Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/03/078

Address :
St Mary's Church 10 Chapel Road Ballinderry Upper Lisburn BT28 2JF

Townland:
Tullyballydonnell

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

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:
164/1SE

IG Ref:
J1415 6595

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Owner Category

Church - RC

Exterior Description And Setting

Freestanding rendered Roman Catholic church with single-storey lean-to extension to rear and pitched roof single-storey porch entrance to west. Church built in 1845, set in landscaped grounds located on the north side of Chapel Road, Upper Ballinderry, Lisburn. Pitched natural slate roof and angled ridge tiles, with masonry coping to gable verges rising to cast-iron celtic cross finials; mixture of uPVC and aluminium rainwater goods. Walling is roughcast rendered over rubblestone, with smooth rendered, slightly projecting plinth and deep step corbelled wall head to north and south elevations; modern stone walling and man-made slate to western porch. Pointed-arch headed window openings to church with projecting stone sills. Windows have leaded stained-glass windows; square-headed window openings to rear extension have timber casement windows. Principal (south) elevation has four pointed-arch window openings with projecting stone sills and leaded stained-glass timber framed windows with steel mesh grilles. Entrance located to south elevation of western porch having pitched man-made slate roof, deep uPVC eaves and bargeboards, containing glazed timber double-leaf door and metal gate with floral motifs and cross above; small, square modern tiles to floor of porch with contrasting, simple cross motif. There are two columnar yews against South elevation. West elevation composed of gable end of both church and porch; roughcast render to church with modern random pattern stone walling and roughcast render apex to porch gable. Square-headed window opening to porch containing amber glazed timber window with steel mesh grilles. North elevation comprises church and rear modern lean-to extension. Square-headed full height window opening to western end of extension (rear of porch section) with staggered multi-pane timber-framed window containing coloured glazing, with steel mesh grille covering. Centrally placed square-headed window opening with 3 part timber casement window, projecting shallow concrete sill (damaged), and steel mesh grille. Square-headed window opening to eastern end of lean-to, left of door opening, with 3 part timber casement window, projecting shallow concrete sill and steel mesh grille. Square-headed door opening containing replacement timber door and wall-mounted steel gate with motifs matching screen to porch. There is a steel mesh enclosure against building containing gas/oil tank towards west end of the rear extension. East elevation has roughcast render finsih. Square-headed window opening to extension with timber casement window, with grille screen. The church is set on the north side of Chapel Road 1.4 miles east of Aghalee, overlooking the surrounding countryside. It sits within a landscaped plot of land with a number of mature trees including yew, bounded to the south by rendered (internal face only) rubblestone boundary wall with pyramidal shaped limestone capping and round headed wall to part of West boundary. Pair of square rubblestone piers with limestone capping as wall, and replacement plain steel gate. Roof: Natural slate to main church, man-made slate to porch & lean-to Walling: Rubblestone and roughcast render Windows: Timber framed and leaded stained-glass or modern plain or coloured glass RWG: uPVC and aluminium

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

In the second volume of his ‘Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor…’ published in 1879, Rev. James O’Lavery states that this church was built in 1845 by Fr. Samuel Young, the third such building to occupy the site (see below). The architect / builder responsible for the design is not known. The building was not consecrated until 9 October 1853, a delay possibly due to the Great Famine having reduced incomes in the parish thus holding up the completion. Debt was clearly accumulated by the parish on account of the build, the then Parish Priest, Rev. Cornelius Magee, placing a notice in the newspapers thanking all of those ‘of all religious denominations’, who attended the consecration and contributed towards the liquidation of the debt’ incurred during the construction. Around £160 is reported to have been collected on the day. The church is shown on the revised edition OS map of 1857 with two projections, one to the rear (north) said to have been stables, and the other to the east gable, probably the vestry. At that time there was a separate building to the south of the church, between the latter and the road. This had been built prior to 1832, but its function is uncertain. It was demolished around 1867-68 and a schoolhouse (Tullyballydonnell National School) was built on part of its site. The school closed at some point after 1921, but the building survived until at least 1971. The church appears to have retained much of its original form until c.1962, when the old stables and vestry were removed and the extension to the north side, housing the sacristy, confessional, and entrance porch and toilets added. At the same time the main body of the building was renovated and re-ordered, much in line with the recent reforms of Vatican II. Amongst other things, two side altars were removed, baptismal font moved, whilst the arrangement of a central aisle and two sets of pews (those to the north apparently reserved for women and those to the south for men) was replaced with side aisles and central seating. The detailing was also completely modernised, the most striking change being the installation of the large continuous depiction of the Stations of the Cross to the north wall. This was the work of Joseph McWilliams (1938-2015) the prolific Belfast-born artist, lecturer and broadcaster, who served as President of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts from 2000 to 2004. The newly refurbished church reopened on 8 December 1963. St Mary’s appears to have continued to be used for regular worship until the late 2010s, but at the time of writing in May 2021 is closed. Previous churches: According to both O’Laverty and the 1838 OS Memoirs, the building stands on a site ‘which had been used for ages as a mass station’, which was subsequently occupied by a thatched chapel, which the church’s website dates to 1779. This was burned down at the time of the 1798 Rebellion, and ‘mass was celebrated among the ruins’ until it was rebuilt in 1814-15. This is the ‘R.C. Chapel’ of similar plan to the main section of the present church is shown on the 1832 OS map and described in the aforementioned OS Memoirs as an oblong, single-storey, slated structure, measuring ‘38 feet 8 inches by 18 feet 8 inches inside’ with ‘walls of stone and lime 1 foot 10 inches thick, and the floor made of sand, lime and clay. It is lit by four arch windows, entrance by 1 door situated on one of [the] gables,’ and there was a small single-storey vestry projection of 9 x 6½ft. Inside the chapel was a timber and stone altar to the gable opposite the entrance, but no seats nor gallery. References: Primary
references: 1 OS Maps, Co. Antrim Sheet 63, 1832, 1857, 1900-01, 1920 2 OS Memoirs, 1838 3 ‘The Ulsterman’, 12, October 1853, p.2 4 ‘The Ulsterman’, 19 October 1853, p.3 5 PRONI VAL12B/9/3a Valuation book, 1867-79 6 OS Map sheet 120-22, 1971 Secondary sources 7 O’Laverty, James, ‘An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Ancient and Modern Vol.II, (Dublin, 1880), p.292 8 https://www.aghagallonandballinderryparish.ie/church/ballinderry/ (accessed 20.05.2021) 9 http://lisburn.com/history/digger/Digger-2009/digger-24-04-2009.html (accessed 20.05.2021) 10 https://www.josephmcwilliams.com/info.html (accessed 20.05.2021)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A small, simple Roman Catholic church built in 1845, St Mary’s Church is located on the north side of Chapel Road, Ballinderry Upper in a rural setting. The exterior is plainly detailed and the interior has lost original historic detailing due to the 1960s refurbishment. In particular, the removal of the Stations of the Cross frieze by artist Joseph McWilliams, a Belfast-born artist and former president of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, has diminished the overall significance of the church. In a departure from the traditional Stations of the Cross, which are normally 14 separate paintings/images/small sculptures located at spaced intervals around the church, this mural was an over-sized continuous, dynamic depiction of the 14 stages of the Passion, and therefore a rare form of this element of Roman Catholic worship. Without the frieze, there is little special interest, rendering St Mary’s Church below the legislative test for listing.

General Comments

Listing Query Ref: HB/19/LQ171

Date of Survey

28 March 2021