St Mary's Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An early nineteenth-century blackstone Gothic-Revival Parish church with three-stage square entrance tower, chancel and vestry (1827), situated to the south side of Dunderg Road in Macosquin. Rectangular plan with square tower to west; gabled vestry to north and chancel to east built 1867 to designs by Welland and Gillespie; abutted to south face of tower by a modern entrance lobby, connecting former Sunday school (HB03/13/001B) to west.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles; raised sandstone verges to vestry. Plastic rainwater goods. Walling is random rubblestone, squared and brought to courses to tower, with part ribbon pointing and sandstone dressings; buttresses with masonry offsets to nave and with sandstone quoins to chancel. Bipartite leaded-and-stained windows with cusped tracery to nave (generally replacements), in blocked sandstone surrounds with chamfered reveals and sills (unless otherwise stated), surmounted by hood mould with plain square stops; pointed-arched margined diamond metal lattice lights in chamfered sandstone surrounds with splayed sills to vestry and west face of tower, that to tower is surmounted by hood mould with plain stops.

West-facing gabled front is abutted at centre by the square tower; window at left. Tower rises to crenellated parapet and corner pinnacles; belfry has louvered lancets with hood moulds at four sides. Roman numeral clockface in a sandstone roundel to second stage north and west; south face has square four-pane timber window. At ground floor of west face is a lattice lancet and sandstone datestone inscribed “1827”. Tower is abutted at north by a single-storey modern entrance lobby, connecting the former Sunday school (HB03/13/001B) at right; opens to south with a pointed-arched timber-sheeted door in a chamfered sandstone reveal with blackstone voussoirs.

Nave is lit at north by three tracery windows; narrow window opening to left with rubblestone infill; abutted at far left by vestry (described below).

The east gable is abutted to centre by the gabled chancel (1867) having window with three-light cusped tracery. Right cheek of chancel is abutted by the vestry, extending round to north side of nave. Vestry is lit by a lattice lancet to east gable and two at north; opens at west cheek with a timber-sheeted door with shouldered head in a sandstone blocked surround, accessed by two stone steps.

Nave is lit at south by three tracery windows.

Setting:

Situated on a square plot with cemetery to the south side of Dunderg Road in Macosquin village. Rubblestone single-storey hall directly to west. Cemetery to three sides has a variety of headstones dating from the first part of the nineteenth-century. Burial plot to north side of church is enclosed by rubblestone walls with sandstone coping topped by cast-iron railings having fleur-de-lis heads and a gate. Plot contains two nineteenth-century headstones. Site is bounded to three sides by random rubble wall with part dry stone. To front is a rubble stone wall with sandstone coping, in part topped by replacement cast-metal railings; square sandstone piers support replacement cast-metal entrance gates.

Roof: Pitched natural slate
Walling: Random rubblestone
Windows: Leaded-and-stained glass with cusped tracery
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

St. Mary’s Church, located in the small village of Macosquin in the townland of Camus Macosquin Glebe, was constructed in 1827; the current church is a reconstruction of a plantation-era meeting house which is believed to have been originally erected in 1619-22. The area on which the current church has been built possesses an earlier ecclesiastical history dating back to the 6th century and has witnessed the construction of numerous religious buildings. Lewis states that Macosquin, also known as Camus Juxta Bann, derived its Latin name from the foundation of a monastery by St. Comgal of Bangor along the river Bann in c. 580; the more popularly used name of Macosquin was derived from a Medieval Cistercian abbey named St. Mary de Fontana. Upon the dissolution of the Roman Catholic Monasteries in England, Wales and Ireland in c. 1540, the Cistercian abbey fell into a state of decline and in 1609 the site was granted by King James I to The London Companies Merchant Taylors Guild as part of the Plantation of Ulster (Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary).

Lewis states that the remains of St. Comgal’s 6th century monastery were demolished in order to provide the masonry of the current graveyard wall; however an ancient stone cross believed to date from the original monastery has survived and is situated in St. Mary’s graveyard; in the 1830s it was described as ‘having four compartments, in each of which were three of the apostles sculpted in high relief, and profusely ornamented with scrolls and wreaths.’ The Ordnance Survey Memoirs note that the final remains of the Medieval Cistercian abbey were demolished in order to construct the parish’s Glebe House (see HB 03/13/003), located to the south-west of the current church (Lewis; Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 97).

The first church in Macosquin was erected soon after the granting of the parish to The Merchant Taylor’s Guild in 1609; the first church is believed to have been built in 1619-22 and was of stone and timber construction. Records of the Merchant Taylors Guild, dating from 1630, include the following description of the 17th century church: ‘We have one faire church built of lyme and stone, consecrated and appointed to be the Parish Church of Macosquin and Camus. It conteyneth in length four score and eight foote and in breadth thirtie two foote and it was later re-edified and repaired with a strong roofe of tymber, slated and in addition of three windows and two doors’ (Document reproduced in St. Mary’s Church website).

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record that prior to 1825 the church had possessed a steeple with a spire of oaken wood, however this was blown down in 1805 and was sold in order to provide funds in order to repair the chancel of the church. Having stood for over two centuries, in 1825 the church trustees decided to undertake the repair of Macosquin Church; in that year the church was reported to be in a state of dilapidation and the repair work that was carried out resulted in the almost complete reconstruction of the building. Repair work commenced in 1825 with the cost defrayed by the Richardson family of Somerset House (of whom the Rector, the Rev. Thomas R. Richardson, was a member); the memoirs note that £450 was spent on reconstructing the body of the church whilst £400 was expended on construction of the new steeple and belfry. The date stone located at St. Mary’s Church records that major construction work had been completed by 1827, however the memoirs state that work on the church was not finally ended until 1830 (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 89).

The newly completed church was first recorded on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps for Macosquin in 1830 which depicted the building as a rectangular-shaped structure; the map also depicted a small school building to the north side of the church, however this had been demolished by c. 1850. The contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1830) valued the church at £11 but recorded no other details. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs, however, provided detailed descriptions of the church upon its completion; between 1831 and 1836 the church was described in the following terms:

‘[It] has a neat appearance. There is a new belfry with minarets at the four corners and a slated roof with the sides and gables dashed with lime and gravel. There is one entrance door and four lancet-shaped windows, and the pulpit, pews and seats are in very good repair … 238 is the total number capable of being accommodated … the length of the church is 59 feet 2 inches, breadth of the church is 23 feet 3 inches … the walls are 3 feet 10 inches thick’ (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 89). A marble memorial tablet on the north wall of the current church dates from before the reconstruction and was erected to the memory of the Richardson family of Somerset House who were chiefly responsible for the repair of Macosquin Church.

By the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1849-50 there had been no discernible alteration to Macosquin Church since the 1830s; however the schoolhouse from the first edition had been demolished and had been replaced by the current single-storey schoolhouse by that time (see HB03/13/001B). The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1856) recorded that the church was valued at £16, a value which was not altered by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930. Despite the lack of change in value, a large extension was added to the church in 1867-68 when a new chancel, robing room and entrance porch were installed at the rear of the building to designs by Welland & Gillespie (architects to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners - 1860-1870). The construction of the additions was carried out by George Given of Limavady and the church was officially reopened on 9th March 1868 (Dictionary of Irish Architects).

Having been simply referred to as a ‘church’ in the early editions of the Ordnance Survey maps, from the third edition in 1904, Macosquin Church was recorded as ‘St. Mary’s Church’ in reference to St. Mary de Fontana who gave the Cistercian Abbey its original name. Under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the church was increased to £40, however in the aftermath of the Second World War this was further increased to £52 under the second revaluation (1956-72).

St. Mary’s Church’s website records that the first Christian community in the area was established in 580 A.D. under St. Comgal of Bangor who established a monastery at the site. Although traces of the medieval Cistercian abbey have survived, there are almost no remnants of the 6th century monastery; however the ancient Celtic Cross, which stands at 6 feet 6 inches in height, dates from this Early-Christian community, albeit it is unlikely to date from Comgal’s period. The Cistercian Order are believed to have established their abbey at Macosquin in 1172; the abbey was also known as ‘Beatae Marie Clarafonte’ meaning the abbey of ‘Blessed Mary of the clear spring.’ The Cistercian Order operated at Macosquin unimpeded until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the mid-16th century after which point it fell into a state of dilapidation. St. Mary’s Church claims that the northern wall of the current church includes an original portion of the Cistercian abbey’s north wall (St. Mary’s Church Website).

Rowan states that under the 17th-century Planation of Ulster, the Merchant Taylors Guild took control of the parish of Macosquin and erected ‘a strong house, seven houses and a church by 1619’ (church records note that the first church was consecrated in 1622). The Merchant Taylors Guild sold the parish of Macosquin to the Richardson family who established themselves at Somerset House in the townland of Tullyreavy. The Richardson’s became the most influential family in the parish and played an integral role in the history of Macosquin Church; the Rev. Thomas Rumbold Richardson became Rector of Macosquin in 1821 and it was he who instigated the reconstruction of the 17th century church, commencing in 1825. Richardson had the walls of the church repaired and reroofed the building at his own personal expense; the tower was a major addition and was completed in 1827 (it is possible that the date stone at the site solely commemorates the completion of the tower as repair work continued at the church until 1830) (Rowan, pp 408-409; St. Mary’s Church website).

St. Mary’s Church was listed in 1977. The church continues to be utilised as a house of worship for the Church of Ireland in Macosquin Parish; in 1998 the parish population of Macosquin was set at 575 (Derry & Raphoe, p. 49). The former schoolhouse, located to the south of the church, is no longer utilised as a school but has been utilised as a church hall since the mid-20th century. The church’s clock, first installed in 1899 in memory of James Sinclair, a churchwarden, fell into a state of disrepair in 1948 when its bell mechanism was damaged; the chimes of the clock were not heard in Macosquin until the clock was repaired in 1997 by a parishioner, a Mr. John McAllister. Finally, in 2010 a modern extension was added to the building linking the church with its church hall and acting as an entrance foyer.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-50
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1923
5. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1949
6. PRONI VAL/1/A/5/7 – Townland Valuations map c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/1/B/59 – Townland Valuations c. 1830
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/9A – Griffith’s Valuation 1856
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/11A-F – Annual Revisions 1860-1929
10. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/1 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/5 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
12. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)
13. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Londonderry VI, Vol. 22 (1831-36)
14. Ulster Town Directories (1860-1918)
15. First Survey Record – HB03/13/001 (1971)

Secondary Sources

1. Rowan, A., ‘The buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ Yale: Yale University Press, 1979.
2. ‘Clergy of Derry and Raphoe’ Belfast: The Ulster Historical Foundation, 1999.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. St. Mary’s Church website - http://camus-juxta-bann.org/index.html

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

An early nineteenth-century blackstone Gothic-Revival Parish church with three-stage square entrance tower, dated 1827 and situated to the south side of Dunderg Road in Macosquin. A typical rural Georgian Parish church, architectural detailing is of good quality and is largely intact. Despite some loss of integrity with the addition of a modern entrance lobby, connecting a single-storey rubblestone hall (HB03/13/001B) to west, St Mary’s Parish Church remains one of the best preserved examples of its type in the area. Situated in an unspoilt rural setting, a large variety of nineteenth-century headstones to the cemetery and stone boundary walls adds to the historic integrity of the site and enhances the setting. The church has group value with the adjoining hall (HB03/13/001B). Of significant local interest and social importance to the surrounding community, St Mary’s church is of considerable architectural and historic interest.

General comments

This record has been renumbered. Formerly known as HB03/13/001.

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