St Brigid's Convent and National School

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-storey gabled stone building in a subdued Gothic Revival style with a long two-storey rendered return wing to its rear, and a modern building of cubic form and concrete construction projecting centrally at an angle from the front. The three-storey building is St Brigid’s Convent, the two-storey rear return is the former National School, and the modern angled block is the Chapel of the Annunciation.

MAIN CONVENT BLOCK: a three-storey gabled stone building comprising a rectangular block three windows wide to each side of a projecting gabled breakfront, with a further bay set back at the right-hand extremity. Main façade faces east.

East elevation: pitched roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; red ridge tiles, shaped, with perforations; timber eaves boards, decoratively treated, carried on shaped timber brackets; moulded cast iron gutters and rectangular section cast iron downpipes with original decoratively treated cast iron fixings.
Walls of coursed rock-faced sandstone, with ashlar sandstone quoins to extremities, projecting plinth, and dressings to openings. Four chimneys, one to each extremity of main rectangular block, and one to each side of central breakfront: coursed rock-faced sandstone with projecting stringcourse and battered ashlar caps.

Façade to right of central breakfront: windows to second floor are modern rectangular pvc fixed lights with top-hung vents, set in stop-chamfered surrounds, with shouldered reveals, and projecting sandstone cills. Windows to first floor are original rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 1 over 1, with horns, set in stop-chamfered surrounds which rise to moulded Gothic-arched recessed tympana each one ornamented with an encircled cross flanked by circles.
Ground floor is hidden by a boundary wall to Convent Road.

Projecting breakfront: walls of stonework as previous, but without quoins to corners; slated roofs as previous, with ornamentally treated timber eaves to sides; plain timber bargeboards to gable. Most of gable walling obscured by later projecting modern chapel.
North side of breakfront contains a first floor window in the form of a Gothic arched timber sliding sash, 1 over 1, with horns, set in chamfered arched reveals.
South side of breakfront contains a ground floor doorway: rectangular ledged timber door surmounted by a Gothic arched fanlight, set in a chamfered Gothic arched surround.
Façade to left of central breakfront is similar to façade to right, except that ground floor is visible over boundary wall: contains three windows, sashed as previous to north side of central breakfront.

North gable: three storeys plus attic. Overhanging eaves to gabled roof with ornamented timber barge boards supported on four large shaped brackets rising from moulded sandstone corbels; barge boards ornamented with quatrefoil piercings.
Walling as previous to main front. Windows original rectangular sliding sash, 1 over 1, with horns, set in chamfered surrounds with projecting sandstone cills: rectangular surrounds to windows except for first floor, left-hand side, which is surmounted by an ornamented Gothic-arched tympanum, as previous to main front, and second floor window above it, which has shouldered reveals as previous to main front.
Ground floor has a rectangular doorway containing a ledged timber door set in tooled reveals.
Second floor windows flanking doorway have original wrought iron railings set on scrolling supports.
Extending to the right-hand side of the north gable is a single storey hipped roof block in the same plane as the gable, with the rear return set back behind it; one window to north face, rectangular timber, sashed as previous; a doorway to west side; roof slated as previous to main block, with similar red ridge tiles to hip; cast iron gutter on moulded timber eaves board; cast iron circular downpipe.

South gable of main convent block is similar to north gable except for window arrangement and detailing: contains two windows to ground floor, Gothic-arched sashes as previous comprising a coupled window to first floor with rectangular sashes, one Gothic-arched sashed window to second floor, and a rectangular timber sashed window to attic.

Rear elevation of main block of convent: slated roof as previous, with similar eaves, brackets, and rainwater goods. Walling is rendered, roughcast, with wet dash, with sandstone quoins to extremities. Two chimneys at eaves: of yellow brickwork, the one to the right with battered sides. Windows to ground floor and first floor are rectangular timber sliding sashes, 1 over 1, with horns; windows to second floor are modern pvc as previous; smooth rendered reveals.
Projecting from the rear elevation is a tall flat-roofed service tower, with a blank wall of rustic brickwork to the west, and side walls rendered as previous; cast iron downpipe. Rectangular timber casement windows to north side with a modern glazed timber door to the ground floor; full-height curtain glazing to south side.

SCHOOL BLOCK: a two-storey rendered building with main façade facing north, eight windows wide to first floor.
Roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with red ridge tiles as previous to main convent block; similar eaves board with shaped timber brackets; cast iron rainwater goods as previous to front of convent; two chimneys, yellow brick, with battered sandstone caps.
Walling is rendered, roughcast, with wet dash; with smooth rendered quoins to right-hand extremity and similar surrounds to windows; projecting stone cills.
Windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, with horns, 2 over 2 to ground floor and 1 over 1 to first floor; windows to left-hand extremity of first floor are coupled. First floor contains a Gothic-arched niche with projecting label moulding and moulded corbel base to niche, all above a rectangular panel in sandstone inscribed ‘St Brigid’s Convent National Schools 1891’ and decorated with incised shamrocks.
At ground floor, right-hand extremity, is a doorway comprising a rectangular timber ledged door with segmental headed fanlight set in a segmental arched opening.

West gable: looks like smooth render, lined and blocked, and painted, with dressed sandstone quoins. Two windows, one in each floor: to ground floor, rectangular timber sliding sash, 4 over 4, with horns set in plain reveals; to first floor, Gothic-arched timber sliding sash, 1 over 1, with horns. Overhanging eaves with ornamented timber bargeboards on four large shaped timber brackets; small finial to apex of gable.

Rear elevation: roof slated and wall rendered as previous to north elevation; some spalling of render to ground floor area; two chimneys rising from just above eaves height, in yellow brick with battered sides; cast iron rainwater goods. All windows rectangular timber sashed as previous, some 4 over 4 and some 1 over 1, with horns.

MODERN CHAPEL PROJECTING TO EAST – this is described separately at HB 09/14/024B.

SETTING: The complex of buildings stands well within the built-up area of the town, on a rising site facing the main street of the town.

To the east of the buildings is a rectangular front plot comprising a sloping lawn with mature trees. East boundary of front plot is formed by a low coursed rubble sandstone plinth wall with chamfered granite copings, surmounted by decoratively treated wrought iron railings, comprising straight and wavy posts, scrolling bars, and shamrock finials. On axis with the front angle of the chapel is a pair of similarly treated gates with Celtic cross main finial, set between openwork wrought iron piers, flanked by pedestrian gates which contain Celtic cross designs. At each extremity of east boundary is an openwork wrought iron pier with prominent cross finial.

North boundary of front plot is formed by a sandstone plinth wall, as previous to east, but with concrete coping surmounted by ornamentally treated wrought iron railings of more simple design than previous. Near top of front lawn the plinth wall is raised in two stages to form a solid screen wall to the ground floor of the buildings. North screen wall, of rubble sandstone with rough hewn copings, contains a pair of rectangular flush timber double doors set in partly dressed reveals, and surmounted by a semi-circular arched concrete open canopy roof rising from the walls; doors have steel dressed top edges, and each door has a shaped timber handle dressed in beaten copperwork each depicting a saintly figure in primitive style.
North screen wall continues to west to abut the northern extremity of the main convent façade.
South boundary of front plot is formed by a mature hedge, continued to west, adjacent to buildings, by a low rubble sandstone wall with sandstone copings surmounted by scrolling wrought iron railings, which rises at the western end to form a solid screen wall of coursed sandstone rubble with dressed copings, which abuts the southern extremity of the main convent façade: contains a rectangular ledged timber door set in tooled reveals.
South gable of convent block faces onto the grounds of the Roman Catholic church. Immediately to the rear of the convent main block is a concrete surfaced yard area with a rubble sandstone retaining wall beyond it, containing a small garden with lawns; modern iron railings to west boundary of rear garden. To the west of the buildings is a large tarmac car park with an outbuilding of no special merit along its western boundary.
The boundary to the north along the main front of the school block is formed by a rubble sandstone wall with rock copings: it has a pedestrian gateway in front of the niche and inscription panel, containing a pair of plain wrought iron gates set in tooled sandstone reveals; tarmac area between boundary wall and school.

Historical information

Built in 1891 as a convent and national school; architect not known. In 1965 a chapel (HB09/14/024B) was added to the main entrance front, designed by Laurence McConville of Rooney and McConville, architects of Belfast. The building has been vacant since 2001. The grounds to the rear and to the south side open onto the grounds of Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church built in 1855-60 to the designs of J.J. McCarthy.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1857, Co Tyrone 29 (shows a terrace of buildings along the street front to the east of the plot, with the site of the convent complex vacant).
2. OS Map 1935, Co Tyrone 29 (shows the convent and school blocks, with an open area to the east).
3. Datestone of 1891 on exterior of the National School.

Secondary Sources
1. Architects’ Journal, 7 September 1966, p 634.
2. R.J. McKinstry, ‘Contemporary Architecture’, in M. Longley, ed, Causeway: The Arts in Ulster (Belfast, 1971), p 32.
3. UAHS, Dungannon and Cookstown (Belfast, 1971), pp 22 and 33 (Item 84).
4. D. Evans, An Introduction to Modern Ulster Architecture (Belfast, 1977), pp 55-56.
5. A.J. Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979), p 217.
6. R. Hurley and W. Cantwell, Contemporary Irish Church Architecture (Dublin, 1985), pp 55-57.
7. P. Larmour, ‘Twentieth-Century Church Architecture in Ireland’ in A. Becker, J. Olley, and W. Wang, eds, 20th-Century Architecture: Ireland (Munich and New York, 1997), p 62.
8. R. Hurley and P. Larmour, eds, Sacred Places: The Story of Christian Architecture in Ireland (RIAI and RSUA, Dublin and Belfast, 2000), p 30.
9. S. Walker, Historic Ulster Churches (Belfast, 2000), p 114.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

This is a late Victorian building comprising a combined convent and school, in an ornamentally treated Gothic Revival style, which retains most of its original exterior features and forms part of an interesting and unusual group along with the post-2nd World War chapel in modern style which has been added to it, and the Gothic Revivalist church standing alongside it. The conventionality of treatment of the convent forms a valuable foil for the modernity of the later chapel attached to it and helps to underline the architecturally radical treatment of the latter, while the juxtaposition of the modernity of treatment of the later chapel with the conventionality of the convent can be seen as having transcended normal considerations of architectural appropriateness or inappropriateness of style to become a particularly striking illustration of an historic architectural development.