St Paul's Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A simple blackstone Gothic Revival Parish church with bell-cote and bell-ringers chamber, dated 1855 and built to designs by Joseph Welland; located to the south side of Loughan Road, southwest of Coleraine. Rectangular plan with south transept, projecting chancel to east and gabled porch to north.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles, raised sandstone verges and kneeler stones to gables; gableted Gothic sandstone bell-cote with bell to west gable. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on cavetto-moulded stone brackets. Walling is random-coursed blackstone with tooled ashlar sandstone dressings; chamfered sandstone plinth course and diagonal buttresses having sandstone offsets and quoins. Windows are bipartite cusped early twentieth-century leaded-and-stained glass lancets in sandstone blocked surrounds with chamfered reveals, sills and blackstone relieving arch over; staged triple lancets to east; bipartite cusped metal lattice lancets with quatrefoil over to west.

The principal elevation faces north; nave is lit by three pairs of lancets. Gabled entrance porch at right is buttressed and has a sandstone drip mould; lit to left and right cheek by a slender margined diamond lattice stained glass cusped lancet; opening to north with a pointed-headed timber-sheeted door with cast-iron strap hinges and handle.

The east gable is abutted by the chancel (lower), lit to north by two cusped metal diamond lattice windows and to east by the staged stained glass triple lancets. Chancel is abutted at south by the robing room under lean-to roof. Robing room lit to east by a bipartite cusped metal lattice window; south elevation has thick projecting chimneybreast at right rising to a gabletted stone chimneystack and with sandstone datestone inscribed “1855”. At left is a timber-sheeted door with cast-iron strap hinges in a chamfered sandstone reveal with shouldered head; accessed via three sandstone steps.

The south elevation has three pairs of lancets to nave. At right is the transept, which is lit by two pairs of bipartite cusped metal lattice windows.

The west gable is surmounted by the bell-cote and has bipartite window with oculus over small outshot with sandstone lean-to roof.

Setting:

Situated on a mature rectangular plot to the south side of Loughan Road on the north shore of the River Bann. Bounded by hedges and mature trees with graveyard to three sides having a variety of headstones including cast-iron grave markers dating from the early nineteenth-century. To east of the site is a modern portocabin. Entrance to front has large square ashlar sandstone piers with chamfered corners, polygonal pointed caps and supporting cast-iron gates with fleur-de-lis heads.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Blackstone with sandstone dressings
Windows: Early twentieth-century leaded-and-stained glass lancets
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The Church of St Paul, parish of Kildollagh dates from 1855 and remains a well-preserved example of simple rural place of worship. It is thought that Kildollagh (meaning the church of two lakes) sustained a religious community from earliest times, but by the 1830s the parish held only the remains of an earlier church and a burial ground. Formerly a grange joined to Rasharkin, a separate parish of Kildollagh was established in 1851 and the rector, Rev John Lyle of nearby Knocktarna, is largely responsible for the present building. (Clergy of Connor)

The new church of St Paul’s was built to the south east of the earlier burial ground and was dedicated in December 1855. The designs, which included north transept, chancel, robing room, south porch and bellcote, were by Joseph Welland, architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (www.dia.ie) The stone used was black basalt with local carboniferous sandstone trim. (www.stonedatabase.com)

The ‘Church’ is first shown, captioned, on the second edition OS map of 1849-50 and is listed in Griffith’s Valuation of 1856-64 at £20 and £1 for the graveyard. There are no significant changes in Annual Revisions. At the time of the First General Revaluation in the 1930s the church was in good repair, heated by a hot water system and lit by oil lamps. Grave plots were sold for £1 to £2 and the receipts were spent on the upkeep of the graveyard. The associated plan shows the church with porch, chancel and attached vestry and attached wood and coal store.

Rowan describes the building as a ‘perfect small Tractarian church, chunky, honest and making a little go a long way’ and notes the ‘lean-to bell-ringers’ chamber from which a rope passes to the bell-cote on the gable’. Girvan finds the church ‘charmingly situated’ and notes the survival of the original diamond panes as well as the ‘careful composition of the facade...the gabling of the bellcote is reflected in the steeply pitched roof and again in the angled wall buttresses’. Girvan suggests that the curved braces in the interior are a feature typical of Welland’s designs. (Rowan; Girvan)

The church was listed in 1977 and repointing was carried out in 2002. (HB file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/1 First Edition OS Map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2 Second Edition OS map 1849-50
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1923
5. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1949
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/539A-B Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/14A-F Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/3/P/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. Griffith’s Valuation online
11. HB file – 03/08/006

Secondary Sources

1. “Clergy of Connor, from Patrician Times to the Present Day” based on the unpublished Succession Lists compiled by JB Leslie, Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation and Library Committee of the Dioceses of Down, Conor and Dromore, 1993
2. Girvan, W D “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in Coleraine and Portstewart” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1971-2
3. Rowan, A “The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster” Penguin, 1979
4. www.dia.ie
5. www.stonedatabase.com

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
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A simple blackstone Gothic Parish church with bell-cote and bell-ringers chamber, dated 1855 and built to the designs of the renowned architect Joseph Welland; located to the south side of Loughan Road, south west of Coleraine. A modest but robust country church set into an attractive mature site on the banks of the River Bann, with quality stonework and detailing typical of the period. Of particular interest is a large bell-cote and bell-ringers chambers. Well-preserved and retaining its original proportions and character, this is a fine and typical example of the work of a prominent Irish architect. With a thriving congregation, St Pauls Parish Church is of significant social interest and local importance and makes an important contribution to the architectural quality and character of the area.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age and S - Authenticity also apply