Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/03/002

Address :
Magheragall Parish Church Ballinderry Road Magheragall Lisburn County Antrim BT28 2QS

Townland:
Magheragall/Moneybroom

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
26/08/1988 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
Yes

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
164/08

IG Ref:
J2191 6501

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing hall and tower Board of First Fruits Gothic-Revival stone Church of Ireland church, dated 1831. Rectangular on plan with entrance tower to the west, later chancel to the east and vestry attached to the northeast. Set on an elevated site on the north side of Ballinderry Road surrounded by cemetery. Restored 1992. Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and stone coping to either gable end. Stone lucarne to the west bay rising from both north and south elevations. Cast-iron guttering on decorative iron brackets to red sandstone eaves course and cast-iron downpipes. Galleted rubblestone walling with lime pointing, chamfered sandstone plinth course and sandstone ashlar quoins. Lancet window openings formed in chamfered sandstone with hood mouldings, stone or timber Y-tracery and leaded coloured glazing. Three-stage square-plan entrance bell tower to the west built in rubblestone with sandstone ashlar clasping buttresses, octagonal to the upper stage surmounted by octagonal stone pinnacles with crenellated parapet wall concealing the roof. Pointed-headed window openings to the upper stage having chamfered surrounds and hood mouldings to all four sides with timber louvres. Plain projecting sandstone platband dividing each stage with the middle stage having an oculus to the north and south elevations formed in red sandstone and containing modern date stone to the north stating: 'Built/1831/Builder R. Mc Henry/Restored/1992', and an iron clock face to the south elevation. South elevation has a pointed-headed door opening with stop-chamfered sandstone surround and hood moulding containing replacement double-leaf hardwood door and over-panel. Above the entrance is a further sandstone relieving arch with carved stone plaque stating: 'This is the/ Victory/ that over/ cometh the/ world even/ our/ Faith'. To the west elevation a pointed-headed lancet occupies the lower and middle stages with sandstone relieving arch, chamfered sandstone surround and hood moulding with painted Y-tracery and leaded lights. Rear north nave elevation is three windows wide with a lucarne above the westermost bay having feathered stone coping surmounted by a trefoil and containing a lancet opening with leaded coloured light. East gable abutted by rough-cast rendered gabled chancel, added c.1900 with vestry attached to the north. The chancel gable has a pointed-headed breakfront containing tripartite lancet openings formed in chamfered sandstone on a single sill and having decorative stone coping over. The vestry has a catslide roof at a different angle with quadripartite stone lancet window to the east elevation and a door opening to the re-entrant angle. Principal south elevation as per north elevation. Three decorative stone box tombs located to the re-entrant angle of the east gable and chancel. West gable abutted by tower. Setting: Set on an elevated site on the north side of Ballinderry Road with stone and marble grave-markers to the east, south and west, dating from the early eighteenth-century to the present day. Site enclosed by rubblestone wall with cement coping having a pedestrian entrance to the west with steel gates and concrete piers. Modern steel railing to concrete footpath leads to the entrance tower with concrete steps, steel railings and concrete universal access ramp to the entrance. Parish hall and car park located to the east. Roof Natural slate RWG Cast-iron Walling Galleted rubble / sandstone ashlar Windows Lancets / leaded coloured lights

Architects

Historical Information

The parish church at Magheragall appears on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map for the area in 1832 as a T-shaped building with a return on the north side (the modern vestry). In later editions of the maps starting in 1857 the Church appears slightly altered into an oblong structure with a less pronounced return than that visible in 1832. The Townland Valuations valued this church at £12. 8s. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs for Magheragall (1833-38) describe the Church in great detail. The writer states that ‘Magheragall Church is an oblong building one–storey high and slated, and measures 56 ft by 28 ft inside, walls three feet thick; and attached to the west end a very handsome tower, three-storey high ... on the third storey a moderate sized bell bearing date 1762.’ Although the bell bears the date 1762, within the tower a datestone bears the inscription ‘1830, Paul McHenry builder.’ The writer tells us that the cost of erection was £1,000, the majority of this sum granted as a loan by the Board of First Fruits. The Irish Builder records that construction of the church was begun in June 1830 and that the church was consecrated by Bishop Mant on 2 June 1831 (Irish Builder 38, 1 Oct 1897, p. 188). In the 1830s the Rev. John Mussen was the incumbent minister at Magheragall Parish Church, living in a thatched cottage beside the church, his income £138. 10s. per annum. The memoir tells us that the church could accommodate a congregation of 350 and that the average attendance was 200 to 300 people. Griffith’s Valuation (1859) records the value of the Church at £19. 10., although it is unclear why there was an increase in this value. The church continued to be valued at £19. until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1928. In 1897 George Blount of Belfast carried out extensive alterations and additions to the church (Irish Builder 38, 1 Oct 1897, p. 188). Kelly tells us that a parish has been recorded at Magheragall from as early as 1306. The parish church was burned down during the Rebellion of 1641 and a new building was erected in 1676 before itself being replaced in 1830-31. It is from the 1676 church that the current bell originates. The parish rectory was built in the 1850s and a new church organ was installed in 1875. Kelly tells us that the chancel was installed and a new graveyard consecrated in 1898, however, a graveyard was recorded on the Ordnance Survey maps as early as 1857. Further additions included the installation of the clock in the church tower in 1906 when the interior of the church was also renovated. In 1951 electricity was installed in the church for the first time and a year later new choir stalls were added. The tower was repaired in 1955 and in 1971 the parochial hall was built close to the church (Kelly, p. 70). The church was listed in 1988; in that year the church was reroofed and a new vestry room built. The current rector is the Rev. Nicholas Dark (Kelly). In 1994 renovations to the chancel were carried out (NIEA File). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/63 – Field Map c.1830 2. PRONI VAL/1/B/174 – Townland Valuation 3. PRONI OS/6/1/63/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832 4. PRONI OS/6/1/63/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1857 5. PRONI OS/6/1/63/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-1901 6. PRONI OS/6/1/63/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1921 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/62 – Griffith’s Valuation 1859 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 A – Annual Revisions 1863-1865 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 B – Annual Revisions 1869-1881 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 C – Annual Revisions 1881-1894 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 D – Annual Revisions 1895-1908 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 E – Annual Revisions 1909-1928 13. Irish Builder, Vol. 38, 1 Oct 1897, p. 188 (Dictionary of Irish Architects www.dia.ie) Secondary Sources 1. Kelly, D., ‘Lisburn’s rich church heritage: Churches and places of worship in the Lisburn city area’ Lisburn: Impression Print and Design, 2009.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Gothic-Revival stone Church of Ireland church, dated 1831, located on an elevated site on the north side of Ballinderry Road. Occuping a prominent site this tower and hall type church has been extensively refurbished but retains its overall external composition including its unusual lucarnes to the roof and a decorative three-stage tower. Despite having a cement wall finish internally, the simple treatment is enlivened by the addition of the chancel and some decorative stained glass, representing the status of the local Anglican community and skilled craftsmanship of the nineteenth-century. It has group value with the nearby Magheragall Rectory (HB19.03.001), and they both enjoy an unspoilt rural settting.

General Comments

Date of Survey

20 September 2010