Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/30/023 A

Address :
St Malachy's Church 24 Alfred Street Belfast Co. Antrim BT2 8EN

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
A

Date of Listing:
30/01/1985 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130/13SE

IG Ref:
J3405 7375

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Owner Category

Church - RC

Exterior Description And Setting

A freestanding double-height redbrick and sandstone Tudor Revival Roman Catholic church, constructed 1841-1844 to designs by Thomas Jackson and occupying a prominent city centre location at the corner of Alfred Street and Russell Street. The church is cruciform on plan with diminished gabled projections to north and south. It shares the site with St Malachy's Presbytery (HB26/30/023B). Pitched natural slate roofs, concealed by castellated sandstone parapets over moulded sandstone string with saddleback coping. Gables are terminated by clover-leaf cross finials. Cast-iron rainwater goods, box hoppers dated 1842. Walling is redbrick laid in Flemish bond, over a deep moulded sandstone plinth; string course between floors; all dressings are ashlar Giffnock sandstone. Principal gables are termintaed by octagonal turrets divided by string courses and rising to tall castellated sandstone belfry stages punctuated with lancet openings at each facet and having quatrefoil frieze. Remaining corners are terminated by angle butresses with offsets, rising to gableted pinnacles. Windows are mullioned cusped-headed leaded and stained glass (generally replacement) in square-headed surrounds with label moulds to ground floor; gallery level windows are transomed and mullioned cusped pointed-arched with hood moulds. Principal gable windows are large pointed with slender perpendicular tracery. All doors are pointed arched panelled and studded timber, some with glazed transoms, all set within square-headed rebated surrounds with spandrels and label moulds; generally accessed by bull nosed sandstone steps; unless otherwise stated. Principal elevation faces west and is three windows wide to either side of the principal gabled porch, which has main entrance accessed by four Mourne granite steps, surmounted by a single window and rose window to apex. The main window is flanked to upper reaches by two cartouches; that to left bears the Diocesan crest; that to right bears the Denvir crest. Cheeks of porch each have a door with window over (that to south is accessed by a modern disabled access ramp). The north elevation is a single window wide to either side of a full height gabled projection, which is one bay deep with entrances at ground floor. The gable has a window to each floor; all remaining gables are similarly detailed with a dated crest (A.D.mdcccxlii) and a small roundel to apex. The east elevation (rear) is broadly similar in form to the west, with a number of minor differences and abutments. To right of the central gable the ground floor is abutted by a flat-roofed sacristy extension, lit by four simple cusped windows in plain stone architraves; similar window to north. The gable has a double-leaf door of four Gothic panels with tall came-light transom, set in an ordered surround as others but with integral side lights and continuous label mould. The south gable cheek has a single door, detailed as others, with small rectangular window over, and single bi-partite window to its right. In place of the two ground floor windows to immediate left of the main gable are two dinimutive canted abutments housing side chapels, each lit by simple cusped windows to cheeks. The east gable is topped by a belfry tower (formerly with spire, later removed); it has a battered weather-slated polygonal plinth topped by a Gothic fretted stone belfry of cusped and quatrefoil openings, crowned with a quatrefoil frieze and castellated parapet. The south elevation is as north. Setting: The church occupies an urban
setting, generally surrounded by dense development dating from the late nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. The church is set back slightly from the street surrounded by tarmacadamed hardstandings. The site is bounded to north, east and west by a tall brick perimeter wall, and to west by cast-iron gates, railings and octagonal sandstone piers all supported on a Newry Granodiorite plinth. The piers are detailed with cusped lancet recesses, with quatrefoil frieze and ornate floriated carving to caps, which are topped by curly cast-iron finials. To north is the sacristan’s house, a single storey dwelling, formerly of two bays with Gothic entrance porch and pitched natural slate roof, now extended. To south of the site is St Malachy’s Presbytery (HB26/30/023B). Nearby on adjacent Sussex Place are St Malachy’s Convent (HB23/30/024A) and former National School (HB26/30/024B). Roof: Natural slate Walling: Flemish bonded red brick Windows: Stained and leaded; perpendicular tracery RWG: Cast iron

Architects

Thomas Jackson

Historical Information

St. Malachy’s Roman Catholic Church was constructed 1841-44 and first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 which depicts the church as a cruciform structure noted as ‘St. Malachy’s R. C. Chapel.’ The map shows that at that time the church was not completely surrounded by buildings, Belfast town centre then extended northwards and the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1832-33 shows that until at least the beginning of the Victorian period the church lay at the limit of the town and was bordered by predominantly rural land to the south. The church was not included in Griffith’s Valuation in 1859; however the Annual Revisions first recorded the building in 1863 when it was valued at £350 and built on land let by Messers. Adam and Andrew Thomas McClean. The value was maintained until 1906 (in that year Cromac ward was given a separate valuation) when St. Malachy’s was revalued at £525; the church had also been purchased outright by that year when it was first recorded in fee. By the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935 the value of the church had risen to £800; however by the second revaluation of 1956 this had risen starkly to £1,680 through inflation and the addition of a rear church hall. Under the 1957 Rent and Valuation Act St. Malachy’s Church was reduced in value to £1,344 but by the end of the revaluation in 1972 this had risen again to £1,464. The Ordnance Survey maps record that the Sacristan’s house to the north side of the church was constructed c.1858 whilst the Presbytery was constructed in 1869 by O’Neill & Byrne Architects (HB26/30/023B). King states that Catholics in Belfast had precious few places of worship at the granting of Emancipation in 1829; however Catholics flocked into Belfast seeking work during the late-Georgian period and the early industrialisation of Belfast. When St. Malachy’s Church was constructed only the churches of St. Patrick and St. Mary had been built in the town; these churches could accommodate 10,000 but the Catholic population at that time was estimated at 30,000 making the construction of a new chapel in the town a necessity. The Bishop of the Diocese Dr. Denvir purchased a small plot of land to the south-east of Belfast’s town centre (the land on which the church was erected had recently been reclaimed from the Lagan by the construction of a dam) which had been owned by Lord Donegall (King, pp 1-3). St. Malachy’s Church was originally designed by Thomas Jackson (1807-1890), a Belfast based architect who established his own practise in 1835. Jackson won the competition to design the church, beating 13 other entries with his Tudor Revival style. The foundation stone was laid on 3 Nov 1841 (the Feast of St. Malachy) and the church exterior was completed in 1842 (as a number of external date stones indicate). Jackson designed only the exterior of the church which cost £5,679. The interior of the church, was designed in a similar Tudor style (the distinctive pendant fan vault ceiling is in imitation of Henry VII’s Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey) and was the work of Peter Lundy who modelled the interior between 1842 and 1844 (Larmour, p. 10). The lavish interior decoration of the church was made possible by the donation of £3,000 from a Capt. Thomas Griffith; a memorial to this donation is located in the entrance porch. The church belfry is a later addition having been added in 1868; prior to that year the church bell had been situated in the front-left turret; the new belfry tower originally possessed a spire, however this was later removed. Other features of note include the Telford church organ which was installed in the 1850s, and the altar centrepiece and portrait of St. Malachy, which were painted by Felix Piccione, an Austrian-Italian artist (Patton, p. 7). St. Malachy’s was extensively renovated in 1926 when the current marble altar, pulpit and sanctuary rails were added; the mosaic sanctuary floor was also added at this time and although the architect is not known, Larmour suggests that the work greatly resembles that of Padraig Gregory who also designed the Lourdes Shrine in the porch in 1932 (Larmour, p. 10). During the Second World War the church received minor damage when an incendiary bomb landed on the roof of the building, shattering the original glazing. With the end of the war the damaged windows and oak frames to the north, west and south side of the church were replaced with new glazing, ironically imported from Germany. In later years the church required a great deal of repair work. The eastern wall was replastered in 1973 and during this renovation it was discovered that a load bearing oak beam above the high altar (weighing 3 tonnes) was decayed; in order to repair the beam it was encased in a steel support. A number of the stained glass windows put in place in 1945 were replaced after being destroyed during a period of civil unrest (King, pp 4-8). In the 1980s Larmour states that the altar was set back in a recess leaving the reredos paintings by Piccione ‘undisturbed’ Larmour, p. 10). Since the construction of the church in the 1840s when it was based on the limits of Belfast Town, St. Malachy’s Church was surrounded by terraced housing and a large number of Victorian warehouses; the majority of these have been demolished greatly improving the setting of the church. The most recent renovation of St. Malachy’s Church was completed by Consarc Conservation who restored the exterior stonework, rebuilt each of the eroded stone towers and repaired the stained glass windows; the restoration of the original statues, the retiling of the main floor and the design of new pews are amongst the recent changes to the interior. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1832-33 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02 4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931 5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/1A – Griffith’s Valuation 1859 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/1 – Annual Revisions 1863-1881 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/24 – Annual Revisions 1882-1896 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/4 – Annual Revisions 1906-1914 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/8 – Annual Revisions 1915-1930 11. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/2 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 12. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/10 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 Secondary Sources 1. King, J., ‘St. Malachy’s Church, Belfast’ Belfast: Millfield College of Technology, 1975. 2. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 3. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993 4. First Survey Record – HB26/30/023 (1974) Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form E. Spatial Organisation G. Innovatory Qualities I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance Z. Rarity V. Authorship W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

St Malachy's Church is a fine Tudor Gothic Revival Roman Catholic church, built to designs of renowned architect Thomas Jackson and completed in 1844. It is cruciform on plan, with a roof line defined by castellated parapets and striking octagonal turrets. The church occupies a prominent city centre location in Belfast's Linen Conservation Area. The recent refurbishment has successfully restored much of the fabric of the building, ensuring that its architectural integrity remains intact. The interior of the church is of particular note, observing a non-conformist layout and excellently crafted fan vaulted ceiling, which is unique in the context of Northern Ireland. There is group value with the neighbouring Presbytery (HB26/30/023B). The railings to the front contribute positively to the setting and are integral to the overall appearance of the church. Of significant historical and architectural interest, the church plays a significant role in the social history of Belfast, and remains a focal point for the Roman Catholic community in the city.

General Comments

Date of Survey

14 April 2011