Our Lady of the Assumption

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A free-standing double-height basalt rural Roman Catholic church, dated 1898 and located to the south side of Cullycapple Road, south of Coleraine. Rectangular plan with projecting gabled porch to north, chancel to east, and single-storey gabled sacristy to south.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles alternately crested; raised sandstone verges and kneelers with trefoil gablets; iron Celtic cross finials to gables. Hipped natural slate roof to chancel, with leaded ridges and hips and iron Celtic cross finial. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on cavetto-moulded sandstone brackets; square downpipes. Walling is uncoursed squared basalt stone with sandstone dressings, sandstone plinth course and buttresses having sandstone offset; angle buttresses to porch; sandstone string-course at mid-height and apex of gable. Windows are leaded-and-stained glass cusped lancets in chamfered reveals with sandstone blocked surrounds.

The principal elevation faces north; nave is lit by three lancets divided by buttresses; at far right is the projecting gabled porch. Porch has moulded sandstone plaque over entrance door, reading “CHURCH/OF OUR LADY/ OF THE/ ASSUMPTION/A.D.1898”. Entrance comprises pointed-headed double-leaf timber-sheeted doors with cast-iron strap-hinges and handle in chamfered sandstone reveal with blocked surround; door is surmounted by hood mould with square stops and blackstone voussoirs and accessed via two stone steps with modern metal handrails. Porch lit by window at left and right cheek.

The east gable is abutted by the chancel (lower), lit by a window to three facets. Chancel is abutted at south by the gabled single-storey sacristy, having tall chimneystack and projecting chimneybreast at east elevation, opening at west with a timber-sheeted door with transom light over, accessed by three stone steps. To left of door are two replacement timber windows in chamfered reveals with flush sandstone sills. The south gable of the sacristy is blank.

The nave is lit to south by four evenly-spaced windows divided by buttresses. To right bay is a modern boiler with square rendered chimneystack attached to wall of nave.

The west gable has pointed-headed vented opening to apex of gable over two plate tracery windows comprising paired cusped lancets with quatrefoils over. Beneath tracery windows are three small quatrefoil leaded-and-coloured glass openings in sandstone surrounds.

Setting:

Situated on a large rectangular plot to the south side of Cullycapple Road, in rural surroundings south of Coleraine. Lawned to all sides and bounded to road and surrounding farmland by mature hedgerow and trees. Graveyard to south, having a variety of headstones. Rock-faced blackstone and sandstone entrance walls and gate piers at entrance from Cullycapple Road; piers have polygonal pointed caps and support ornate cast-iron gates with cross finials. Tarmacadamed car park to opposite side of Cullycapple Road.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Uncoursed squared basalt with sandstone dressings
Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass cusped lancets
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in the townland of Cullycapple was constructed in 1898; the second Catholic church to be constructed in the parish of Aghadowey. The first chapel was constructed to the south of the current site in the neighbouring townland of Mullaghinch; the building was recorded on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1831-32) for Aghadowey which depicted the chapel as a T-shaped structure occupying a site on the west side of the Mullaghinch Road. Lewis states that the origins of Christianity in Aghadowey parish stretch back to the 7th century when St. Goarcus founded a religious institution in the area intended as an offshoot of the main abbey which he established at Agivey; by the 1830s the chapel at Mullaghinch formed a part of the ecclesiastical district of Killowen (Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary).

The original chapel in Mullaghinch continued to be used as a house of worship until the turn of the 20th century. The second edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1849-53) depicted no change to the layout of the building; in 1858 Griffith’s Valuation valued the chapel at £8 and noted that the church ground was leased to the congregation by the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers who had been granted the parish under the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. It was not until 1897 that the current plot of land on the Cullycapple road was purchased from the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers for the fee of £222.

The Irish Builder records that construction of the new church commenced in 1898 and that the building was opened in the summer of 1901 when it was dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption; a datestone at the site is inscribed with the date 1898. The new edifice was designed by John J. O’Shea (1871/72-1919), a Belfast-based architect who was apprenticed to Mortimer H. Thomson; O’Shea took over Thomson’s practise after his death in 1894 and primarily worked on the construction and extension of Catholic Churches throughout his career (Irish Builder, p. 751; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Upon its completion, the rateable value of Our Lady of the Assumption’s Church was set at £60; this value was maintained by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1929. The church was first depicted on the Ordnance Survey maps in 1904-05 which also recorded the single-storey Presbytery cottage to the north-east of the site along the Cullycapple Road; the cottage predates the church and was constructed in the mid-Victorian period (the second edition Ordnance Survey map notes that the cottage was originally constructed as a gate lodge to Mullaghmore House located to the south of the church – now demolished).

Soon after the completion of the church the 1901 Census recorded that the Catholic Curate of the parish was the Rev. Bernard O’Loughlin (50) who resided at the Presbytery with his sister Rose; O’Loughlin had left Our Lady’s Church by 1918 when the Ulster Town Directories noted that the curacy had passed to the Rev. W. Gowan. There has been no discernible alteration to the layout of the church, and its adjoining graveyard, since its construction in 1898-1901. In 1935 the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland increased the value of Our Lady of the Assumption’s Church to £127; there was no further valuation for over two decades due to the disruption of the Second World War. However, under the second revaluation, which commenced in 1956, the value of the building was slightly lowered to £116 at which it remained by 1972.

Our Lady of the Assumption Church was constructed in a Gothic Style by John J. O’Shea; Alistair Rowan described the edifice as ‘a big hall-church in squared rubble basalt, with lancets and polygonal apse. Elaborate double pitched pine ceiling and trusses inside. Fine’ (Rowan, p. 105). Basalt was the principle stone employed in the construction of the church, whilst some locally produced sandstone was also included in its masonry (Stone Database). Our Lady of the Assumption Church underwent restoration work after the building was damaged in an arson attack in 1987 and continues to be used as a place of worship for the Catholics of Aghadowey Parish (Coleraine Chronicle).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/19/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1831-32
2. PRONI OS/6/5/19/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-50
3. PRONI OS/6/5/19/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904-05
4. PRONI OS/6/5/19/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1924-27
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/1A – Griffith’s Valuation 1858
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/2A-F – Annual Revisions 1862-1929
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/1 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/4 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
9. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary (1837)
10. Irish Builder, Vol. 43 (6 Jun 1901)
11. Census of Ireland (1901)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1918)
13. First Survey Record – HB03/03/010 (1973)
14. First Survey Image – HB03/03/010 (1973)
15. Coleraine Chronicle (21 Nov 1987)

Secondary Sources

1. Rowan, A., ‘The buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ Yale: Yale University Press, 1979.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Natural Stone Database website - http://www.stonedatabase.com//buildings.cfm?bk=2113

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A free-standing double-height basalt stone rural Roman Catholic church, dated 1898 and located to the south side of Cullycapple Road, south of Coleraine. A well-preserved example of a late-Victorian church in the Gothic style, with proportions and detailing typical of the period and retaining some fine examples of late-nineteenth glazing. Situated in an unspoiled rural setting, the church makes an important contribution to the historic rural landscape of the Coleraine district and is of significant social importance and local interest to the surrounding community.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.