Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/14/010

Address :
First Dromore Presbyterian Church 3 Diamond Road Dromore Co Down BT25 1PQ

Townland:
Drumboneth

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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:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
202/8

IG Ref:
J2044 5270

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A free-standing stone Presbyterian Church in Gothic-Revival style; dated 1915 and located to the east side of Diamond Road in Dromore. Rectangular-plan and gable-fronted with flanking lower stair-wings; set on an east-west axis with two-storey chapter house to rear. Pitched natural slate roof with crested terracotta ridge tiles, raised stone skews and pinnacles to gables; chimneystack to east. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is random-coursed rock-faced stone on a chamfered plinth with free-stone dressings and buttresses having stone pinnacles and offsets; carved blind-arcaded Gothic stone parapet with pinnacles to stair-wings. Windows are lattice leaded-and-stained glass lancets in stone surrounds with chamfered sills. West-facing, comprising double-height gabled vestibule flanked by stair-wings (lower). Gothic cinquepartite diminishing lancets, cusped L-tracery to central pane, all in stone surrounds over offset platband. To ground floor are paired Gothic portals, slightly inset with carved stone semi-engaged half-columns having acanthus leaf capitals. Nine-panelled timber doors are divided by a stone shaft with carved Gothic niche rising to impost level. Datestone above doors reads “1915”. Stair-wings each have two lancets (at different heights) surmounted by a quatrefoil with hood mould. The north elevation has five sets of evenly spaced tripartite lancets divided by lancets; stair-wing at right has one window to gallery and paired windows to ground floor. The east (rear) elevation is abutted to right of centre by the two-storey chapter house with tall chimneystack. Irregular fenestration and timber-sheeted entrance door to east elevation; three windows to north elevation, and four windows to south elevation (pointed arch-headed to first floor and square-headed to ground floor). The south elevation has five sets of evenly-spaced tripartite lancets; stair-wing to left has one window to gallery and paired windows to ground floor. Setting Located at the southern edge of the town and surrounded by late-twentieth century housing developments. Modern red-brick church hall (c.1960) to north of site with tarmacadam parking area; church is raised on the brow of a hill and lawned to two sides with graveyard at south. Tarmacadam to front and bounded to road by a rendered wall with coping stones; original alcoved entrance to centre comprising arrowhead metal gates and railings supported by square cast-iron piers surmounted by ball finials. Graveyard has a variety of headstones; the earliest visible inscription found dating from 1819. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Random coursed rock-faced stone Windows: Lattice leaded-and-stained glass lancets RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Stevenson, Samuel

Historical Information

The Irish Builder records that First Dromore Presbyterian Church was constructed between 1914 and 1915 by Samuel Stevenson (1859-1924), a Belfast-based architect who predominantly designed industrial and commercial premises but also planned a small number of Presbyterian churches of which First Dromore is one; the builder contracted to undertake the design was a Mr. John Graham (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The church was designed in the Gothic Revival style, could accommodate a congregation of 800 persons and upon its dedication on 7th November 1915 had cost a total of £4,500 (Irish Builder: 1914, p. 230; 1915, p. 501). First Dromore Presbyterian is the third Presbyterian meeting house to have been constructed on the current site. The original thatched meeting house was erected in the mid-17th century but was replaced by a new edifice in 1727. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs described the second meeting house as a ‘stone building, roughcast and whitewashed [measuring] 80 feet length and 40 feet breadth.’ Interestingly the capacity of the 18th century meeting house was much larger than the current church; a maximum of 1,200 could be accommodated in the earlier building, 400 more than the church completed in 1915. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1833) depicted the second meeting house as a T-shaped building situated on the site of the current church; the contemporary Townland Valuations valued the meeting house at £7 1s. Between 1815 and 1837 the previous meeting house was extended and a Sunday School added to the north of the building; the extension work resulted in the revaluation of the site to £24 (this joint value also incorporated the valuation of the school). The second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1859) records that the renovated church became cruciform-shaped as a result of the extension work. The meeting house continued to be used as a place of worship until the early-20th century when plans were made for the erection of a new building on the site. First Dromore erected a National School building in the late 1860's. The school continued its work until 1932 when it was transferred to the Down County Regional Education Committee and in 1936 merged with the schools of the Cathedral and the Non-Subscribing congregation to form the Central Primary School on the Banbridge Road. The current church was erected between 1914 and 1915 and first appeared on the fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1919-20 which depicted it as a rectangular-shaped building located on the same site as the previous structure. Despite the erection of the church in 1914-15 there was no subsequent alteration to the value of the church and school in the Annual Revisions, which continued to jointly value both buildings at £24 until the valuations ended in 1930. Kirkpatrick states that the original thatched Presbyterian meeting house in Dromore was erected about 1600, however the current church website and Clarke notes that the congregation was established in 1660. The first meeting house was not constructed until c. 1670 (prior to this date the congregation met in local houses and barns) and initially the congregation adhered to an orthodox Presbyterian form of worship. In 1724 Alexander Colville, the son of the former minister, was selected by the congregation as their preacher; however Colville did not subscribe to the Westminster Confession and upon arriving at Dromore reaffirmed the congregation as a non-subscribing church. The congregation were divided over the decision of whether to subscribe to the Westminster Confession and as a result the congregation split c. 1725; the majority left the current church and formed the First Presbyterian Church (Non-Subscribing) on Rampart Street in Dromore (see HB17/15/020). The minority of the congregation continued to worship at the original site and practised an orthodox Presbyterianism with adherence to the General Synod of Ulster (Kirkpatrick, p. 230; Clarke, p. 95). The First Dromore Presbyterian website records that the second meeting house was demolished in 1914 to make way for the erection of the current structure. The national schoolhouse, which was constructed in 1860, was demolished c. 1959 and replaced by the current church hall which was opened in 1960 but later extended in 1979 (Presbyterian Church in Ireland Website). The church was listed in 1977 and since that time a new Manse has been erected (2002); in 2010 the congregation, currently standing at around 250 families, celebrated the 350th anniversary of its original establishment in 1660 (Kirkpatrick; Dromore Leader). References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1833 2. PRONI OS/6/3/21/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859 3. PRONI OS/6/3/21/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903 4. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-1920 5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/21 – Townland Valuation map c. 1830 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/342 – Townland Valuation c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38B – Griffith’s Valuation 1861 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10A – Annual Revisions 1864 – 1878 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10B – Annual Revisions 1879 - 1891 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10C – Annual Revisions 1892 - 1898 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10E – Annual Revisions 1899 - 1908 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10F – Annual Revisions 1909 – 1930 13. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down III, Vol. 12 (1837) 14. Irish Builder (Vol. 56, 11 Apr; 9 May 1914; 20 Nov 1915) 15. First Survey Record – HB 17/14/010 (1969) 16. Dromore Leader (27 Sept 2010) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of Mid Down: Hillsborough, Dromore, Dromara, Ballynahinch, the Spa, Drumaness and Saintfield’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1974. 2. Clarke, R. S. J., ‘Graveyard Inscriptions Vol. 19: North-West Down’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1983. 3. Kirkpatrick, L., ‘Presbyterians in Ireland: An illustrated history’ Booklink, 2006. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. Presbyterian Church in Ireland Website - http://www.presbyterianireland.org/congregations/dromore1.html 3.http://www.firstdromorepresbyterianchurch.co.uk/ 4.http://lisburn.com/books/dromore/dromore1.html#ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; 'The Church on the Hill, A Short History of First Dromore Church 1660-1981' [accessed 01.05.13]

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

A free-standing stone Presbyterian Church in Gothic-Revival style; dated 1915. The original proportions and Gothic-Revival interior survive with original polished timber pews, pulpit and gallery. A graveyard to south with some early headstones dating from the first part of the nineteenth-century, original gates and railings to front, add to its interest. It is a good example of this type of robust church design in original condition with much good detailing.

General Comments

Date of Survey

16 January 2012