News
UAHS WELCOMES RENEWED FOCUS ON NORTH BELFAST HERITAGE
The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society welcomes the inclusion of the redundant Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church in North Belfast on the World Monuments Fund World Monument Watch List 2010, announced in New York on 7th October.
Every two years since 1996, the World Monuments Watch has focused global attention on cultural heritage sites around the world that are threatened by neglect, demolition or disaster. Sites included on the 2010 list range from remote monasteries in Bhutan to famous landmarks such as Machu Picchu in Peru.
The Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church is a landmark Grade B+ listed building dating from the 1870s, designed in a Gothic Revival style by the important local architect William Henry Lynn. It stands at a gateway site to North Belfast, in one of the most deprived parts of Northern Ireland, and in close proximity to the historic Crumlin Road Courthouse and Gaol.
The church once housed the largest Methodist congregation in Ireland but closed in the early 1980s and has since fallen into a very poor state of repair. It featured in the most recent Built Heritage at Risk Northern Ireland catalogue, published by the UAHS in partnership with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
The Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust has led a community consultation exercise to find a new use for the church and to build both community and political support for its restoration as part of wider regeneration efforts in the area. This renewed international focus on its future should help sustain these efforts.
Richhill House in County Armagh (2008) and the Mussenden Temple in County Antrim (1998) are the only two Northern Ireland buildings to have previously featured on the Watch List.