Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/10/008

Address :
Drumgooland Parish Church Ballyward Road Banbridge Co Down BT31 9PP

Townland:
Ballyward

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
25/10/1977 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:
239/11

IG Ref:
J2763 3826

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

A double-height Gothic-Revival Church of Ireland church built 1821; cruciform plan with 3-stage tower, with transepts, side aisle, chancel and vestry add throughout the nineteenth century. Located at the junction of Castlewellan Road and Station Road, approximately two mile east of Castlewellan. Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; cast-iron rainwater goods on corbelled masonry eaves brackets. Rubble granite masonry walling with ashlar dress stone. Pointed-arched timber framed Y-tracery windows with coloured leaded-lattice lights; plain jambs; squared masonry cills; hood moulding with stops. Double-leaf timber sheeted door with wrought-iron ironmongery and strap hinges; solid timber Y-tracery tympanum; set into pointed-arched surround matching the windows. The principal gable faces west and is symmetrically arranged; kneelers and shoulders with pinnacles (right pinnacle missing). The gable is blank and abutted centrally by a three-stage tower; intersected by projected string courses; the first stage comprises the door located on the right cheek; diminished-in-scale window to the front with recessed blank shield-plaque directly over; the second stage comprises bi-partite square-headed windows with label moulding to the right and front faces (blank to the front); the third stage comprises timber louvered pointed-arch openings to all faces; surmounted by an Irish crenellation with pinnacles to the corners. The north elevation is largely abutted by the north transept and side aisle. The aisle is two windows wide; windows comprise bipartite pointed-arch lattice lights with chamfered long-and-short surround and cills with central masonry mullion; the west gable is asymmetrical; comprising central pointed-arched timber sheeted door with cusped window set into a lozenge light over. The north transept; gable-ended surmounted with finial; symmetrical with a central window with diminished-in-scale Y-tracery louvered pointed-arched opening directly over. The left cheek of the transept has a single leaded light adjacent a single-storey lean-to organ chamber abutment comprising a single window to the east cheek which finishes flush with the east gable. The east gable is symmetrically arranged with a single central window with intersecting-tracery; pinnacles over gable shoulders and small chimney over the apex. Extended to the right by the organ chamber and to the left by the vestry (see south elevation). The south elevation is asymmetrically arranged. South transept to the left matching the north transept (window to the left cheek); the right of which is abutted by a single-storey lean-to vestry comprising bi-partite lattice light to the east face; raised door to the left of the left face accessing the room from the exterior and a lower door to the right accessing the basement. Left of the transept is nave is two-windows wide. Setting The church is located adjacent to the main road from Castlewellan to Banbridge. The church grounds are largely enclosed by replacement railings. The site is accessed by wrought-iron gates fixed to squared masonry piers surmounted by a modern metal framed arch supporting a lantern. Burial grounds to the east, north and west including an underground burial chamber adjacent to the chancel. Sextons cottage to the north east of the site with a plaque inscribed with “FORMERLY SEXTON’S COTTAGE AND STABLE RECONSTRUCTED 1980.” Roofing: Natural slate Walling: stone Windows: Leaded lattice RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Drumgooland Parish Church was constructed in the 1820s; however the parish originally dates from the medieval period (Rankin). In 1836 the Ordnance Survey Memoirs stated that the church had been constructed in 1820 at an expense of £900, granted from the Board of First Fruits; at that time the church was described as a ‘neat building with a square tower, 63 feet long and 28 feet broad’ (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 22). Lewis wrote that the church was constructed in the early English style but recorded that it was in fact constructed in 1822. The church was valued at £17 3s. in the Townland Valuation of the 1830s. The marble monument to the Rev. Thomas Tighe dates from at least the 1830s and was erected in memory of the clergyman who had been rector of the parish for 56 years and oversaw the construction of the current church (prior to the erection of Drumgooland the congregation had met at a church in the townland of Drumballyroney (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 22). When first constructed the church had smaller north and south transepts, enlarged trancepts were not constructed until c. 1860 and first appear on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1859. The erection of the transepts resulted in the increase of the value of the church to £25 by c. 1862; this valuation was maintained until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929 despite additional alteration work being carried out in the 1890s. Drumgooland Parish was first recorded in medieval valuations in 1422 and 1546 and the early congregation met at ‘Dechomet’ on the Dromara Road and late in the nearby townland of Drumadonnel. The church in Dechomet was in ruins by 1657 when the congregation presumably moved to Drumadonnel. In the mid-late 18th century the Rev. Thomas Tighe became rector of the church and sought out a site for a new Parish Church; the current plot of land was leased from the Beers family of Ballyward Lodge who attended services at Drumgooland and were buried in a vault beneath it (HB17/10/ 007). Despite the Ordnance Survey Memoirs citing a construction date of 1820, the foundation stone of Drumgooland Parish Church was laid on 18 June 1821 and the building consecrated in 1822 (Rankin, p. 189). Rankin states that the Rev. Tighe established the Rev. Patrick Bronte (1777-1861; father of the famous novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte) as a schoolmaster in the neighbouring schoolhouse in Drumballyroney (HB 17/09/011B - not listed) and also assisted Bronte in getting accepted into Cambridge where he studied for ordination (Rankin). After the addition of the enlarged north and south transepts by c. 1860, Drumgooland Parish church underwent a second major modification in 1893 when the current chancel and vestry room were added. Drumgooland Parish was later grouped with the parish of Kilcooin 1930 and remained connected with it for 36 years (Rankin). In 1975 Drumgooland Parish Church suffered damage after an attack; the original stained glass windows at the north side of the church were smashed but were later restored with the current glazing and a plaque that was dedicated to the memory of Patrick Bronte. Drumgooland Parish separated from Kilcoo in the following year when it was joined with Drumballyroney (HB 17/09/011) and Drumgath (Rankin). Drumgooland Parish Church was listed in 1977 and continues to be used as a place of worship. The church’s former sexton’s cottage and stable, which were erected between the first and second editions of the Ordnance Survey maps, were reconstructed in 1980 and commemorated by a plaque at the site. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/42/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map 1833 2. PRONI OS/6/3/42/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859 3. PRONI OS/6/3/42/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1901-1902 4. PRONI OS/6/3/42/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-1920 5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/42 – Townland Valuation map 1833 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/359 – Townland Valuation c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/51/C – Griffith’s Valuation c. 1862 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5A – Annual Revisions 1864-1875 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5B – Annual Revisions 1876-1889 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5C – Annual Revisions 1888-1898 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5D – Annual Revisions 1899-1908 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5E – Annual Revisions 1909-1920 13. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5F – Annual Revisions 1921-1929 14. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down I Vol. 3 (1836) 15. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) 16. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918) 17. First Survey Record – HB17/10/008 (1969) Secondary Sources 1. Rankin, F., ‘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

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

Evaluation

A double-height Gothic-Revival Church of Ireland church built 1821. Its original character, appearance and style survive and the later aisle to the north and further additions for the vestry and organ chamber illustrate how the church has developed historically through the 19th and 20th centuries. The interior has also remained largely unaltered with modest detailing. The church has an indirect relationship with Patrick Bronte through the Rev Thomas Tighe. A good example of a well-detailed Gothic Revival church surviving in its original setting.

General Comments

Date of Survey

13 February 2012