First Castlederg Presbyterian Church, Garvetagh Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Gothic Revival Presbyterian Church, built c.1895, located to the east side of Garvetagh Road. Church consists of rectangular nave with gabled transepts to north and south; engaged square tower to north-west; cat-slide roof over store to south-west; single-storey minister’s room to east.

Roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles over corbelled eaves course; raised painted masonry verge on moulded kneelers with terracotta finial to principal gable; hipped roof over roughcast corbelled eaves to minister’s room. Walls are painted roughcast over projecting plinth with smooth rendered coping; diagonal buttressing to corners. Windows are pointed-arched-headed in chamfered stepped painted sandstone surrounds containing leaded stained glass.

Principal elevation faces west; central gable consists of pointed-arched-headed rebated opening in stepped surround surmounted by hood mould with label-stops containing square-headed double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber entrance doors with stained glass fanlight; flanked at each side by single window; at gallery level, moulded sill course to large pointed-arched-headed geometric tracery window surmounted by hood mould with decorative label-stops; small pointed-arched-headed louvred opening to apex; lateral buttressing to corners. Elevation abutted at right by store containing single trefoil window in smooth painted surround. Abutted at left by two-stage square tower; first stage contains single window to each elevation; moulded string course to broached second stage containing trefoil oculus to cardinal points; moulded string course to crenellated parapet; squat octagonal spire behind.

North elevation consists of three-window-wide nave separated by buttresses; abutted at left by gabled transept containing group of three windows (larger to centre); abutted at right by tower.

West elevation is abutted by minister’s room; exposed section at gallery level contains oculus window surmounted by small pointed-arched-headed louvred opening to apex. Minister’s room contains three windows; north elevation contains chamfered Tudor-arched-headed entrance opening containing diagonally-sheeted timber door at right and single window at left; south elevation contains single window.

South elevation is four windows wide (separated by buttresses); abutted at right by gabled transept, detailed as north.

Set within modern churchyard with carpark to south. Site bounded to road at north and south-west by roughcast walling; access through pair of square pillars supporting modern steel gates; at west (front of church), roughcast plinth wall surmounted by cast-iron railings; access through cast-iron pillars supporting pair of cast-iron gates; bound to south by rubble walling and to east by hedging. Single-storey pitched roughcast outbuilding to north-east. Church hall and original meeting house, dated 1739, to west side of Garvetagh Road.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Roughcast
Windows Pointed-arched-headed containing leaded stained glass
RWG Replacement cast-iron ogee profile gutters and round downpipes

Historical information

The church first appears on the 1905 OS Map captioned ‘Presb Ch’. However a meeting house is captioned nearby from the first edition OS map of 1833.

Annual Revisions (1862-1929) do not record the church, but an allusion is made to it. In the fieldbook dating from 1898-1915, it is recorded that the old meeting house is now being used as a hall and its value is consequently lowered. A marginal note states, “Old yard and stabling still used with new church”. It seems likely, therefore, that the church dates from the 1890s to 1900s. This is also indicated by the ornate styling and stylised crenellated tower. The plan form consists of nave, transepts and ministers room and appears to have been built simultaneously, judging by the similarity in materials and detailing.

First survey information dates the church to 1894 and states that the architect was Vincent Craig, However, Rowan dates the church to the early twentieth century and comments that it ‘looks like a design by John McIntyre of Letterkenny’ (p.183)

The old church bears a datestone of 1739.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/24/1 -First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/24/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1855)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/24/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/24/4 -Fourth Edition OS Map (1939-50)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/35/5A-F -Annual Revision Records (1862-1929)
6. PRONI VAL/12/D/6/24B -Annual Revision Map (1876-1906)

Secondary Sources

1. First Survey Information
2. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.

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

Evaluation

A Gothic Revival Presbyterian Church, built c.1895, located to the east side of Garvetagh Road. This substantial structure was built to replace an earlier meeting house, which remains opposite, currently used as the church hall. The building exhibits good proportions and style and retains most original features both internally and externally. The form externally is enhanced by a squat square tower terminating in an octagonal spire. The church is a significant landmark within its rural setting and an important element of ecclesiastical architecture in the local area.