Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB20/12/022

Address :
St Patrick's Church of Ireland Church Antrim Road Templepatrick Co Antrim BT39 0AR

Townland:
Templepatrick

---

Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
29/11/1974 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

---

OS Map No:
113-1

IG Ref:
J2273 8554

---

Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

Detached simple Gothic double-height Church of Ireland church, built c.1827, aligned east-west, and located on elevated site in graveyard south of the Antrim Road. Rectangular nave with three-stage tower between single-storey wings; later single-cell chancel to east. Chancel flanked by additions (double-height organ outshot to south, vestry with basement to north). Tower flanked by later single-bay north and south tower wings. Roofs are pitched slate with dressed stone chimneystacks at vestry junction, and dressed stone verges and corbelled kneelers on gables. Walling is roughcast over chamfered smooth-rendered plinth to nave; chancel and chancel additions walling is coursed basalt. Windows are gothic arched lancet casements with splayed stone surrounds and stop-ended hoodmoulds. Tower has diagonal buttresses with stone off
setting, splayed stringcourses between stages, and corner octagonal cusped pinnacles. Louvred window openings to third stage, second stage blank. Tower and tower wings have moulded stone parapet coping. Single central window to second stage and wings (first stage tower window occupies former entrance). Tower wing cheeks each have a pointed-arched entrance opening with stop-ended hoodmould surmounted by a diminished blind window, entrance blocked to right (south) wing. Left (north) tower cheek has sheeted painted timber double-leaf door and tympanum. North elevation of nave has cavetto-moulded stone cornice to eaves. Left end abuts gabled vestry. Vestry north gable has central diamond-glazed casement lancet window without hoodmould. Vestry right cheek has square-headed sheeted door accessed by four granite steps; left cheek has single central lancet window similar to north gable. East gable abutted at lower ridge by chancel. Chancel gable has central tripartite lancets of stained glass without hoodmoulds (flanking windows are diminished). Chancel right cheek is blank and abutted to right end by vestry. Left cheek abutted to left end by south chancel wing (organ loft), exposed section has single lancet window in style of vestry windows. South elevation of nave is same as north elevation, abutted to right end by south chancel wing (organ loft). South chancel wing has central lancet window in style of vestry; both left and right cheeks are blank. Setting Set on elevated site in graveyard overlooking Antrim Road to north. Graveyard formally arranged with north hillside slope divided by central yew-lined path. Third section of graveyard is to south and east of church with a modern work shed to west. There are numerous granite memorials (mostly twentieth century) aligned to a grid, many wrought-iron railing-enclosed family plots, and one stone table tomb. Of note, one late-nineteenth-century draped urn memorial to the Irvine Family, which lists interred both an Anglican and Presbyterian minister from the early and mid twentieth century. The earliest grave visible to the southeast of the south chancel wing is the table tomb to Sarah Thompson (d.1828). Windows: Pointed-arched stained-glass lancets with splayed surrounds and stop-ended hoodmoulds Door: Painted timber sheeted double-leaf door Walling: Roughcast, coursed basalt Roof: Pitched slate roof, blue/black angled ridge tiles Rainwater goods: Painted moulded cast-iron gutters

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Church was consecrated in 1827. The £830 construction budget was gifted from the Board of First Fruits. In 1889, the chancel, east window, vestry room and organ chamber were added to the east end, and a baptistry (to tower base), choir vestry and porch were added to the west. This second wave of construction cost £900, which was gifted by members of the Templetown family. The church was restored in 1993 following an outbreak of dry rot. Located in part of the Six Mile Water valley, a church may have existed in the area in the fifth century. “The Holy Well at which converts were reputedly baptised by Patrick was still in existence in the early twentieth century.” During the Twelfth Century, the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, (a.k.a. Knights Templar) established a priory on the present grounds of Castle Upton (HB20/12/018), which was their principal seat in the Diocese of Connor. The Templars took control of the existing church at that time. “The present parish church…was originally dedicated to St John, possibly because of the association with the Knights of St John. The dedication was changed in 1886 by Bishop Reeves and it became St Patrick’s…. From 1898 the Rector was responsible for the adjoining parish of Donegore, although the union of the two parishes was not official until 1922…. During the [1993] restoration some faint traces of a large mural were found on the north wall, and also uncovered were wrought iron roof arches similar to those in other churches built in the early 19th century.” (“A Brief History of St. Patrick’s, Templepatrick”) The interior contains a Haighton organ, built between 1827 and 1840, and the brass font originally belonged to a church in Sebastopol on the Crimean peninsula. The 1836 Townland Valuation map records the church graveyard arranged in its present manner with a central path. The church has a small tower projection to west and a similarly sized projection to east. The church with graveyard was valued at £4.19s.0d, significantly less that year than both the town’s Presbyterian churches, however, the rectory (termed house and office of Rev. Hamond Dawson) to a plot south of the church, now occupied by Boulderstone House, was separately valued at £13. For the 1860 Townland Valuations, the Immediate Lessor for the church and graveyard was listed as Lord Templetown, and land valued at £1.5s.0d. The church was now valued at £15.0s.0d. and measured with tower: 20 yards in length, 7.5 yards in breadth, and two storey nave (not including tower). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI VAL1A/1/51B, Townland Valuations, Co. Antrim, (1836) 2. PRONI VAL1B/129A, Townland Valuations, Co. Antrim, (1836) 3. PRONI VAL 2A/1/51A, Townland Valuations, Co. Antrim, (1860) 4. PRONI VAL2B/1/7B, Townland Valuations, Co. Antrim, (1860) 5. PRONI OS/6/1/51/5, OS Map, Fourth Edition, Co. Antrim (1932) Secondary Sources 1. “A Brief History of St. Patrick’s, Templepatrick,” Diocese of Connor, http://templepatrick.connor.anglican.org/Framesets/f_history.htm (accessed 28/9/08).

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

This simple Gothic early-nineteenth-century Church of Ireland church occupies a prominent site off a main road with a well preserved setting. Apart from the age of the structure, itself, the site is ancient and a holy well from the time of St. Patrick was visible nearby until the early twentieth century. It has an association with Castle Upton through the influence of the Templars. The church is identifiable with other contemporary Boards of First Fruits commissions both stylistically and structurally, sharing similar plan, spatial layouts, ornamentation and structural system of wrought-iron roof arches.

General Comments

Date of Survey

25 August 2008