About
The Dr Adam Clarke Memorial Methodist Church is the oldest place of worship in Portstewart. It occupies and elevated position overlooking the town, the Bann and Foyle estuaries and County Donegal in the distance. The ground on which the Church stands was originally purchased by Dr Clarke to build himself a retirement home but sadly he passed away at an early age in 1832, some time later it was decided to build a Church on the site in his memory. The Church was designed, in Gothic-revivalist style, by Newry and Belfast based architect William J Barre and constructed by Cookstown builder Joseph Johnston.
The building's foundation stone was laid by Dr Clarke's daughter in 1859. Originally the roof of the Church had ornate pinnacles, buttresses, bartizan and Scots Baronial tower but a storm in December 1884 caused severe damage to these features. Although necessary repairs were carried out to make the building usable in 1912 it was decided to remove the ornamentation thus creating the present day shape; at the same time a Vestry was added. During the 1950s the interior of the building underwent a refurbishment programme stripping and re-plastering walls and strengthening roof beams, this work was carried out by JJ Philips.
In 2011 an extension housing a modern kitchen and other facilities was added to the East side of the building. Rising damp was once again causing problems and in 2022 an extensive refurbishment project began under the control of Building & Civil engineer Tom Stevenson. This has involved stripping plaster from all the internal walls and replacing with lime mortar, replacing rotted or damaged roof beams and installing supplementary infra red heating. External walls have been repaired and French drains were installed to prevent the recurrance of damp problems.
