Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Selected: CO. DOWN, KILKEEL, CHRIST CHURCH (CI)

Name: O'FARRELL, PATRICK
Building: CO. DOWN, KILKEEL, CHRIST CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1812-1818
Nature: P.O'F 'laid before the parish plans and an estimate for building a new church on an entirely new site', 1812. Datestone on S wall reads:'Aedificatum Anno Domini 1815'. Consecrated 14 Aug 1818. Total cost £4613.19s.3½d. For Lord Kilmorey.
Refs: S. Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837), II, 102; P.J. Rankin, Historic Buildings…in the Mourne area of South Down (UAHS, 1975), 45(illus.),52(no. 26); Fred Rankin, ed., Clergy of Down and Dromore (Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996), 203(illus.);  exterior also illus. in Claude Costegalde & Brian Walker, The Church of Ireland: an illustrated history (2013), 199.

Name: ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS
Building: CO. DOWN, KILKEEL, CHRIST CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1857
Nature: Church reopened, 6 Sep 1857, after remodelling of nave and addition of gallery. Contractor: Robert Magee, Newry.
Refs:  Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette 1, no. 18 (Sep 1857), 361.

Name: WELLAND & GILLESPIE
Building: CO. DOWN, KILKEEL, CHRIST CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1862
Nature: Proposed addition of S transept and polygonal chancel..
Refs: Signed drawing, dated 1862, in RCB Library, portfolio 11, but see Fred Rankin, ed., Clergy of Down and Dromore (Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996), 203, which says that S transept was erected, 1857-8 and chancel in 1903;  DB 4, 1 Aug 1862, 199; B 21, ? ? 1863, 605

Name: UNKNOWN ARCHITECT
Building: CO. DOWN, KILKEEL, CHRIST CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1886
Nature: Church reopened 15 Jun 1886 after addition of N transept in memory of late rector, Rev. J. Forbes Close. Handsome stained-glass window also erected in his memory.
Refs: IB 28, 15 Jun 1886, 187

Name: CLOSE, SAMUEL PATRICK
Building: CO. DOWN, KILKEEL, CHRIST CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1902
Nature: Tenders invited for carrying out alterations and additions (including chancel?), Apr 1902.
Refs: Irish Times, 8 Apr 1902; IB 43, 24 Apr 1902, 1118; B 82, 12 Apr 1902, 380; Angela E. McGuinness, 'Samuel Patrick Close: Architect' (unpublished master's thesis, Queen's University, Belfast, 1990), 84,130; for dates cf. Fred Rankin, ed., Clergy of Down and Dromore (Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996), 203.