Loreto Convent Chapel

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An attached double-height single-cell rendered chapel built 1939 to designs by Thomas J Cullan and situated to the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre. Rectangular plan with projecting entrance porch to front, shallow gabled projection to east, linking block to west and flat-roof sacristy to north.

Steeply pitched natural green slate roof with leaded ridges and stone cross finials to gables. Plastic guttering on roll moulded projecting stone eaves with cast-iron downpipes and hopper. Walling is roughcast render with stone dressings and quoins, on an uncoursed squared ashlar stone-faced plinth. Windows are original round-headed leaded-and-stained glass in chamfered stone reveals with blocked stone surrounds.

The principal elevation faces south with projecting gabled porch at left. Nave right is lit by four windows, with a diminished quadripartite group at high level at far right lighting chancel. Porch has cross finial to apex of gable and a neo-Romanesque style doorway with chevron moulded archivolt and pilasters having square block capitals carved with Celtic triquetral knots. Doorway contains an original double-leaf timber-sheeted door with cast-iron handles, surmounted by original leaded-and-stained glass transom light.

The west gable is abutted by the single-storey linking block, which connects the chapel to the convent (HB03/16/009A). Linking block has a group of paired windows to south and projects to north, with a set of four uPVC windows in an ashlar sandstone surround to northeast corner.

The north elevation is lit by five windows; at left are a group of four smaller windows over flat-roof sacristy. Sacristy is lit to east and west by five narrow uPVC windows in sandstone blocked surrounds (group of three to centre); opens to north with an original three-panelled timber door with three leaded-and-stained glass lights to top section, in a chamfered reveal with blocked stone surround. Door is accessed by a set of stone steps running to east, enclosed by an uncoursed squared stone wall with stone coping.

The east gable has carved statue of Christ in a round-headed niche, over shallow gabled projection, containing a three-light staged mullioned window.

Setting:

Situated on a large site to the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine. The chapel adjoins Loreto Convent (HB03/16/009A) at west, and is situated to the east side of the school. Set on a grassy embankment and lawned to front, with school playing fields to north. Entrance at south via original gate screen with gate lodge (HB03/16/009C). The site has a variety of mature trees and a modern shrine to the Virgin Mary at southwest.

Roof: Natural green slates
Walling: Roughcast render with sandstone dressings
Windows: Original round-headed leaded-and-stained glass
RWG: Plastic and cast-iron

Historical information

Loreto Convent’s Chapel was erected in 1939; the building was constructed as part of alteration work to Loreto Convent (see HB03/16/009A) undertaken between 1936 and 1940. The Irish Builder records that the chapel was designed by Thomas Joseph Cullen (1879-1947); in 1922 Cullen, a Dublin-based architect, was assigned by the Irish Provisional Government to help rebuild the City of Cork in the aftermath of the War of Independence. Seldom venturing north of the border, Cullen predominantly worked in Dublin and the southern counties, however his deign of Loreto Convent’s Chapel is one of the few known contracts he carried out in the north. The builder contracted to carry out Cullen’s design was Robert Cullen & Sons (Irish Builder, p. 574; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

The completed chapel was first recorded on the fifth edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1949 which depicted the chapel as an L-shaped building which was attached to the east gable of the main convent building by a single-storey connecting corridor. The chapel was not recorded in the valuation sources until the Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) which initially valued the church at £180. In 1968 a number of modern school buildings currently surrounding the original house were constructed under a major extension project; as a result the rateable value of Loreto Convent, its gate lodge (HB03/16/009C) and the chapel were combined into a single value, set at £3,060, making it impossible to gauge the individual value of the chapel after this date.

Originally constructed as a merchant’s mansion, known at Tievtara, the dwelling was converted into a Convent School in 1906 by the Ursuline Order and was acquired by the Loreto Nuns of Omagh in 1930. Having been utilised as a religious establishment for over three decades, construction of a convent chapel on the grounds commenced in 1939. Larmour states that the single-celled chapel was designed in an Irish Romanesque style ‘surmounted by stone Celtic cross finials’ and possessing other features ‘derived from Irish churches of the Early Christian and Romanesque periods.’ In conclusion Larmour stated that the chapel at Loreto Convent was ‘a rare example in Northern Ireland of the revival of the more primitive forms and details of Irish Romanesque architecture’ (Larmour, p. 185).

Loreto Convent’s chapel was listed in 1977; despite the further development and expansion of the Loreto Convent School in subsequent decades, the chapel has retained much of its original features and character. The building continues to be utilised as a catholic house of worship for the nuns of the Loreto Convent who have celebrated mass at the site for almost 75 years.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-50
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1923
4. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1949
5. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/3 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
6. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/1 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
7. Irish Builder, Vol. 81 (8 Jul 1939)
8. First Survey Record – HB03/16/013 (1993)
9. First Survey Image – HB03/16/013 (Undated)
10. Ordnance Survey map – 13-13NW3 (1967)

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Larmour, P., ‘The Celtic Revival and a national style of architecture’ Belfast: Queens University (Unpublished PhD thesis) 1977.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

An attached double-height single-cell rendered chapel built 1939 to designs by Thomas J Cullan and situated to the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre. Architectural detailing is a good example of the revival of the more primitive forms of Romanesque-style detailing in Irish church building during the first part of the twentieth-century. Housing a restrained but accomplished interior, the chapel forms part of an important group with Loreto Convent (HB03/16/009A) and gate lodge (HB03/16/009C), and together they make a significant contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine. Of considerable local interest, particularly to the Catholic community, the chapel remains of social importance and is a fine example of the work of a prominent Irish architect.

General comments

This record was previosuly recorded as HB03/16/013

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