The Conservation of Ballykelly 'Garrison' Church
The Plantation era church, known as the ‘Garrison Church’ located a kilometre north-west of Ballykelly village, County Londonderry, is a Scheduled monument. The church ruins are on the register of Built Heritage at Risk Northern Ireland (BHARNI) and on NIEA’s list of masonry monuments prioritised for conservation.
Ballykelly church has had a turbulent history. Constructed in 1618, it was destroyed in 1641, restored in 1644, destroyed again in 1689 and restored in 1692. The chancel was re-built by Lieutenant General Frederick Hamilton in 1719, primarily to house a memorial to his wife. It served as a parish church until 1795.
NIEA conducted a major programme of vegetation treatment and clearance at the church before an accurate survey, record and assessment was made ahead of conservation works.
A team of NIEA’s trained craftsmen started conservation works in the summer of 2009. As with all NIEA conservation schemes, this work is carried out in line with best conservation practice: Minimum Intervention, Maximum Retention of Historic Fabric, Clarity of Work and Reversibility.
All re-pointing work is being carried out using hydraulic lime mortar with an aggregate selected to blend in as closely as possible with the surviving mortar. A significant proportion of plaster survives on the internal and external walls of the church and this is being left intact. All features associated with the building and use of the church are being left open. These range from ‘putlog holes’, where timbers were placed to allow scaffolding to be erected, to the cavities marking the former location of Lady Hamilton’s memorial.
The most challenging aspects of the conservation works have been presented by both gables of the nave. The east gable has a very impressive moulded sandstone arch with a rectangular square-headed window above. The stones were extremely loose with almost no mortar surviving. Loose masonry was numbered and lifted to allow vegetation to be cut out before the stones could be re-bedded. The structural stability of the window was very unstable. A replacement oak sill was instated on one face. 
The original form of the masonry at sill level on the other face could not be established, so loose stone was reset here as core work. The original window lintel was missing and the window head was secured with a galvanised plate.
The window in the attic floor of the west gable had been blocked up with rounded stones which were rendered over externally. As this action is part of the overall history or ‘story’ of the building while it still functioned as a church, the window will not be unblocked.
NIEA’s conservation works will safeguard Ballykelly church for future generations and, hopefully, will encourage more people to visit and explore the church and its associated graveyard, which is of interest in its own right.
