St Canice's RC Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached single storey five-bay former Church building. Built early 20th Century. Rectangular on plan, principal gabled elevation faces North, located on the east side of Temple Road.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay roll top ridge tiles, parapet wall to front (North) elevation and concrete coping stones to south elevation with yellow-brick chimney to apex; replacement upvc downpipes and half round guttering supported by out-and-up brackets to east and west elevations.

Principal gable-ended elevation facing North of rough-cast render painted finish with central doorcase flanked by window openings with segmental heads and concrete sills (openings boarded up by painted timber). Front door opening boarded up with timber panel with small covered open porch with flat concrete roof over; circular recess above with cross. Dutch-style gable parapet wall with supporting corbel brackets and flat concrete coping stones.

East elevation of rough-cast render painted finish with symmetrical fenestration pattern containing five segmental headed window openings with windows hidden behind painted timber boarding on concrete window sills; replacement upvc circular downpipes and half round guttering supported by out and up brackets.

South elevation to the rear of rough-cast render painted finish with small lean-to extension of unplastered blockwork and corrugated metal roof; two segmental headed window openings above with windows hidden behind painted timber boarding on concrete window sills; flat concrete coping stones to gable above with small yellow-brick chimney to apex.

West elevation of rough-cast render painted finish with single segmental headed window opening with window hidden behind painted timber boarding on concrete sill to left side of lean to extension clad in corrugated metal with corrugated metal roof; replacement upvc circular downpipes and half round guttering supported by out and up brackets with small lean-to extension to right side of unplastered blockwork and corrugated metal roof.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG upvc
Walling Rough-cast render painted
Windows Unseen, Blocked up

Setting:
Located on the West side of Temple Road, principal elevation faces north with The Auld School Centre (HB01/05/009) located to the north west; both buildings situated to the North West of the city of Londonderry, to the south of Strathfoyle village and to the east of the River Foyle.

Historical information

This church appears to have been built in the early twentieth century, though surprisingly it does not feature in the valuation revision books of the period. It was certainly in existence in the early 1920s when it appears on a 1924 plan of the proposed new school at Enagh. It appears on an Ordnance Survey map for the first time in 1933 when it is named as St Canice’s RC Church. The church seems to have been built as a chapel of ease to meet the needs of local people in this part of the Catholic parish of Glendermott.

The Second General Revaluation Records include an entry from 1968 to a hall at Enagh which was in the possession of ‘Trustees of St Canice’s Social Club, St Canice’s Roman Catholic Church’. Whether this relates to the church building or to an adjoining structure is not immediately apparent. In 1975 a new church, dedicated to St Oliver Plunkett, was built nearby to serve the newly-created parish of Strathfoyle.

References

Primary sources
1. PRONI, Valuation map, c. 1908–c.1918, VAL/12/D/5/14D (based on Ordnance Survey map published in 1907)
2. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1933, OS/6/5/14/4
3. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1954, OS/6/5/14/5
4. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1965, OS/6/5/14/6
5. PRONI, Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1930, VAL/12/B/32/12A-F
6. First Northern Ireland General Revaluation Books: Annual Revision Lists, 1936-57 – VAL/3/C/6/8
7. PRONI, Second General Revaluation Records, 1956-72, VAL/4/B/5/23
8. PRONI, Enagh Public Elementary School, 1923-31, ED/14/E/269

Secondary sources
1. John R. Walsh, A Noble Story: a short history of the diocese of Derry (2001)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Detached single-storey five-bay rough-cast rendered former church with Dutch-style gable parapet wall to front elevation. Built early 20th Century. Simple rectangular plan form, located on the west side of Temple Road, Strathfoyle. It is quirky building of local character and worthy of record but does not meet the test as a building of special architectural or historic interest.