Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/03/016

Address :
Glastry Presbyterian Church Manse Road Glastry Kircubbin Newtownards Co. Down BT22 1DR

Townland:
Glastry

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
07/09/1976 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:
169/9

IG Ref:
J6302 6253

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Owner Category

Church - Presbyterian

Exterior Description And Setting

Single storey, originally ‘T’ shaped and now cross shaped, church of 1777 with gable ends, semi-circular arch head window openings, quoins and a surrounding graveyard, all set on a rise at the side of the Manse Road in the tiny hamlet of Glastry. Front SW elevation of church has almost central full height gabled porch which contains two levels. SE facing gable of porch is blank. Left side of porch has plain timber sheeted door set in square headed moulded door surround, with small upper level semi-circular arch headed window above with moulded surround and keystone. The window frame itself has two vertical sections with semi-circular arch heads, with a single horizontal astragal and a small circular in fill on top centre above the arch heads. The two vertical sections have plain glass, with coloured glass to the infill above. Small recessed date panel between porch door and window crudely inscribed ‘Ann Dom. 1777 Rev W S Dickson Minister’. Right side of porch has window as before to both levels. To left of porch (on original main church building) are two windows, as before only larger, with a third window set at a higher level and filled with stained glass. This third window comes extremely close to the intersection of the porch wall and, as a result has no moulding to its right side. Similar arrangement in reverse to main building to right of porch. Chamfered quoins to front elevation. NW gable of main building has high level windows and frames as those to front, but without moulding. SE gable of main building has high level windows and frames as those to front, but without moulding. Small recessed panel below window to SE gable crudely inscribed ‘Serve God with Gladness’. Rear NE has central full height gabled projection with small lean to extension to gable of projection. To either side on main building is a single window as before but with stained glass, with a similar stained glass window set at high level to gable of projection. To both left and right sides of the projection proper are two windows with frames as front, with three similar (but smaller) windows to the NW side of the small lean to extension attached to the gable of the projection. The right side of the lean to extension has a plain timber sheeted door whilst the left side is blank. Entire facade finished in lined render and painted. All roofs pitched with mixture of Bangor blue and asbestos slates, with stone parapets ( small octagonal ‘disguised’ chimney to apex) to porch only. PVC gutters and down spouts.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This church was built in 1777 under the direction of Rev. William Steel Dickson. Previously, the Presbyterian congregation of Ballyhalbert, Portavogie and Kircubbin had worshipped within a church built in 1721 near the old Norman motte in the town of Ballyhalbert. In the mid 1770s many members the congregation from Kircubbin took it upon themselves to erect a new meeting house in their own area, and though efforts were made to dissuade such actions, the Kircubbin congregation proceeded to establish their own fold under their own minister. Partly in the light of this the remainder of the ‘Ballyhalbert’ congregation decided to move their own church to Glastry, and in March 1777 Rev. Steel Dickson placed an advert in the Belfast News Letter inviting persons to tender for the building of ‘a new meeting house’. Steel Dickson’s ministry at Glastry was not lengthy, however, as he left in February 1780 on accepting a call to Portaferry. A professed political and religious radical, he became instrumental in the formation of the United Irishmen in the 1790s and was later imprisoned for his actions. It is not clear whether Dickson’s original church had the porch we see today; certainly the current awkwardness of the window arrangement and the proximity of the main entrance and pulpit suggests not, however, by the time of the first Ordnance Survey map of the area in 1834, a porch appears to have been added. The next major alteration to the building occurred in January 1839 when the infamous ‘Great Wind’ carried away the entire roof, and in 1859 a new manse was built adjacent to the church itself. At some stage during the latter half of the nineteenth century, the church appears to have been refurbished, with decoration added to the window, frames, surrounds and plaster work to the interior, work probably carried out at the behest of the energetic Rev. Robert Workman, minister of Glastry from 1871 to 1910. The church was substantially renovated in 1955-6 and again in the mid 1960s, with the windows replaced in 1991. The interior is due for renovation within the next few months (1998). References- Primary sources 1 PRONI MIC IP/111 Reel 1-2 Records of Glastry ( and Ballyhalbert) Presbyterian Church 1728- 2 PRONI D.1748 Tennent Papers [Contact Philip Smith via PRONI.] 3 William Steel Dickson 'A Narrative of the confinement and exile of William Steel, formerly minister of the Presbyterian congregations of Ballyhalbert and Portaferry, in the County of Down, and now of Keady, in the County of Armagh'. [Available in Linenhall Library, Belfast.] 4 Belfast News Letter, 12 March 1777. [On microfilm at The Linenhall Library Belfast.] 5 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991). 6 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Edition, 1834, Co. Down 18. 7 PRONI VAL 1B/312 1st valuation, Inishargy, c.1835. 8 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Revision, 1860, Co. Down 18. 9 PRONI 2nd valuation, Inishargy, c.1863. Secondary sources 1 Rev. W.D. Bailie 'The Story of Glastry Congregation' (Belfast 1977). 2 Brendan Clifford ed. 'Scripture politics: Selections from the writings of William Steel Dickson, the most influential United Irishman of the north' (Belfast 1991).

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

B. Proportion D. Plan Form H+. Alterations enhancing the building I. Quality and survival of Interior

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Cruciform, single storey Presbyterian church of the 1770s, with later porch and Victorian moulding to openings.

General Comments

Date of Survey

11 September 1997