St. Mary's RC Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing double-height single-cell gable-ended Roman Catholic Church, built c.1860. Rectangular on plan facing south with entrance porch to the west gable, vestry block to the northeast (c.1990) and set within a graveyard on the north side of Ballywoodock Road.

Pitched artificial slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and uPVC rainwater goods supported on steel brackets to rendered eaves course. Slightly raised gables to either end with sandstone coping, square-plan tapered pinnacles resting on flush kneeler stones and a sandstone cross to both apexes. Rough-cast cement rendered walling with smooth rendered quoins and plinth course. Pointed-headed window openings with voussoired sandstone heads, rendered jambs, splayed sandstone sills and replacement multi-pane timber windows with intersecting Gothic tracery.

South nave elevation has three irregularly-placed windows with a square ventilation opening below each window having iron grilles. Crucifix mounted to the wall towards to east end.

West gable is abutted by a smaller gable-ended entrance porch having rough-cast cement rendered walls, smooth rendered to the corners, plinth and openings and artificial slate roof. To the south cheek is a pointed-headed door opening with replacement double-leaf hardwood sheeted doors and fanlight with five pointed-headed lights.

North nave elevation is three windows wide and abutted to the east end by an L-plan vestry block, detailed as per church with square-headed door and window openings having hardwood sheeted doors and hardwood casement windows.

The east gable has a pointed-headed window opening, as per nave with a replacement tripartite timber frame window filled with leaded coloured glazing.

Setting

Located within its own grounds on the north side of Ballywoodock Road at a crossroads with Church Pass to the west and Glebe Road to the south. Several stone and granite grave markers to the southeast of the site enclosed to the road by rubblestone walls and two rubblestone round piers with rendered capstones supporting replacement steel gates with bitmac drive to the entrance porch.

Roof Artificial slate
RWG UPVC
Walling Rough-cast cement render
Windows Replacement multi-pane timber

Historical information

St Mary’s Church, Dunboe dates from c1860 and is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1906, captioned ‘R.C. Ch[urch]’. Although the church is said to have opened in 1855 (Re-dedication booklet), the church is not recorded in Griffith’s Valuation of 1859, which suggests it had not been completed by this time. The RC chapel and yard is first recorded in the fieldbook dating from 1862 at a valuation of £14.5s and 15s for the yard. The land is leased from Sir Henry Hervey Bruce, third baronet Downhill.

For many years after the building of Downhill House in the late eighteenth century, Catholics worshipped in the basement of Mussenden Temple. OS Memoirs record that the Earl Bishop gave the ‘lower part of the temple to the Roman Catholics for a chapel, as many of the servants at Downhill at that time were Roman Catholics and also gave one guinea per month to the priest, which sum ceased at the death of the bishop’. The Earl Bishop had been deeply involved in attempts to obtain relief for Catholics from some of the terms of the penal laws. (Fothergill) The temple continued to be used as a chapel well into the nineteenth century, the Rev Henry Hervey Bruce continuing with the tradition. (Valuation records) A Mrs Leeke of Magilligan recalled having been to mass at the temple as a child and how frightened she had been of the peacocks on the lawn. (Re-dedication booklet)

During an outbreak of cholera in the neighbourhood in 1832, the second baronet Downhill, Sir James Bruce, withdrew permission to worship in the temple and mass was celebrated “in the open in the townland of Masteraguee” in a field belonging to John Doherty. The road in this townland is still referred to as the Priest’s Walk. (Re-dedication booklet)

In 1843 Father Charles Flanagan succeeded Father Dan O’Doherty as priest of the parish. Father O’Doherty had built St John’s church in Coleraine in 1834, but the furnishings were installed by Father Flanagan and in 1855 Flanagan acquired land on which he built the present church, furnishing it in the same style and with the same materials used at St John’s Coleraine. The church was listed in 1977 and shortly afterwards, the church was re-roofed and the door replaced.

In 1984 a thorough renovation was undertaken including the installation of a new ceiling in the church and porch, replastering, a new floor of polished granite and a new baptistry, ambo and sanctuary of the same material. The supports to the gallery were removed and replaced by horizontal girders and all the windows and doors were renewed. New seats of oroco timber were acquired and the stations of the cross were repaired and repainted. The architect of the renovations was P Haughey of Belfast and the church was re-dedicated on 4th September 1985. (Re-dedication booklet) A new sacristy and toilet block was added to the rear of the church in 1996. (HB file)
References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/2/1 First Edition OS Map 1831
2. PRONI OS/6/5/2/2 Second Edition OS map 1848
3. PRONI OS/6/5/2/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/2/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1923
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/55B Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI Printed Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/3A-F Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57
9. HB file – 03/12/023

Secondary Sources

1. Day, A., P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Londonderry III, 1831-5, Vol. 11.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1991.
2. Fothergill, B “The Mitred Earl: An Eighteenth Century Eccentric” London: Faber and Faber, 1974
3. Girvan, W D “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in North Derry including Limavady, Ballykelly, Castlerock, Downhill and Magilligan” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1975
4. Re-dedication booklet, 4th September 1985

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

Gabled Roman Catholic Church, built c.1860 in a Gothic style. Rectangular on plan facing south with entrance porch to the west gable, vestry block to the northeast (c.1990) and set within a graveyard on the north side of Ballywoodock Road. Extensively refurbished c.1980, both the exterior and interior have lost much of their original detail. The rural setting and tall boundary walls and gate pillars add to the church's interest. It also has social interest for the local community.

General comments

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