Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/04/001

Address :
All Saints Church of Ireland Eglantine Road Hillsborough County Antrim BT27 5RQ

Townland:
Carnbane

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
07/02/1977 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:
165/13

IG Ref:
J2432 6129

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing stone Church of Ireland church, built c.1880 with apsidal chancel and decorative entrance portico, to the designs of Sir Thomas Drew. Rectangular on plan set on an east west axis, located on the east side of Eglantine Road and to the south of the M1. Re-tiled c.2008. Pitched terracotta tiled roofs with ridgecomb tiles set slightly below sandstone coping to all gables with moulded kneeler stones and surmounted by stone Celtic crosses. Terracotta tiles to apsidal chancel roof surmounted by lead cone and cross. Iron dog-tooth box guttering supported on exposed shaped rafter feet and cast-iron downpipes. Decorative stone chimneystack rising from the south nave wall behind the vestry. Rock-faced random rubblestone walling with splayed plinth course to the north and west elevations, sandstone ashlar quoins and diagonal buttresses to the west gable. Angled buttress to the junction of the east gable and the chancel rising to form a sandstone ashlar gablet belfry with bowtel mouldings, gothic bell arch, three iron bells and surmounted by an iron crest with weather cock. Pointed-headed window openings with red sandstone relieving arches, flush sandstone window surrounds and diagonally-leaded glazing. South nave elevation has a catslide roof at the same angle covering the south aisle. This elevation is abutted by single-storey vestry block to the east and a decorative open timber entrance porch having exposed scissor truss timber roof with leaded glazing to the cheeks on low rubblestone walls with sandstone coping. Within the porch is a black and red clay tiled floor with pointed-headed sandstone doorcase comprising; vertically-sheeted timber door with decorative iron door furniture flanked by pair of engaged squat columns and compound arch with hood moulding. Vestry contains pointed-headed door and window openings formed in flush chamfered sandstone surrounds with a diagonally-sheeted timber door and leaded windows. West gable has a trefoil-headed double-height window opening with rough red sandstone voussoirs and flush sandstone ashlar plate tracery comprising a pair of trefoil-headed lancets and sexfoil above, all having bowtel reveals, splayed sills and leaded glazing. North nave elevation is four windows wide with pointed-headed openings, red sandstone voussoirs. Alternating between trefoil-headed lancets and plate tracery (as per west window). East elevation abutted by apsidal chancel with six trefoil-headed lancet openings on a continuous sandstone sill band. Setting: Set on an east west axis, located on the east side of Eglantine Road and to the south of the M1, accessed from Eglantine Road via carpark of modern Church Hall built c. 1995 with long bitmac drive and enclosed within its own landscaped grounds with graveyard to the east and rubble piers to end of avenue. Grave-markers date from 1920. Roof Replacement terracotta tiles RWG Refurbished dog-tooth iron Walling Random rock-faced basalt / sandstone ashlar Windows Sandstone lancets & plate tracery/ leaded glazing

Architects

Drew, Thomas

Historical Information

All Saint’s Church first appears on the third Ordnance Survey map for the Hillsborough area (c.1902) as an oblong structure in the Townland of Carnbane slightly north of Eglantine House and a few miles north of Hillsborough. In 1880 the Annual Revisions record that Margaret Mulholland, occupant of Eglantine House, had recently allocated over an acre of land to be used for the construction of a new church at Carnbane. Along with this land was gifted a gate lodge originally intended for the Mulholland Estate. In that same year the Annual Revisions first record the new ‘Church and Land,’ valuing the building at £38. The gate lodge was used as the new sextons house valued at £4. The Church value was maintained at £38 until the end of the Annual revisions in 1929. Before construction of the building began the Irish Builder wrote that Margaret Mulholland was to erect the Church as a memorial to her late father, Mr. St. Clair Kelburn Mulholland (d. 1872) and her brother of the same name (d. 1861). The writer stated that the church was to be ‘situated within [her] demesne and will be a prominent feature in a pleasing rural landscape, viewed from the windows of the Mansion. The architect has therefore endeavoured to make it simple rather than imposing, and quite picturesque.’ The magazine recorded that the church could accommodate a congregation of around 250 parishioners. The church was planned to be constructed with local greenish stone for the walling with Dungannon stone dressings; within to be ornately designed to provide ‘a generally rich but unpretentious treatment of the interior.’ The church was constructed by Messers Lowry and Son at the cost of £2,000 and the editor states that ‘the work has been carefully designed throughout by an old and attached friend of the two gentlemen whom it is to commemorate (Irish Builder, vol. 17, 15 Jan 1875, p. 15). The Dictionary of Irish Architects states that this friend was Sir Thomas Drew who designed and built the Church. The foundation stone was laid on 27th June 1874 and the Church was consecrated a year later on 15th July 1875 (DIA - http://www.dia.ie/). Brett believes that this church is the finest ever designed by Thomas Drew, built in a distinctly English style with walls of Blackstone and small red roof tiles. Brett tells us that Sir Thomas Drew (1838-1910) worked for Charles Lanyon and designed many churches throughout Ulster, before being appointed as diocesan architect of Down, Connor and Dromore in 1865. He was knighted in 1900 as part of the Queen’s birthday honours. Although the Irish Builder states that the estimated cost of construction was £2,000, Brett tells us that the final cost of All Saint’s Church came to £3,442. 5s. 10d. Kelly tells us that the Mulholland family helped to maintain this church, providing the sexton’s house, a school house at Newport and a Rectory (Wellington Lodge – HB 19/04/003). The family maintained a strong influence on the church until 1917 when the last surviving family member died, Brett comments that ‘they were generous indeed to this country parish, and uncommonly well served by their architect (Brett, p. 212; Kelly, p. 54.) Originally part of Christ Church and Broomhedge parishes, at some stage Eglantine was made a small parish in its own right. Brett states that the Sexton’s House is contemporary to the Church building, likely also built by Sir Thomas Drew; a panel on the front wall reads: ‘Sexton’s House 1875.’ Brett describes it as an ‘uncommonly pretty small L-shaped two-storey house ... very much the self-conscious creation of an architect, in a mildly humorous semi-ecclesiastical vein, and exactly right its rural setting’ (Brett, p. 212). The Church website tells us that the old Lagan Canal used to cut the Church off from parishioners north of the Eglantine Demesne; in order to allow people from the Maze and other areas to attend services here, All Saint’s employed a boatman for £1. a year to ferry people across the Canal (All Saints website). Beside the church is a graveyard which, apart from the Mulholland family and local parishioners, holds the remains of 21 Commonwealth Air Force men, who served at the RAF aerodrome at Long Kesh and died during the Second World War (Brett, p. 68). In 1924 a new pipe organ was installed at Eglantine (All Saint’s website). From this period until the present there have been few additions to All Saint’s Church. The Church was listed in 1977 and in 1995 the new parish hall was added in the church yard to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the Church. The current Rector is the Rev. Canon William Bell who was installed in March 1989 (Kelly, p. 54). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/14 – Field Map c.1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834 3. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858 4. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-1903 5. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-1920 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation 1856-64 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16 A – Annual Revisions 1863-1879 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16 B – Annual Revisions 1880-1888 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16 C – Annual Revisions 1889-1905 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16 D – Annual Revisions 1906-1914 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/5D – Annual Revisions 1915-1929 12. Irish Builder, vol. 17, 15 Jan 1875, p. 15 (Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/). Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of North County Down’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002. 2. Kelly, D., ‘Lisburn’s rich church heritage: Churches and places of worship in the Lisburn city area’ Lisburn: Impression Print and Design, 2009. 3. Rankin, K., ‘The linen houses of the Lagan Valley’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002. 4. ‘All Saints’ Church Eglantine, Lisburn (Pamphlet, 2010). Online Resources 1. All Saint’s Church Website - http://www.eglantine.me.uk/

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

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Church of Ireland church, built c.1880 with apsidal chancel and decorative entrance portico, to the designs of Sir Thomas Drew, located on the east side of Eglantine Road. A formidable exercise in Early English style architecture built from basalt with sandstone dressings as a memorial chapel by St Clair Mulholland, as part of the Eglantine House Demesne. Retaining all internal and external features the church is a rare example of is type and further enhanced by its rural setting.

General Comments

Date of Survey

01 October 2010