Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/12/017 A

Address :
St Marks Church Holywood Road, Dundela Belfast County Antrim BT4 2DR

Townland:
Strandtown

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Survey 2:
A

Date of Listing:
01/05/1986 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:
130-15

IG Ref:
J3739 7482

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

A High Victorian double-height Gothic revival style church dating from 1876 to designs by the internationally renowned English architect William Butterfield and constructed by the local firm Fitzpatrick Bros. Cruciform plan with a tall square tower to W and a single-storey extension to N. The church is set within its own grounds facing onto the E side of Holywood road. Pitched natural slate roof with crested red-clay ridge tiles. Raised stone verges with sandstone coping, finials to apex and buff sandstone stepped kneelers to gables. Half-round cast-iron guttering supported on cast iron brackets discharging to circular section downpipes. Walling laid to irregular coursed tooled-ashlar Dundonald Sandstone with smooth ashlar quoins; Scrabo Sandstone dressings, string courses and chamfered plinth course. Pointed arch traceried window openings with moulded hoods and splayed sills having leaded glazing (unless stated otherwise). West elevation: The church is aligned W-E. The principal elevation is symmetrical, faces W, and consists of a tall square-plan four-stage tower flanked by the N and S aisles and entrance porches. The tower has angled four-stage buttresses to NW and SW corners, a four-stage buttress to NE corner and a stair tower to SE corner. Flush Scrabo sandstone banding and moulded sill courses to all four sides of the tower. Pair of pointed arch windows to first stage to W separated by a two-stage buttress. Square headed opening with Sandstone cross contained by a circle set within a pointed arch with moulded architrave to all four elevations at a higher level to first stage. Two similar openings to second stage to W elevation and one to E elevation. Pair of traceried pointed arch openings to belfry stage separated by a single stage buttress and set within a square-headed recess to W, single opening to N, S & E elevations. Pyramidal shaped roof to tower with fish-scale slating and metal finial. Small dormer to W. Quatrefoil window opening set within a moulded pointed-arched hood with stepped splayed sill to aisles. A pointed arch door opening with moulded hood and chamfered jambs to N & S entrance porches. The N entrance porch has a cast-iron gate in front of a modern glass screen to opening; double-leaf timber panelled door to S porch. South elevation: The S elevation consists of the double height S wall of nave with single storey gabled S entrance porch to W, the single storey S aisle and the double-height gabled S transept. The projecting gabled S elevation of the S entrance porch has a quatrefoil window set within a moulded pointed-arched hood with a moulded sill course and is flanked by three-stage but-tresses. Raised stone verges and fleur-de-lys to apex. Lean-to four-bay aisle with three-part pointed arch windows with stained leaded glazing to each bay. Continuous moulded sill course and a two-stage buttress every second bay. Eight two-part traceried clerestorey windows to nave having clear leaded glazing and with continuous string course at impost level. The projecting gabled S transept has a large three-part pointed arch window with stone transom and stained leaded glazing and is flanked by three-stage buttresses with gablets. Upper section of gable is built in buff sandstone to a checkerboard pattern; stone cross to apex. Lean-to shallow projection to W elevation of the S transept with a shouldered-arch door opening having a painted timber sheeted door opening onto five stone steps. Cast iron boot scraper to bottom step. East elevation: The E elevation consists of the double-height gabled chancel flanked by the N and S transepts and a single-storey double-pile gabled outshot from the N transept. The S transept has a two-part traceried pointed arch window with stained leaded glazing at high level with a continuous stepped moulded string course and a single stage buttress to S end. Large three-part window with stained leaded glazing to chancel with a continuous stepped moulded string course and flanked by two-stage buttresses. Stone cross to apex. Two-part window with stone transom to S elevation to chancel. The N elevation has a stepped chimney stack with clay chimney pots. The double-pile gabled outshot has raised stone verges and fleur-de-lys to apex. Two part traceried window with stained leaded glazing to the S gable and stone steps to front leading to the basement, enclosed by cast iron railings and gate. Shallow gabled projection to N gable with a shouldered-arch door opening; replacement painted timber sheeted door opens onto five stone steps. Cast iron boot scraper to second step. The N elevation of the N gable has a two-part leaded window and continuous moulded sill course. North elevation: The N elevation consists of the double height N wall of nave with double-height gabled N transept to E, the single storey N aisle abutted by a modern single-storey extension and the single storey gabled N entrance porch to W end. The projecting N transept has a large three-part pointed arch window with stone transom, stained leaded glazing and is flanked by three-stage buttresses with gablets. Upper section of gable is built in buff sandstone to a checkerboard pattern. Stone cross to apex. Lean-to four-bay aisle of which only two bays are visible having three-part windows with clear leaded glazing, separated by a two-stage buttress and having continuous moulded sill course. The extension abutting the N aisle is built in course ashlar red sandstone with buff sandstone dressings and has two parts: a gabled pitched roof three bay block to E with projecting central three-sided canted bay and a single-bay flat-roofed part to W. Square-headed window openings with 1/1 top hung casements having clear glazing. The modern extension is connected to the N aisle by a modern skylit corridor. Eight two-part clerestory windows to nave with clear leaded glazing and continuous string course at impost level. The projecting N elevation of the entrance porch has a quatrefoil window set within a moulded pointed-arched hood and continuous sill course and is flanked by three-stage buttresses. Raised stone verges and fleur-de-lys to apex. Setting: The church is set within its own grounds to the E side of Holywood road. Tarmaced area around the church and having a red brick two-storey gabled Rectory and Heyn Memorial Hall (listed under HB26.12.037) to S. The site is enclosed to W by a sandstone dwarf wall with chamfered coping topped by cast iron railings with arrow head railing tops and flower heads to standards having dog-leg support. Rectangular plan ashlar sandstone piers with chamfered coping at regular intervals. A double cast-iron gate to NW forms the car entrance and a smaller cast-iron gate to SW serves as the pedestrian entrance. Modern metal railings to N, timber fencing and hedge to E. Materials: Roof Natural slate Walling Sandstone RWG Cast iron Windows Clear and stained glass leaded windows/ timber top hung casement windows to modern extension

Architects

Historical Information

St. Mark’s Church of Ireland, a Victorian cruciform church located on the Holywood Road, was constructed in 1876-78. Dundela was a new parish, created in the mid-19th century by the Belfast Church Extension and Endowment Society to cope with the expansion of Belfast’s eastern suburbs. The new parish took its name from the medieval ‘Capella de Dundela’ (chapel of Dundela) which is believed to have been located in the townland of Knock close to Knock Burial Ground (see HB26/11/002) and was recorded in the 1306 Papal Taxation (Rankin, p. 65; Walker, p. 130). Prior to the construction of the current church, the congregation of Dundela parish met at a small chapel which had been constructed in 1863. This was subsequently converted into a schoolhouse in 1880 following the completion of St. Mark’s Church. St. Mark’s Church was designed by the internationally renowned English architect William Butterfield (1814-1900). Butterfield was a Gothic Revival architect who predominantly designed ecclesiastical buildings utilising polychromatic materials. Initially operating in England, Butterfield gained an international reputation and carried out the design for St. Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne Australia. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that ‘Butterfield was the quintessential high Victorian, epitomising the qualities the age admired. His work speaks of both the confidence and the anxieties of the mid-Victorians. Yet he was also an original, with some of the freakishness of genius.’ In Ireland Butterfield had reconstructed an 18th century church in Lambeg, designed a font for the Church of St. Luke in Ballymoyer, and designed St. Columba’s College in Rathfarnham prior to carrying out the design of St. Mark’s Church. The building is the only Parish Church in Ireland to be designed by Butterfield (Oxford DNB; DIA). Walker states that St. Mark’s Church displays a number of ‘idiosyncrasies characteristic of Butterfield, particularly in the scales on the tower roof, and in his handling of the baptistery’ (Walker, pp 130-32). The foundation stone of St. Mark’s Church was laid on 13th October 1876. Fitzpatrick Bros, a local building firm, were contracted to carry out the construction of the building and its 150ft bell tower employing locally-quarried Dundonald and Scrabo sandstone. The new church cost £10,304 and was consecrated on 22nd August 1878 but at that time only the nave, aisles and tower of the current building had been completed. The Annual Revisions set the value of St. Mark’s Church at £100 in 1879 but this was raised to £366 following the completion of the chancel and transepts in 1891, constructed by the building firm of H. & J. Martin. The completed church was consecrated once again on 4th July 1891 (Irish Builder, p. 167; DIA; NSD). The interior of St. Mark’s contains a large number of memorials that were given to the church by members of the congregation. Rankin states that the Ewart family, prominent linen manufacturers, were major benefactors to the parish and gifted two stained glass windows including the eastern window which was installed in 1913 in memory of Isabella Kelso, the wife of William Ewart. The Shrigley & Hunt stained glass window in the south aisle was gifted to the church in 1906 by the writer and apologist C. S. Lewis (and his brother Warnie) in memory of their grandfather, the Rev. Thomas R. Hamilton, who was the first rector of St. Mark’s. Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963), was baptised and confirmed in St. Mark’s Church prior to moving to England where he gained teaching positions in both Oxford and Cambridge before gaining international acclaim for his fictional work which includes The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters. The Lewis brothers presented a second window in 1933 designed by Michael Healy and dedicated to their parents. The War Memorial west window was installed in 1921 and the Sir William Q. Ewart window, located in the south transept, was added in 1924. The church organ was designed by John Compton (1876-1957) and installed in 1932. The peal of ten bells within the tower, which were cast by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough, were given to the church by the Newell family and dedicated in 1955 (Hayes; Walker). The value of St. Mark’s Church was raised to £550 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) and further increased to £1,560 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72). St. Mark’s Church of Ireland was listed category A in 1986. Since 1992 Alastair Coey Architects, acting as architectural advisors to the Select Vestry, have undertaken a number of restorations of the church, the most recent of which involved the remodelling of the choir vestry and the installation of a new heating system (Alastair Coey Architects). Walker states that St. Mark’s ‘is an extremely important church, being one of only two Butterfield churches in Ireland [and] also represents an Anglican high church tradition which never really gained a firm foothold in Ireland’ (Walker). References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1858) 2. PRONI OS/6/3/4/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1902) 3. PRONI OS/6/3/4/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1920-21) 4. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/2C-2H - Annual Revisions (1879-1897) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/2-9 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930) 6. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/20 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) 7. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/48 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) 8. Belfast Street Directories (1877-1943) 9. Irish Builder (15 Jul 1891) 10. Newsletter (28 June 1913) 11. First Survey Record – HB26/12/017 12. First Survey Image – HB26/12/017 13. NIEA HB Records – HB26/12/017 Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985. 2. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 3. Haines, K., ‘East Belfast: Paintings and stories from harbour to hills’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001. 4. Hayes, E. C., ‘St. Mark’s Dundela: Its annals and archives’ Great Britain: Billing & Sons Ltd, c. 1932. 5. Rankin, F., ‘Clergy of Down and Dromore’ Belfast: The Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996. 6. Walker, S., ‘Historic Ulster Churches’ Belfast: Queens University Belfast, 2000. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com 3. St. Mark’s Church website - http://dundela.down.anglican.org/index.html 4. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4228?docPos=2

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

A High Victorian double-height Gothic revival style church dating from 1876 to designs by the internationally renowned English architect William Butterfield and constructed by the local firm Fitzpatrick Bros. Cruciform plan with a tall square tower to W and a single-storey extension to N. The church displays a number of Butterfields’s typical architectural features, such as the irregular coursed stone walling, fish-scale pattern to the tower roof and the lavishly ornamented interior with coloured stone and polychromatic tiling. The church’s importance is enhanced by its association to the internationally renowned writer C.S. Lewis who was a member of the congregation of the church and donated a number of the stained glass windows. It has group value with the neighbouring, listed Heyn Memorial hall. (HB26.12.017B)

General Comments

This record was prviously recorded as 'HB26/12/17' and has been re-numbered as 'HB26/12/17 A'.

Date of Survey

24 February 2014