Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/02/021 A

Address :
All Saint's Parish Church 36 Tullylish Road Tullylish Craigavon Co. Down BT63 6DP

Townland:
Tullylish

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
25/10/1977 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
Yes

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
201/15

IG Ref:
J0814 4868

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

A double-height styled rural parish church in Gothic style, dated 1861, located on the west side of Tullylish Road, opposite the remains of an earlier church (HB17/02/021C) and graveyard, and an original verger’s cottage (HB17/02/021B). The church is rectangular on plan with three-stage bell tower to south-east corner and gabled porch to re-entrant angle; to north is a lower gabled chancel, and vestry and choir room abut at north-west. Pitched natural slate roof with ridge crestings; stone verges with kneeler stones and ogee cast iron rainwater goods on stone bracketed eaves. Tower has pavilion roof with fishscale banding, surmounted by a decorative cast-iron filigree rail. Walling is random coursed basalt over a plinth with tooled sandstone quoins and dressings; tower has single-stage angle buttresses with battered base, and string courses between stages. Windows are generally cast-iron margined lattice lancets set in chamfered sandstone reveals; two twentieth century stained glass replacements. Doors are timber sheeted with studding and wrought-iron strap hinges set in ordered sandstone surrounds. Principal (road-facing) elevation faces east, abutted by tower at left end with gabled porch to re-entrant angle. Exposed elevation of nave is four windows wide. Porch has a varnished gothic-arched timber-sheeted door with studs and wrought-iron strap hinges; moulded stone reveal with voussoirs. Stone shield datestone to apex (FOUNDATION STONE OF THIS CHURCH / WAS LAID BY / …..STEWART ESQ, JP(GL?) / ON THE 15TH DAY OF MARCH / AD / 1861). North cheek has three close-set lattice windows with stained glass central panels; contiguous chamfered sandstone reveal. The tower has a lancet to south and east at first stage; diminished second stage has a group of three small lancets at each face; Y-traceried stone opening with louvers to each facet of belfry stage. The tower is abutted to south west by a ¾-engaged octagonal stair tower flush with south gable, having staggered openings to exposed facets (all square-headed with exception of lattice lancet to top). South gable has three close-set lancets to centre, and rose window over, all with leaded lattice glazing. There is a small rectangular grille in stone surround to ground level at left. West elevation is abutted at left of centre by the west transcept; nave is four windows wide. The gabled vestry is located to the re-entrant angle. Transcept has a window to south over lean-to brick boiler house, and a pair of lancets to gable surmounted by a lozenge-shaped traceried rose window. Vestry has a shoulder-headed varnished timber door (as before) with stone reveal and relieving arch over; shield datestone above, flanked at high level by margin-paned lancet; large rose window to gable apex and two pairs of lancets to north. The north gable is abutted by the chancel, which has three stained glass lancets with flush stone reveals. Setting: The church is set in the rural area of Tullylish, in picturesque surroundings on an elevated site immediately south of the River Bann. The site is bounded by a basalt boundary wall with saddleback coping, with tarmacadamed forecourt accessed by a pair of cast iron gates supported on painted ashlar masonry piers with exaggerated chamfers and offset pyramidal caps affixed with lamps. Across the road is the church yard, bounded to the road by the former verger’s lodge (HB17/02/021B) and containing the tower and gable of an earlier church (HB17/02/021C). A modern two-storey church hall is also located across the road. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Basalt Windows: Cast iron lattice RWG: Cast iron

Architects

Welland & Gillespie

Historical Information

The church was built in 1861/2 to replace an earlier building of the late seventeenth century. However, the site may be older still and monastic settlement in the area is thought to date back to the early Christian period in Ireland. ‘All Saints Church’ is first shown on the third edition OS map of c.1900 in a setting along the river Bann which is dotted with bleach greens, mills and the substantial dwelling houses of linen merchants. The tower of the former church and the ruined nave are captioned nearby. The new church is first listed in Griffith’s Valuation of 1856-64 at a valuation of £50. No further significant changes are made in valuation records. Tullylish parish can trace back its origins to the siting of an early monastery, enclosed by a rath-like structure, to the east of the present church in the 6th or 7th century. (Campbell) However, the parish does not appear in documentary sources until the 1422 and 1546 valuations. The early parish church appears to have been destroyed in the 1641rebellion and was ruinous in 1657 but was rebuilt in 1698 on the same site. (Clergy of Down and Dromore) In 1827 the church was enlarged and a ‘square pinnacled’ tower built with the aid of a loan of £800 from the Board of First Fruits. (Lewis) OS Memoirs of 1834 record that the church ‘is a very old building, lately enlarged at the expense of the parish by an advance by the Board of First Fruits. It can accommodate 600 and is generally very full’. A new church was deemed necessary to serve the flourishing town of Gilford, (although Gilford’s own parish church was built shortly afterwards in 1869) and the linen bleaching and manufacturing communities of Lawrencetown. The old church was found to be ‘so small as not to hold the one-half of those anxious to attend religious service therein’ and the local landowner A J R Stewart approached the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who agreed to erect a church at a cost of £4,000, provided a sum of £925 was subscribed. Mr Stewart was himself the most significant subscriber and also donated the land on which the new church was to be built. (Belfast Newsletter) Designs were prepared by Welland and Gillespie of Dublin, architects to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the contractor was James Henry of Belfast. The benches and wood-work of memel were designed by William Fullerton, diocesan architect. The foundation stone was laid in March 1861 by A J R Stewart and the consecration and dedication took place in October 1862. The site of the new church was deemed ‘very picturesque, being distant from the busy hum and bustle of the other adjoining manufacturing town of Gilford, in rather a secluded spot over the banks of a pretty large river which rolls its torrents of water along in a deep ravine several feet beneath the level occupied by the ‘house of prayer’...The entire scene is one of the most beautiful that could, perhaps, be found connected with any church in a rural district.’ (Belfast Newsletter) A chancel window was donated by Alexander and Lady Isabella Stewart and was manufactured by Messrs Evans brothers, Shrewsbury at a cost of more than £50. The font was supplied by Mr Robinson of York Street, Belfast. Rector at the time of the construction of the church was William Butler Yeats, grandfather of the poet W B Yeats and the painter Jack Yeats. (Clergy of Down and Dromore) The church was renovated in 1889/90 and the heating system, which had been by means of stoves, was replaced. (Belfast Newsletter) A window was dedicated in memory of Dean Myles in 1954 and the baptistery was extended and renovated in 1981. The organ is by Evans and Barr. (Clergy of Down and Dromore) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 First Edition OS Map 1833 2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 Second Edition OS map 1860 3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 Third Edition OS Map (c1900) 4. PRONI OS/6/3/27/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18 5. PRONI VAL/1/B/350 Townland Valuation (1828-40) 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/48A Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/25A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929) 8. Belfast Newsletter 31st October 1862 9. Belfast Newsletter 28th June, 1890 Secondary Sources 1. Campbell, P “Parish of Tullylish” in Dromore Diocesan Historical Society “The Diocese of Dromore Past and Present” 2004 2. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Down III, 1833-8, Vol. 12.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1992. 3. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837. 4. Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. “Clergy of Down and Dromore” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

A double-height parish church dating from 1861, located in Tullylish, and the most recent of a range of associated upstanding structures dating from the seventeenth century, although the site has origins in the sixth century. The church is executed in simple Gothic style enlivened by a tower in understated French Gothic idiom. Its historic character survives with most original interior and exterior fabric remaining intact. Of interest are its associations with Rev William Butler Yeats, grandfather to the noted Irish poet, and the group including the old church(HB17/02/021C) and the lodge(HB17/02/021B) are of note.

General Comments

Please note this record has been renumbered is was previously recorded as HB17/02/021

Date of Survey

18 October 2011