Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/17/004 A

Address :
Lambeg Parish Church Church Hill Lambeg North Lisburn Co. Antrim BT27 4SB

Townland:
Lambeg North

---

Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
06/05/1987 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

---

OS Map No:
165/03

IG Ref:
J2841 6667

---

Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing gable-fronted double-height rubblestone church set on an east-west axis, built c.1850, with three-stage square-plan tower abutting front gable, dated 1737, with south side abutted by further gable-fronted, apsidal-ended rubblestone nave, built c.1870, forming a double gabled composition. Church set back on the south side of Church Hill Road set within its own landscaped ground above Lambeg Bridge surrounded to south and west by cemetery and car park to north. Extensively renovated and upgraded c.2000, with roof raised and re-configured and single-storey vestry added to northeast corner. Square-plan three-stage rubble basalt stone tower with red sandstone quoins, chamfered red sandstone string course to each stage, stone ashlar parapet and corner pinnacles. Cast-iron bell to roof. Depressed arched stone openings to the upper stage with timber louvres. Similar opening to the sides of the middle stage with rectangular sandstone date plaque to the front inscribed ‘1737’. Pointed-arched window opening to the lower stage with chamfered sandstone surround containing stone Y-tracery forming pair of lancets and roundel above with stained glass windows. Lean-to principal entrance porch to north side of tower. Steeply pitched natural slate roofs, catslide at different pitch to north nave, covering north side aisle, with lower gable-ended roof to north chancel and semi-conical roof to east apse. Black clay ridge tiles and cavetto-moulded stone ashlar coping to slightly raised front gables. Lead-lined central valley and replacement ogee-moulded cast-iron rainwater goods to concave corbels. Coursed rubble basalt walling, rock-faced to south nave, having sandstone ashlar quoins and buttresses with ashlar offsets. Carved sandstone window frames throughout with quarry glazing and stained glass windows. Front west elevation comprising two similar sized gables, that to the left abutted by the earlier tower, that to the right dominated by large rose window having hood moulding, voussoired relieving arch and filled with three pairs of interlocking mouchettes forming three circles and containing stained glass. Several cusped window openings with quarry glazing to either side of secondary entrance to south gable with compound sandstone pointed-arched opening and replacement double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber doors. Lean-to porch to north side of tower with sandstone ashlar pointed-arched door opening having replacement vertically-sheeted timber door and battered pier. Further segmental-headed window opening adjacent to entrance with pair of cusped windows and quatrefoil above. North side elevation is four windows wide with four paired cusped windows each flanked by buttresses. Single-storey three-bay stone vestry to north east corner, built c.2000, detailed as per north nave elevation. East end comprises gabled chancel to right abutted by apsidal end to left with central leaded valley between the two. Pointed-arched east window to chancel gable formed in Portland limestone comprising three cusped windows with sexfoil over, containing stained glass. South side elevation is five windows wide with pointed segmental-arched window openings having three ogee-headed openings and curvilinear lights above with hood moulding over. Several upstanding marble and stone grave-markers dating from the eighteenth-century to the present, with bitmac front area opening into a pair of short tree-lined driveways, with car park to the north, opening onto Church Hill two pairs of decorative wrought-iron gates. Gate pillars are square;two with sandstone cappings and two with concrete cappings. Either side are curved screen walls with concrete copings - all have a modern pebble dash finish. Roof Replacement natural slate Walling Basalt / sandstone ashlar Windows Sandstone framed / quarry glazing / stained glass RWG Replacement cast-iron

Architects

Butterfield, William Welland & Gillespie

Historical Information

The church dates from 1849, with the exception of the tower which survives from an earlier church of 1737. Additions were made in 1869. According to Marshall, there has been a church at Lambeg since 1306. In the fifteenth century a monastery or nunnery was built on the site of the present church and OS Memoirs refer to some of the stone from this building being used to build an addition to the east end of the church. “A portion of the foundation walls, which is of great thickness and run together by grouted lime, is often discovered in sinking graves on the site.” (OS Memoirs, p.136, Marshall, p.13-8) A map of 1598 shows a church on the site and in 1737 a new church was built by the Wolfenden family which was enlarged in 1824 with the addition of a vestry room. This church is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832-3, the plan suggesting a simple hall with tower attached. The Townland Valuation (1828-40) lists a church and graveyard valued at £5.12s and gives dimensions. OS Memoirs give a full description of this church, vestry and tower. (OS Memoirs, p.134, Marshall, p.13-18) In 1849 the church was entirely rebuilt, with the exception of the Tower, at the instigation of the Rev. Alexander Orr, the plans being prepared by William Butterfield, the designer of several church and college buildings in Oxford and Rugby but who completed few commissions in Ireland. The rebuilding of the church was necessitated by a growth in the population due to the expanding linen industry. (Marshall, p.18-21) According to Marshall the materials of the old church were used for building the Lambeg Village Schoolhouse which adjoined the church and was demolished in 1955. (Marshall, p.21; Lambeg Parish Church) Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) and the OS map of 1858 show that the church has been rebuilt and give dimensions for the new building which is now valued at £18 and £2 for the graveyard. In 1869, Welland and Gillespie added a new nave with semicircular chancel to the south side of the church. The contractor was Robert McConnell. Marshall comments, “From this time until 1902 the east end of the new aisle was used as the chancel, with the pulpit close against the south wall, but at the latter date the chancel proper was restored. It was renovated in 1905 by Miss Louisa Neill.” (Marshall, p.23, www.dia.ie) In 1921 Sir Milne Barbour made a gift of land to extend the churchyard and in 1924 new entrance gates were erected. A parochial hall was opened in 1937 and extended in 1964 and the church was refurbished internally in 1949 and in 1967. In 1969 a robing room was constructed abutting the rear of the church, which was rebuilt c.2000. Also at about this time the entire roof of the church was raised and altered to form a catslide with the lean-to roof of the north aisle. In 1976 the stonework was restored. (Lambeg Parish Church) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/64/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3 2. PRONI OS/6/1/64/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/1/64/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901 4. PRONI OS/6/1/64/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1 5. PRONI OS/6/1/64/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1920-31 6. PRONI OS/6/1/64/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1920-39 7. PRONI VAL/1/B/127 – Townland Valuation (1828-40) 8. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/59 – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/7A-D – Annual Revisions (1867-1929) 10. PRONI VAL/12/E/38/1– Annual Revisions Town Plan (1907-c1935) 11. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Volume 8, Parishes of County Antrim II, 1832-8” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1991 Secondary Sources 1. Lambeg Parish Church Towards 2000, Parish Development Programme, 1993 2. Marshall, Rev H C “The Parish of Lambeg” Lisburn, 1933 3. www.dia.ie - Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

An important double-gabled stone church of 1850 with an earlier eighteenth century three-stage tower set in picturesque grounds with a wealth of grave-markers and tombs overlooking the Lagan River and Wolfenden’s Bridge. ‘Lann Bheag’ meaning ‘little church’ no doubt derives its name from an early church at this site and the tower of the present church, dated 1737, gives the present church its characteristic form to what is essentially a pair of nineteenth-century naves. Recently renovated with its roof raised and re-configured, the exterior retains most of its original late nineteenth-century appearance. The interior was substantially altered during recent works with most internal fabric now a facsimile of the original, except the roof trusses (re-installed), the stone arches, the organ and the pulpit. The church enjoys a fine setting close to the listed Wolfenden Bridge and has group value with the two listed tombs within the adjacent graveyard - Wolfenden and Barbour.

General Comments

Date of Survey

20 May 2010