Christ Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing simple Gothic Revival style tower and hall type Church with battlemented three stage tower, built by Bishop Knox in 1830, to designs of John Ferguson. Refitted by Welland & Gillespie in 1862 and enlarged in 1881 by the addition of the transepts and a chancel to the designs of the original architects son, John Guy Ferguson. Built of rubble Schist and Whinstone with Barony Glen Sandstone dressings.

The church is set behind a low boundary sandstone wall with modern railings above, on the West side of Infirmary Road. The entrance gates access the entrance to the lower on the east side, are a pair of cast iron with vertical bars hung on square sandstone pillars which are flanked by another pair of pillars with vertical bar railings between on a low plinth wall.

The East elevation faces onto Infirmary Road with 4 stained glass ‘Y’ tracery openings set in rubble wall with painted quoins to the gable corner close to the tower. A projecting gabled transept has double Y-tracery stained glass windows, rose window above and crocketed finial at apex. Small entrance porch added to north side of transept.

Corbel brackets to eaves with slated natural slate pitched roof with terracotta ridge tiles and sandstone barge stones.

South elevation faces onto Brooke Park entrance and Gate Lodge (HB01/22/001B) beyond. The tower to South is of square form corner buttresses, sandstone string courses, quatrefoil and lancet louvered openings, double timber sheeted doors to East and West set within slightly recessed arched openings with shouldered hood mould and large tracery window to South, Y-tracery windows to nave with quatrefoil light, hood mould and foliated label stops. The tower is topped with crenulated parapet above a sandstone string course and square pinnacles to the four corners.

No access to West elevation at time of survey however this follows a similar pattern of fenestration and materials as the East elevation.

North elevation faces onto small laneway with modern housing development to rear. Large Y-tracery window to chancel gable with single cusped light to centre, flanked by paired cusped lights with quatrefoils and trefoils above, sill mould with label stops below, and hood mould with foliated label stops. Small sandstone cross to apex.

Setting:
Located behind railings, to the north side of Infirmary Road, nave parallel with road, entrance tower adjacent to Brooke Park entrance and opposite Brook Lodge (HB 01/22/002B)

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron
Walling Schist / Whinstone / Sandstone
Windows Sandstone mullions
Doors Modern timber sheeted

Historical information

Christ Church, a Gothic Revival church located on the Infirmary Road at the entrance to Brooke Park, was erected in 1830 to designs of John Ferguson. The church was first depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for Londonderry in 1830 while in the process of construction. The oblong building, which was simply captioned ‘new church’ on the map, was the first purpose built Protestant Church to be constructed outside of the city walls and was one of a number of new buildings that signified the beginning of Derry’s northern expansion in the early-nineteenth century; the map also shows that the nearby Lunatic Asylum (1825-29), Foyle College (1814) and the Infirmary (1810) had been built by this period.

The contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1837) and Lewis state that Christ Church (which was originally known as ‘The Free Church’) was erected under the Bishop of Derry William Knox (1762-1831) at a cost of £760; the church was consecrated on 22nd August 1830. The church was intended as a chapel-of-ease for the lower classes of the city, however the ever increasing population of Londonderry during the mid-nineteenth century ensured that the congregation was made up of all classes and professions (OSM, p. 106; Lewis). The Townland Valuations set the initial value of the Chapel-of-Ease at £14 14s. in c. 1830.

Christ Church has undergone a number of additions and improvements since 1830, and when originally completed the new church would have appeared a simpler structure than the current building as it did not possess the current transepts and chancel; the original design of the Free Church was by John Ferguson who is best known as the father of the more prominent John Guy Ferguson (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The Natural Stone Database records that John Ferguson employed the locally quarried stone Derry Schist and Barony Glen Sandstone in the masonry of the church (Stone Database). Despite being completed and consecrated in 1830, work aimed at improving the church commenced almost immediately when a gallery and vestry room were added and gas pipes installed at a cost of £145. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record that the church was able to accommodate 340 persons after the addition of the gallery (OSM).

The second edition Ordnance Survey map records that the church had been extended to its north side between 1830 and 1853; this extension is most likely the vestry room that was added in 1832. The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1856) valued the church at £70 and noted that the Free Church continued to be administered by the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe; the value of the church was not altered between 1856 and the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1931 despite a number of extension and alteration works being carried out during this period. In 1862 Welland & Gillespie, the newly appointed architects to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (from 1860) installed a new pulpit and replaced the church pews; the building work was contracted to Richard Gailey of Maxwell & Gailey, a local building firm with offices on the Strand Road (Ulster Town Directories; DIA).

The most extensive changes to the church came in 1881 when John Guy Ferguson (d. 1901), the son of the original architect and designer of St. Augustine’s Church (HB01/19/012) and the Apprentice Boy’s Hall (HB01/19/011), added the transepts and chancel to Christ Church; the Irish Builder records that this alteration work cost £2,000, necessitated the removal of the 1832 vestry room and gallery and transformed the plain Gothic Church into the current cruciform structure (Irish Builder, p. 159; DIA). The Irish Builder notes that additional renovation work was to be undertaken in 1921. The renovation was estimated to cost £2,500, but it is not known whether it was carried out (Irish Builder, p. 334). The value of the church was increased to £250 by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935). The UAHS guide for Derry notes that the church underwent another alteration in 1969 when a foundation fault necessitated the complete reconstruction of the east nave wall; this restoration work was undertaken by W. & M. Given (UAHS, p. 30). As a result of this construction work, the value of the church was further increased to £320 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

In 1978 the Department of the Environment included Christ Church in the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, ‘an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance’ (Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet). The church was subsequently listed in 1979.

The church was severely damaged in 1996 by an arson attack which reduced the building to an empty shell and destroyed all original interior fabric. The church was restored due to the efforts of the congregation. Reconstruction work totalling £760,000 returned Christ Church to its former appearance; the church was rededicated on 1st May 1998 by the Bishop of Derry & Raphoe. In 2013 Calley described the renovated house of worship in the following terms: ‘severe Gothic church … with transepts and short three stage crenelated tower. The upper stages have quatrefoil and lancet openings respectively. Four-bay nave and two-bay transepts with pointed arches and mullioned windows. Its entrance gates form part of the curtain of curiously obelisk like piers, low walls and rails forming the entrance to Brooke Park. Its present well-scrubbed appearance is due largely to the perseverance of its worshippers’ (NIEA HB Records; Calley, p. 233).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
2. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
3. PRONI VAL/1/B/547A-F – Townland Valuation (c. 1830)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16G – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11B-ZA – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2C-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/4 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Ordnance Survey Memoir of Parish of Templemore (1837)
10. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)
11. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847)
12. Irish Builder (15 May 1881; 7 May 1921)
13. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
14. First Survey Record – HB01/22/002 (1970)
15. First Survey Image – HB01/22/002 (No Date)
16. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/002

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. Ferguson, W. S; Rowan, A. J; Tracey, J. J., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the city of Derry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970.
3. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
5. ‘Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1978.
6. ‘Design Guide for Clarendon Street Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2012.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Natural Stone Database website - http://www.stonedatabase.com/
3. Christ Church website - http://cccmsp.derry.anglican.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=32

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Gothic Revival stone church with three stage square tower to South. Built 1830, to designs by John Ferguson, the original church was a simple building, subsequently having minor alterations, before the transepts and chancel were added in 1881, to designs by John Guy Ferguson (son of original architect), giving the church its cruciform layout. Despite the substantial loss of internal historic fabric and detailing following a fire in the late twentieth century it still remains an impressive building. It is well proportioned, the external detailing are consistent with its time and style.
Significant as the first purpose built Protestant Church to be constructed outside of the city walls, and as one of a number of new buildings that marked the beginning of Derry’s northern expansion in the early-nineteenth century, Christ Church is also of social importance to the local community. With the Gate Lodge (HB01/22/001B), Craig Memorial Hall (HB01/22/004) and St Eugenes Cathedral (HB01/21/001) this composition of buildings form an important architectural group.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age, S-Authenticity & T-Historic Importance