Malone St John

History

The parish marked the centenary of the Church of St John the Evangelist in 1993. A choir vestry and meeting room was erected in 1908 to provide more ancillary accommodation, and in 1921 a minor hall was formed by extending the choir vestry, a building later demolished. The Seaver Hall was built in 1938 and the L'Estrange Hall in 1964.

The south transept was converted to form the Edward Garrett Memorial Chapel, dedicated by the Lord Bishop of Connor on 29 September 1974. A new baptistry and historical corner was dedicated on 29 June 1980 in memory of Richard Maxwell Finlay. The stained glass windows were refurbished in 2003. Between 2016 and 2017 the church stonework was refurbished, with sandstone blocks dressed and replaced as necessary, a gift of the Finlay family in memory of Catherine Iris Finlay; this work and a nave altar were dedicated on 10 December 2017. The Seaver Hall was refurbished in two stages, its entrance hall and toilets in 2015 and its main hall in 2017.

The building

The chancel is raised several steps above the nave and the sanctuary is panelled in wood, with soft lighting from the choir lamps. The floor tiles between the choir stalls are described by the parish as particularly fine. The organ stands on the south side of the chancel. There is a gallery at the west end, a west porch and north and south transepts. The nave was extended two years after the organ was installed in 1904.

Notable features

The stained glass is the work of eight studios or artists. Three windows are by Evie Hone: the rose window above the gallery at the west end, a St Brigid in the west porch and a St Columba on the west wall of the south transept. A window on the text "the leaves on the tree" from Revelation was made by Wilhelmina Margaret Geddes in 1920. William McBride designed the RIR Memorial in the baptistry, a St Joan on the north wall of the nave and two further windows on the south wall. The east window, on the text "Suffer the little children to come unto me", is by the Bavarian firm of Mayer of Munich, which made four other windows here. Others are by the local firms Clokey and Ward and Partners. Four stylised portraits of saints in the south transept are by Caldermac and the St Patrick window in the north transept is signed by K. O'Brien.

The organ was installed in 1904 by the English firm Norman & Beard, a two manual instrument of 19 stops. It was completely rebuilt and enlarged to three manuals and 42 stops from 1977. Further work begun in 2010 was unfinished when the organist Donald Davison died in August 2013; contracts to complete it were awarded in June 2015 to Pipe Organ Preservation Co (Ireland) and Phoenix Organs NI. The added pipework was second hand and revoiced, sourced from firms contemporary with the original builder, and includes a Harrison diapason chorus and a Norman & Beard Tuba in the south transept case.