St Mark, Dundela

St Mark’s is a Grade A Church of Ireland parish church on Holywood Road / Sydenham Avenue, Dundela, east Belfast, in the Diocese of Down and Dromore. Northern Ireland listings are not entered as Historic England or Cadw URLs.

Overview

William Butterfield designed the church. Groundbreaking was in May 1876; the foundation stone was laid on 13 October 1876 by Primate Marcus Gervais Beresford. Fitzpatrick Brothers of Belfast built the nave, aisles and 150-foot tower in locally quarried Dundonald and Scrabo sandstone at a cost of about £10,304. Bishop Robert Knox consecrated the incomplete church on 22 August 1878. In 1891 H. and J. Martin added the chancel and transepts to Butterfield’s design as a memorial to Sir William Ewart; Bishop William Reeves consecrated the completed cruciform church on 4 July 1891. The Northern Ireland Buildings Database lists it as HB26/12/017 A (listed Category A, 1986).

Gloine describes a High Victorian, Ecclesiological Middle Pointed cruciform church, polychromatic inside and out, with four-bay arcades, clerestory, a tall west tower over a baptistery, and unaltered fabric. C. S. Lewis was baptised here; his grandfather Thomas Hamilton was the first rector. A Shrigley and Hunt window in the south aisle was given by Lewis and his brother in memory of Hamilton. Stephen Dykes Bower led a restoration in 1976.

Further Information

• St Mark's Church of Ireland Dundela
• Northern Ireland Buildings Database HB26/12/017
• Dictionary of Irish Architects