St Patrick's Church of Ireland

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A church of cruciform plan consisting of a nave, two transepts, and chancel all of late Victorian date, with an early 19th century tower at the west end, all finished in roughcast render except the chancel and vestry which are of exposed stonework. It stands within the built up area of the town set well back from a main street within its own extensive grounds on an elevated site.

The nave walling is of roughcast render with a projecting plinth, and painted sandstone dressings to window openings and shaped corbels to the eaves. The nave roofing is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses. Nave rainwater goods are of cast iron, comprising moulded guttering and circular downpipes.

The main entrance faces north, located in the tower. The north elevation consists of the nave with the tower set back at the right hand end, and the north transept projecting forward at the left hand end.

The main nave windows are two-light with cusped tracery set in a Gothic arched block surround, and are glazed with coloured glass in lead cams. The exposed west face of the nave contains one narrow cusped gothic arched lancet containing storm glazed leaded lights set in a sandstone block surround. The north transept is of similar materials to the nave except there is no plinth to the walls. The side walls are blank but the gable contains a large three-light window of similar detailing to those of the nave, and is crowned by a decorative stone finial of fleur-de-lys form. There is also a small rectangular cast iron hatch set in a sandstone surround near ground level in the gable whose precise function is not known.

The tower is of square plan, stone buttressed and crenellated, and is of two stages, separated by a plain stone platband. The lower stage contains the main entrance which comprises gothic arched double doors of diagonally boarded ledged timber, set in a raised gothic arched stone surround. Above it is a lozenge shaped datestone inscribed 'SBR 1813 TTC', which presumably commemorates an earlier phase of building on this site. The upper stage contains an undressed Gothic arched opening, with projecting stone cill, containing sheeted louvre boards. The other three faces of the tower are similar to this one.

The east elevation consists of the main nave gable flanked each side by the two transepts, all in roughcast render, with the chancel projecting in the centre and the vestry projecting to the left of it, both in exposed stonework. The nave gable is surmounted by a short stubby ashlar sandstone chimney at its apex, which contains one black pot. The chancel is built of snecked rubble sandstone, with a projecting plinth. The gable contains a large three-light window similar to the north transept, but with a drip moulding and plain block label stops. There is a decorative sandstone finial at the apex of the gable on a circular metal ventilator on the ridge of the roof. In the plinth on the north side of the chancel is a segmental arched shallow recess, formerly a doorway to a crypt but now walled up. It is approached by a flight of stone steps enclosed by iron railings and a gate. The vestry is of similar walling to the chancel. It contains a pair of small coupled Gothic arched lancets in the east wall, which contain lozenge pattern metal glazing bars. Steps to a basement are enclosed by a roughcast wall. The south side of the vestry contains a shouldered rectangular timber sheeted door.

The south elevation consists of the nave, with the south transept projecting forward to the right hand end, and the tower set back to the left hand end with the tower stairwell projecting in front of the tower, flush with nave wall plane. Materials and details are similar to the north elevation, with similar windows, but the plinth of the nave stops short of the tower stairwell. There is also a modern flush rooflight in the roof of the nave.

The west elevation consists of the tower with the stairwell extending to one side. This face of the tower is similar to the entrance face but some details differ. The lower stage contains two windows, an original two-light similar to those of the nave, and below it a new window containing stained glass behind storm glazing set in a raised gothic surround modelled on that of the main entrance. Immediately below the louvred opening of the upper stage of the tower is a rectangular sandstone datestone inscribed 'JGR 18.0', an incomplete or damaged date which presumably commemorates an earlier phase of building on the site. The stair bay to the right, of lean-to form, contains a rectangular ledged timber door set in a stop-chamfered sandstone surround. Above it is a small cusped lunette containing leaded glazing set in a sandstone surround of curvilinear form.

SETTING:
The church is approached from a side road by a tarmac driveway which expands along the north side to form a small car park, and extends around the west end of the church as a small path. The grounds are laid out with lawns containing graves and some mature trees. Laid flat on the ground in the south west angle of nave and transept and set in a cement screed bed are a number of 18th century memorial slabs, one embellished with a depiction of a church with a tower. The boundaries are marked mainly by rubble stone walling of no particular interest except for the main gateway which comprises a pair of original ironwork gates, inscribed 'Riddell, Belfast', set between chamfered stone piers with cusped gablets on each face of the caps, from which a segmental ironwork archway surmounted by a lamp spans the driveway. The gateway is flanked to each side by short runs of ironwork railings on low walls. Extending from the north end of the driveway is a large tarmac car park which contains a modern church hall.

Historical information

Built in 1877 to the designs of John Henry Fullerton, architect, following the destruction by fire, on 5 February that year, of the previous church of which only the tower of 1822 remained. Described at the time as 'almost as new edifice' in Gothic style. Builder was Senior, Dungannon. Opened 12th October 1877.

The tower had been erected in 1822 along with side aisles added to a previous church which had been built in 1694, and which contained three galleries by the early 19th century. It had all been reconstructed in 1875 except for the tower.

The previous church, of 1694, was itself a replacement for a church of 1622 which was destroyed in the war of 1641. In 1859 Joseph Welland prepared plans for a proposed enlargement on behalf of the Ecclesiatical Commissioners. In 1862 Welland and Gillespie designed a new chancel and ribing room for the church (John Cooke, contractor). In 1877 the church was the subject of a renovation, including the installation of a new organ. Finally, in February 1877 the church was destroyed by fire.

The significance of the initials and dates JGR 18.0 (possibly originally 1810 though that is uncertain) and SBR and TTC 1813 which appear on the tower outside is not recorded.

References - Primary Sources
1. OS Map of 1833-4.
2. Irish Builder 19, 1st November (1877), p321.
3. Irish Builder 1, 1st August (1859), p104.
4. Irish Builder 19, 1st November (1877), p321.
4. RCB Library, portfolio 2A, October 1862. Drawings

Secondary Sources
1. S. Lewis, A topographical dictionary of Ireland (London, 1837), Vol 1, p 480.
2. J.B. Leslie, Armagh Clergy and Parishes (Dundalk, 1911), p 228.
3. UAHS, Dungannon and Cookstown (Belfast, 1971), p 41.
4. A.J. Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North-West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979), p 490.

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

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

Evaluation

A church of cruciform plan consisting of a nave, two transepts, and chancel all of late Victorian date, with an early 19th century tower. This is a church of the 1870s in a Gothic Revival style by a well known Ulster architect, William Fullerton, retaining an earlier tower from 1822, and exhibiting both a general plan form typical of the style and a number of ornamental features and embellishments appropriate to the style. Its well preserved interior contains an impressive arrangement of structural roof timbers, as well as a series of wall memorials which add to the historic ambience of the building. This historic ambience is enhanced by the collection of 18th century grave slabs laid on the ground just outside the south wall of the nave, and by the intriquing date stones from the early 19th century built into the tower outside. This is a building of considerable local interest as well as social importance.