St Patrick’s Church

The Team

Client Very Rev Fr. Martin O’Hagan

PP, Parish of Newtownards and Comber

Architect & Principal Designer

HBK Architects Ltd

Quantity Surveyor

Macauley Heaney Partnership

Tiling Contractors

Armatile

Structural Engineers

Gilligan and Partners

M&E Engineers Bailie Associates Ltd

Main Contractor

O’Prey Developments

Stonework

S. McConnell & Sons Stone

Photography Paul Bell

If stones could speak’ - this is exactly what the inherent vision for the restoration of St. Patrick’s Church encapsulates. This wonderful Victorian ecclesiastical edifice with its treasured provenance reveals the architectural astuteness of that great exponent of the liturgical context, Joseph Hansom (of the patented Hansom cab), who was approached by Lady Elizabeth, the wife of Frederick, the 4th Marquis of Londonderry, in the mid 1870s, to design a Catholic Parish Church for Newtownards on an elevated site in North Street, and thus began a partnership that would reach across the decades. The great architecture of the Parish Church, on completion, was indeed described by Joseph Hansom as a ‘Cathedral in miniature’ which coincided with his work of Arundel Cathedral. Elizabeth’s desire to build the Church at her own expense also reveals her own personal faith journey and this organic building was born, evidencing the crafts and expertise in skills that show true creative longevity. It became a place of prayer for the parish and for guests of the family who came from all over Europe and beyond, then, and now.

The Parish Church of St. Patrick’s in Newtownards was solemnly opened, and the altar dedicated on the 24th October 1877, an auspicious day which marked a new chapter in the long history of the parish. The Church of Our Lady of the Visitation in Comber had been dedicated five years earlier in 1872. Lady Elizabeth endowed St. Patrick’s Church in Newtownards with many of the liturgical furnishings and fittings. The reredos was made of marble, with a fine altar of Caen stone, pitch pine seating, a fine pulpit which wrapped itself around a pillar, and more besides. The sandstone pillars stand tall and proud, island-like and surrounded by seating, all handcarved. The lantern tower, particularly English in style, shows the elegance of height and majesty. The rose window, a typical feature of a Hansom design, with the simplicity and profundity of the stain glass and intricate designs which play with the changing light and seasons.

The Church has undergone several renovations; in the 1960s with Vatican II and again in 1988. It was in 2020 that the restoration began after several years of preparation, planning and research. Indeed, there was a clear vision on the part of the Parish Priest, Fr. Martin O’Hagan, among others, that was truly about that increasing possibility of realising a dream in which the Church would be returned to its Victorian integrity while assimilating the earlier renovations. Accordingly, after consultations with the architects Alan Ross and Stephen Salley, and the engagement of O’Prey Developments Ltd, Arthur Noble, parishioner, and through negotiations with the Diocese of Down and Connor, the dream began to become reality. It was with considerable delight that the Londonderry family in Mountstewart was also kept fully informed of this exciting project and thanks goes to Lady Rose and Peter Lauritzen for their advice and support and that of the National Trust. The whole Church interior was completely restored, with some essential exterior work. Spanish marble now cloths the Sanctuary, which has been brought back to its original footprint. The Caen stone of the Main Altar has been brought back to life and some other original pieces have been reassembled into a new High Altar: Christ falling under the weight of the cross and floral displays to right and left. The High Altar is also clothed with Carrara marble which has come from another parish, which has married well after more restoration work, exemplifying the skills and mastery of Mc Connell’s stone/marble experts, breathing new life into the liturgical structures. There is a second reredos which contains the 19th-century Stations of the Cross, a real meditation, which I discovered in poor shape in the attic of the Parochial House and then spent several years in restoring, through the auspices of Cosi Sarkar, whose expertise brought them to a new state of reverence and renewal, all beautifully encapsulated in the wooden structure of refined design and gilded delight. In the centre is the recently written Icon of the Resurrection, by Philip Brennan, the culmination of the meditative stations. A new icon has been commissioned from Philip, depicting the teacher Saints of Mochai (Mahee Island and Nendrum) who taught Finian who taught Colmcille. The Confessional now draws one in because of the light, and the artistic designs of Tony Campbell (who worked closely with the client in all the artwork etched in glass) of the forgiving Father and Prodigal Son, show a deliberate nod to Rembrandt. The glassed Chapel of the Word, echoing the stencilling discovered behind the paint of the main sanctuary, is a cascade of reds and golds, all linking us to the Passion of Christ, crowned by the Passionflower and the five wounds of Christ and it also reveals the Saints beckoning to us, all associated with this part of the world. Excel Glass, under the tutelage of Jim Maguire, shows that lasting tribute to Frederick the 4th Marquis of Londonderry and his wife Elizabeth, with the associated glass effigy of Cardinal Newman and Joseph Hansom, all unearthing the story of the origins of this ecclesiastical gem. The tiling by Armatile in Armagh is the result of the cooperation of the client, among others, whose vision was to mirror the shapes of the windows in the floor, thus the building must be seen in a holistic manner; only then does the liturgical setting of this sacred space make any sense. The West Door opens to the welcome of the Saints Patrick and Finian, and then Comgall and Columbanus, in glass, all inherently linked to the parish. The patrimony of those edifices associated with the parish from the 6th century to 1877 are depicted in glass, with the monogram of the early Christian cruciform shape from St. Finian’s Abbey of Movilla seen throughout the Church. The lightness of the assembly point of the west door draws us in all the more to the sacred. The chemistry and juxtaposition of light, colour, shade, shape and homilies in stone, marble, wood is so uplifting. The Coats of Arms of the 4th Marquis and Marchioness is now represented in the Chapel of the Word, with St. Joseph, an original statue from 1877, now restored and placed on a plinth which is a miniature version of the central sandstone pillar in the Sanctuary. The Stations of the Cross around the walls are Spanish and have now been surrounded by designs created by the client to again pull us into the journey of the Cross. The new Baptismal area rests on the gentle and rippling water effect of the tiling with fish in matt and silk. The Ambry is now settled and finds a home in the old Victorian holy water font; the oils have pride of place.

There is an interplay of art, history, provenance and spirituality which dance together to show how the Restoration will appeal to and inspire present and future generations. The dream has become a reality, the vision now enfolding in this restored Victorian treasure. The seating is 145 years old, and yet the Church points us towards an eternal reality and the heavenly Jerusalem and the heavenly architect. It is appropriate that this living edifice was solemnly reopened, and the altar dedicated on the 23rd October 2022, by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, and as close as possible to the very day, the 24th October in 1877, when it was first solemnly opened and the altar dedicated by Bishop Dorrian.

St. Paul used the architectural analogy that we are God’s building, alive, dynamic, built on that sure foundation. But might I be allowed to finish with this quotation from Fyodor Dostoyevsky which truly speaks of the whole vision and dream which continues to unfold and unfurl, through the architectural dynamism: ‘Beauty will save the world’. 

Fr. Martin O’Hagan. Parish Priest