Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/10/003

Address :
St Donard's Church of Ireland Church Bloomfield Road Belfast BT5 5DU

Townland:
BALLYHACKAMORE

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
01/11/1989 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:
130-14

IG Ref:
J3668 7377

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

A Gothic-revival style gabled single-storey double height Church of Ireland built in 1911 by London-based architect Edward Henry Lingen-Barker in Scrabo sandstone. Rectangular plan form set on an east-west axis a single storey monopitch outshot (narthex) and square-plan three stage tower to west elevation. Located within its own grounds on a site adjacent to the junction of Bloomfield Avenue and Beersbridge road. Pitched natural slate roof with red-clay angled ridge tiles, raised stone verges with chamfered coping stones; three gables at the nave and aisles. Single storey lean-to outshot connected to porch at west, both with slate roof. Cast-iron ogee-moulded guttering on projecting eaves and circular cast-iron downpipes (replaced with uPVC rainwater goods to southwest end). Stone walling laid in coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone with stone-cut plinth course. Coursed rock-faced Scrabo sandstone chimney with corbelled coping and single black-clay pot. Geometric tracery to windows with pointed arch hood mouldings and carved head stops with stained leaded glazing (unless stated otherwise). The principal elevation faces west with gables at the ends of nave and south aisle and is abutted by a single storey five bay lean-to outshot, single-storey porch to the southwest side and square-plan tower at the northwest end. Large four-part tracery window with quatrefoils above to main gable; the south aisle gable has a small trefoil window and trefoil windows to the outshot. The tower has pinnacles and a parapet at the belfry stage with two trefoil louvred openings at each elevation, three small square-headed openings in the second stage with a painted metal clock face at the west elevation and a double trefoil window with quatrefoil above at ground floor level. The tower has a single stage angle buttresses and a three stage stair tower with blind tracery on each face in third stage. Pointed arch door opening to tower with cut-stone surround and pointed-arch hood moulding on carved head stops with replacement vertical-sheeted timber door having decorative iron door furniture opening onto two stone steps. The porch has a pointed arch door opening facing north with chamfered surround, vertical-sheeted double-leaf timber door and decorative iron door furniture opening onto a concrete paved platform. The north elevation is five bays wide, each separated by two stage buttresses and abutted by single storey lean-to entrance porch to west end with natural slate roof. A pointed arch opening with hood moulding to the entrance porch leads to a pointed arch door opening with chamfered stone surround and vertical-sheeted double-leaf timber door having decorative iron door furniture and opening onto a tiled platform. Double trefoil windows with quatrefoils above and stained glazing. The south elevation is four bays wide, each separated by two stage buttresses and has a lower four bay outshot to the east. A modern rendered corridor connects the church to the modern Parish centre to the southeast. Double trefoil windows to aisle with quatrefoils above and stained glass. Lancet windows to outshot with chamfered jambs and sills, cut-stone surround and stained leaded glazing. The east elevation has three gables with single- and two stage buttresses. The main gable has a large stained glass tri-partite trefoil window with quatrefoils above and a small square-headed window at a higher level. The north gable has a two-part tracery window with stained glazing and quatrefoil above, a small square-headed window at a higher level and a square-headed window with cut-stone surround and replaced frosted glazing. A square-headed door opening to the north gable with vertical-sheeted timber door and decorative iron door furniture leads to ground floor and another square-headed door leads to the basement. The south gable, a gabled outshot to south aisle, is recessed and embellished by a lancet window with chamfered jambs and sill, cut-stone surround and stained leaded glazing. The church is located within its own grounds with the adjoining parish centre, a Hall to the southeast, and a large car-park to the rear on a site adjacent to the junction of Bloomfield Avenue and Beersbridge road. Lawned around the church and concrete paved to rest, the site is enclosed by rock-faced stone wall with coping topped by original cast-iron railings; square stone gate piers supporting original gates to all southwest, west and north entrances. Materials: Roof: natural slate Walling: Scrabo sandstone RWG: cast iron Windows: leaded stained glazing

Architects

Historical Information

St. Donard’s Church of Ireland, a Gothic-style church located at the corner of the Bloomfield Road and Beersbridge Road, was constructed in 1911-12. Rankin records that the congregation of St. Donard was originally part of a much larger congregation, known as St. Clement’s, that met in a temporary church on the Beersbridge Road. However due to a well-publicised dispute between the congregation and its Minister, the original church was forced to close in 1899. The Rev. W. Peoples led a following of over 700 but shortly after its establishment the vast majority of the congregation found offence with their minister’s ritualistic views. Peoples was criticised for being too ‘High Church,’ practising an Anglo-Catholic service which alienated many of his charge. Out of the congregation of 700 only 20 members of the church supported Peoples’ methods and from August 1898 to March 1899 Peoples and his Church became the targets of Orange mobs. Each Sunday for six months St. Clements Church was reputedly surrounded by a throng of approximately a thousand Orange Men and other groups who harassed Peoples on his way to his dwelling and also broke into the church building to remove offending items such as hymn books (and presumably Catholic iconography). The attacks upon the church were not isolated. However the leader of the protestors urged his followers that ‘as soon as things are finally settled at St. Clements Church we will tackle St. George’s [High Street] ... we will just walk in in a body and bring out everything that ought not to be there.’ The recurring religious violence at St. Clements was discussed at Westminster by Nationalist politicians who presented the episode as an example of the stranglehold militant Orangeism was having over politics and ecclesiastical affairs in the city (Hansard). In the aftermath of these disturbances a number of the original congregation moved to Templemore Avenue where they established St. Clement’s Church of Ireland (see HB26/06/014) and the newly-formed congregation of St. Donard’s relocated to the current site which was acquired in 1900. Prior to the erection of the current building, the congregation of St. Donard’s met in an ‘iron church’,- a temporary and portable church hall. The pre-1899 congregation had met in a similar iron church, although this was relocated to Templemore Avenue in the aftermath of the schism, necessitating the purchase of a second iron church for St. Donard’s (Rankin, pp83-84). The union between the parishes of St. Donard and St. Clement was dissolved in 1902 when St. Donard was established as a parish in its own right. However, the congregation continued to meet at the iron church for a decade until sufficient funds were gathered to erect the current church in 1911-12. The Irish Builder noted that a London-based architect, Edward Henry Lingen Barker (1838-1917), was commissioned by the Belfast Church Extension Committee to design the building and that the foundation stone was laid by the Archbishop of Armagh on 7th October 1911; the completed building was dedicated to St. Donard on 1st June 1912 (Irish Builder, p. 210; p. 690; DIA). The Natural Stone Database records that Barker utilised locally-quarried Scrabo sandstone in the masonry of the church (NSD). Despite the completion of St. Donard’s Church of Ireland in 1912, the building eas still not valued by the time of the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1929. The only building included by the valuer was St. Donard’s National Schoolhouse, which was located on the Beersbridge Road to the south side of the church building and was valued at £58. Rankin notes that the current vestry of the church (located at the east corner of the church) was added in 1922 due to the installation of a new church organ; the current organ was built by the local firm of Evans & Barr. The church was first valued in the First Revaluation of 1935; in that year the combined value of St. Donard’s and its church hall was set at £110. Six bells were installed within the bell tower in 1949. These were added in memory of Canon A. Moore who served the congregation as incumbent minister between 1906 and 1946 and had overseen the construction of the church in 1911-12. By the Second Revaluation, the value of the church had been greatly increased to £780. However in 1967 the adjoining church hall (which had replaced the school) was reconstructed and enlarged at a cost of £20,000. As a result the combined value of the church and hall was increased to £960 in 1970. The Belfast Telegraph noted that a new robing room for the choir was also added to the church as part of the renovation. In 1984 the First Survey described St. Donard’s Church as ‘a small single chamber church with projecting square bell tower' and the building was subsequently listed in 1989. The general layout of St. Donard’s Church has not discernibly changed since 1922, aside from the erection of the church hall and a youth hall (to the north east of the site). The NIEA HB Records note that the congregation is currently planning to construct a new parish centre which will involve the demolition of the existing youth hall; the proposed hall is intended to be single-storey and connected to the existing church building (NIEA HB Records). References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/4/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858 2. PRONI OS/6/3/4/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1902 3. PRONI OS/6/3/4/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-21 4. PRONI OS/6/3/4/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1931 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/6 – Annual Revisions 1906-1914 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/11 – Annual Revisions 1915-1930 7. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/12 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/30 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72 9. Hansard (Feb; Mar 1899) 10. Irish Builder (1 Apr 1911) 11. Belfast Street Directories (1880-1943) 12. Belfast Telegraph (3 Jun 1967) 13. First Survey Record (1984) 14. First Survey Image (No Date) 15. NIEA HB Records – HB26/10/003 Secondary Sources 1. Rankin, F., ‘Clergy of Down and Dromore’ Belfast: The Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com//stone_types.cfm?stc=205 3. St. Donard’s Church website - http://www.stdonards.com/

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

R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance V. Authorship X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A fine Gothic-revival style three-gable single-storey double height church, built in 1911 to designs by the London based architect Edward Henry Lingen-Barker. The exterior has retained its historic character, style and proportions. The interior layout and detailing is also largely unchanged. The church is enhanced by the good quality boundary gates, railings and walls and has social importance for the local community.

General Comments

Date of Survey

20 January 2014