Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/02/005 A

Address :
St. Judes Church of Ireland 340 Ormeau Road Belfast County Antrim BT7 2GE

Townland:
ballynafoy

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
14/03/1986 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:
147/6NW

IG Ref:
J3482 7157

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

A sandstone Gothic-Revival style Church of Ireland church with Irish Romanesque round tower to designs by Thomas Drew, dated 1873 and extended in 1887, and again in 1898-9; located on the east side of Ormeau Road, south of Belfast city centre. Plan comprises central nave on an east-west axis with extended side aisles to north and south with adjoining transepts; apse to east end with an array of gables; projecting gabled porch and round tower with belfry abuts central nave to northwest. Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles, raised stone verges with kneelers and cross finials to gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods. Walling is random-coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with Dundonald pink sandstone string courses. Windows are leaded-and-stained glass lancets in sandstone surrounds with chamfered sills. Nave is abutted by the entrance porch to northwest; porch opens to north with double-leaf timber-sheeted door in equilateral-headed sandstone moulded surround, accessed by two stone steps and surmounted by moulded roundel with quatrefoil. Abutted to west by the round tower having slender lancets and belfry with equilateral arch-headed opening flanked by semi-engaged colonettes and ornately carved capitals; pierced quatrefoils to spandrels, carved dog-tooth frieze band and moulded cornice. West gable of nave has a five-paned lancet window (of various heights) mullioned with semi-engaged colonettes having round capital heads. Apse to east end has three gables each containing a tracery window comprising paired lancets with apex rose; south face has two lancets with cusped arch-heads. Northeast and south walls of nave abutted by extended side aisles (of various lengths). North side aisle has transept at right; left bay with paired lancets at right and projecting gabled porch at left. Porch has offset equilateral-headed timber-sheeted door with decorative wrought-iron strap-hinges in chamfered sandstone surround; slender lancets with hood moulds and carved label stops at left and to gable. West gable has two slender lancets. East gable has two diminutive square-headed windows with cusped tracery; surmounted by central lancet. South side aisle has transept to right of centre; two lancets at right bay; left bay with a single and paired lancets and an equilateral-headed timber-sheeted door, with decorative cast-iron strap hinges in chamfered sandstone surround having hood mould and carved label stops. East gable has triple mullioned window (in Scrabo stone) with cusped arch heads. West gable has four-paned lancet window (those to centre are taller) mullioned with slender semi-engaged colonettes in recesses with round capital heads. Transept has four lancets to north gable and five lancets to south gable (those centre are taller). Setting: Prominently sited at the junction of Ormeau Road and St Jude’s Avenue. St Jude’s Avenue is an attractive tree-lined residential street made up of red-brick semi-detached three-storey houses dating from the latter part of the nineteenth century. Set back from the street, lawned to three sides with mature trees and enclosed by a rock-faced sandstone boundary wall with saddleback sandstone coping stones. Main entrance to northwest at junction of St Jude’s Avenue and Ormeau Road, also to northeast and west; tarmacadamed pathways accessed via wrought-iron larch gates on sandstone ashlar square piers with polygonal pointed caps. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Rock-faced uncoursed sandstone Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass lancets RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Drew, Thomas

Historical Information

St Jude’s Parish Church was built between 1871 and 1873 to the designs of Thomas Drew, diocesan architect, and underwent two major extensions by the same architect during its first three decades. (Belfast Newsletter) As Belfast began to expand, spreading over the Ormeau Bridge into the County Down side of the river, the parish of Knockbreda was unable to accommodate the increased congregation. Rather than extend Knockbreda church, it was decided that a new building was necessary. The original intention was to build midway between Ballymacarrett and Ballynafeigh but it soon became apparent that the growth of population in these areas was so rapid that a new church was required in each area. (Belfast Newsletter) St Jude’s was the first church to be built in Ireland following disestablishment and was financed with a grant of £600 by the Church Commissioners which was increased to £1,584 following an appeal to the congregation by Rev Bristow of Knockbreda. The church was built as a chapel-of-ease to Knockbreda but the rapid expansion of the congregation eventually led to Ballynafeigh achieving parochial status. (Clergy of Down and Dromore, McCarter) The foundation stone of the church was laid in July 1871 by James T Bristow Esq of Wilmont (brother of the parish rector). The road on which the church was built was still named the Ballynafoy [sic] Road at this time and development, stimulated by the recent inclusion of Ballynafeigh within the municipal boundary of Belfast, was just beginning to swallow up the village which was strung along it. The growth of the area was so rapid that the designs for the church were enlarged even before the building had been first completed. It had originally been envisaged to build a simple nave and chancel but by the time the foundation stone was laid, transepts had already been added to the design which were to be separated from the church by temporary screens and brought into use as necessary. The church was to seat 350 and would cost £2,100. The site was donated by William Fitzpatrick of Messrs Fitzpatrick who were the building contractors. William Fitzpatrick further donated the cost of adding the bell tower ‘after the style of an old Irish round tower’. The bell was the gift of a Presbyterian, James Greer Esq of Annadale. (Belfast Newsletter) The building of the church was an act of faith on the part of the Church of Ireland, the rector commenting in 1871, “When they learned that in Ballynafeigh townland alone there were nearly four hundred Church members, when they saw the villas and rows of houses rising on every side and think of the stimulus to building in the district by the existence of the People’s Park and the extension of gas into the neighbourhood, when they considered the population that was spreading over the district on the other side of the Ormeau Bridge and remembered at the last census, in spite of the sneers and taunts cast upon their church as being a failure the numbers showed they had not lost but gained ground, who would not say that in a few years there will be a congregation to fill the church, nave, transepts and all?” (Belfast Newsletter) The church opened for worship on 30th March 1873. It was built of Scrabo sandstone with pulpit and font of bathstone, the latter a copy of an ancient font belonging to the Parish Church of Croydon in Surrey (Belfast Newsletter). The pulpit was carved by William Fitzpatrick’s brother Thomas, author of many fine examples of spirited carving such as the former Ulster Bank, Waring Street. The church is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1901-2, captioned ‘Ch[urch]’. It enters valuation records in the 1870s as St Jude’s Church and yard at a valuation of £90. (Annual Revisions) McCarter shows an engraving of the building as it appeared when first built (mistakenly captioned ‘The church in 1889’) The church was originally cruciform with a nave and two transepts, a tower and an entrance porch. (McCarter) In 1889 the church was extended, again to designs by Thomas Drew, the original architect, and at a cost of £3,000. The nave was lengthened and the transepts changed to aisles by the addition of gables, the aisles being separated from the nave by an arcading of pointed arches. A new porch was built and a deeply moulded chancel arch separated the nave from the chancel. Moulded arches were placed between the organ chambers and chancel and north aisle. The vestry was constructed in the organ chamber, and a new organ by Conacher & Co, Huddersfield was partly built over it. The contractors were Messrs John Lowry & Son of Great George’s Street. The fenestration to all gables was changed when the church was enlarged in order to bring more light into the building. Originally the gable giving onto the Ormeau Road had a large rose window with five lancets beneath and the gable facing St Jude’s Avenue had only two tall lancet windows. It would appear that the transepts were also raised in height at the time of this first enlargement. The church opened for worship once again in November 1889 and could now accommodate 650 worshippers (Belfast Newsletter). A boundary wall and gates were added in 1891. (Larmour) Further enlargement took place in 1898/9, at a cost of £1,250 when the south aisle was extended, again to designs by Thomas Drew. The contractors were Messrs Courtenay Bros. On the occasion of the reopening in March 1899, the bishop remarked “that the architect had enlarged the church upon this occasion with so much skill that the appearance presented was even more beautiful than if he had built from entirely new plans. There was a picture in it, which in an original conception the architect might not have thought of, and to his Lordship it seemed a perfect triumph of architectural skill.” The church could now seat in the region of 1,000 people. (Belfast Newsletter; McCarter) Further minor changes have been carried out to the church over the years. In 1912 a large sum was spent renovating and enlarging the organ and adorning the chancel. The original bell is said to have become cracked during the ringing of the Armistice in 1918 and a new one was erected in 1920 at a cost of £150. In the early 1950s the bell once again became cracked and was replaced and the organ was rebuilt and enlarged by Walker and Sons, London. (McCarter) A side chapel was added to designs by A F Lucy in 1964. Stained glass windows were added to the north-east entrance in the 1970s to designs by Olive Henry. In 1990 a two-storey suite of rooms was built inside the church at the south-western corner. (McCarter) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/4/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/3/4/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902 4. PRONI OS/6/3/4/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21 5. PRONI OS/6/3/4/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1931 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1-45 – Annual Revisions (1863-1930) 7. Belfast Newsletter, 24th July 1871 8. Belfast Newsletter, 8th August 1873 9. Belfast Newsletter, 23rd November 1889 10. Belfast Newsletter, 13th March 1899 Secondary Sources 1. Larmour, P “Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987 2. McCarter, N “St Jude’s Parish Church, Ballynafeigh – A Record of the First Hundred Years” 3. 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

R. Age S. Authenticity V. Authorship X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A sandstone Gothic-Revival style Church of Ireland church with Irish Romanesque round tower located on the east side of Ormeau Road, built to designs of Thomas Drew dated 1873. The church was extended in 1887 and again in 1898-9. The Gothic treatment of the belfry in the otherwise Romanesque round tower, are of particular interest. Architectural detailing is largely intact and the church has a relatively well-preserved interior. Set on a mature unspoiled site, with original boundary wall and gates, there is group value with the former Manse opposite (HB26/02/003) and the nearby Parish Hall (HB26/02/005B). The church makes a significant contribution to the architectural character of the area and is of considerable social importance and interest to the local community.

General Comments

Renumbered from HB26/02/005. Now part of St. Judes Parish Church group.

Date of Survey

04 May 2011