr.org,uk; Annual Revisions) Electric lighting was installed in 1944 and in the spring of 1959 the front of the church below the pulpit was completely re-designed with a new communion rail fitted across the width of the church. In 1960 the baptismal font was gifted to the church. (www.wchr.org.uk) The Manse beside the church was demolished in 1964 and a Minor Chapel built on the site together with a Minor Hall and classrooms to designs by Gordon McKnight. Extensions to the rear of the church were completed in 1965. (www.wchr.org; Patton, p.90) A further re-design of the front of the church including the choir, pulpit and communion rail, was completed in 2004. (www.wchr.org) References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901 2. PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26 3. PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939 4. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7A-K – Annual Revisions (1866-99) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/9A-S – Annual Revisions (1900-1930) 6. Belfast Newsletter, 6th March 1891 7. Belfast Newsletter, 18th September 1891 8. Irish Builder Vol 54, 20thJanuary 1912, p.52 Secondary Sources 1. Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999 2. www.wchr.org.uk – Wesley Centenary Church Hamilton Road

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance V. Authorship

Evaluation

A double-height Gothic-style church dated 1891; built to the designs of James John Phillips with extensions and alterations by James Hanna. The contrasting stonework is of good quality and, as a whole, the church demonstrates a robust aesthetic and its historic development. The interior is well-detailed and the church is a good example of the type in this area.

General Comments

Within Bangor Central Area of Townscape Character

Date of Survey

11 November 2010