St Patrick's RC Church,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing double-height street-fronted stone and rendered Roman Catholic church, built c.1845, extended c.1875, located on the east side of Castlefin Road. Cruciform-on-plan with a three-stage steeple to the south, added c.1885 and vestry to the south-east, c.1875. Refurbished and restored c.1995 with the addition of an ancilliary wing to the west gable and a further entrance porch to the north.

Pitched replacement natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles; all gables have stone ashlar fractables with offsets, gableted and corbelled kneeler stones and surmounted by stone Celtic cross finials. Replacement ogee-moulded metal guttering to plastic fascia and metal downpipes. There is a stone chimney rising from the east gable of the vestry with a decorative round stone pot and offsets forming a breakfront to this elevation.

Walling is random rock-faced stone with dressed quoins and dressed splayed plinth course. The earlier body of the church to the west has replacement roughcast lime render with dressed soldier quoins and simulated render quoin-work to match the in-and-out work of the later extensions. The recent extensions have rough-hewn stone walling with quoins and openings formed in machine-cut sandstone ashlar.

Windows to the nave are double-height trefoil-headed lancets formed in chamfered sandstone in-and-out work and flush splayed sills (two to the south nave, three to the north nave). Three lancets to the upper part of the west gable are repeated on a larger scale to the gables of the north and south transepts. To the east chancel gable is a large pointed-arched window formed in chamfered sandstone ashlar with hood moulding, square label-stops and flush stone relieving arch. The window contains geometric tracery formed in standstone with five trefoil-headed lancets and three roundels, all having stained glass.

Road-fronted east elevation comprises a double-height chancel gable with a lean-to side chapel set back within the re-entrant angle between the chancel and the north transept with a pointed-arched sandstone panel containing a cinquefoil stained glass window. To the south re-entrant angle is the street-fronted vestry with a tall chimney forming a breakfront flanked by trefoil-headed lancet windows.

The south elevation comprises the single-storey two-bay vestry elevation to the right, abutted by the double-height gabled south transept. Abutting the transept, set back slightly, is the three-stage tower with broached spire and containing the main entrance. To the left of the tower are the two remaining bays of the south nave. Square-headed window opening to the vestry formed in chamfered sandstone ashlar with three rectangular leaded lights and two stone mullions. A square-headed door opening is also formed in sandstone ashlar with chamfered reveals, a narrow leaded sidelight and inset vertically-sheeted timber door. The square-plan tower is built in coursed and snecked rock-faced stone with dressed quoins and angled buttresses to the lower stages with offsets. The broached spire is formed in dressed ashlar stone surmounted by a stone finial and cross with four lucarnes to the lower part of the spire. The bell stage is defined by a moulding to the base of the spire, repeated to the base of the bell stage. A pair of pointed-arched openings to all four sides with hood mouldings, square label stops and trefoil-headed openings with timber louvers. The corners have angled piers with offsets. A pair of roundels are present to the middle stage on the west elevation with a trefoil-headed niche to the south elevation with gabled canopy and finial, containing a replacement stone effigy of St. Patrick. A pair of lancets to the lower stage to the west elevation with a pointed-arched door opening to the south elevation with cavetto hood moulding, square label stops, deeply moulded jambs with a pair of colonettes and a replacement double-leaf vertically-sheeted door and stone step. A free-standing font sits to the left of the entrance with marble bowl on pink marble urn and limestone base.

Double-height west gable is rendered with a roundel to the apex with quatrefoil glazed opening. The single-storey gabled ancillary building is built to the centre of this gable in rubble stone with machine-cut quoins, fractable and openings. A square-headed door opening with sidelight formed in sandstone gives access to the west end of the church with double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber doors.

The north side elevation comprises a lean-to side chapel to the left set slightly back from the double-height gabled north transept, all details as per south elevation. The three-bay rendered nave is interrupted by a recently built gabled structure with chimney abutting the nave, all built in rubblestone with machine-cut quoins. This structure is attached to the side of the transept by a flat-roofed entrance porch built in machine-cut sandstone with a square-headed door opening with double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber doors.

Setting:

The east chancel gable fronts onto Castlefin Road with a replacement steel gate abutting the vestry and the adjoining terrace (HB10/02/004) with a paved south side area and paved footpaths encircling the entire church. The church is set within a graveyard occupying a substantial area to the north and enclosed by a rubblestone wall along the road to the east and north. The earliest noted gravemarkers are dated to the 1850s. To the north of the graveyard is a 1970s building which served as a replacement church for about twenty years, now empty.

Roof Replacement natural slate
Rainwater goods Replacement metal
Windows Lancets with stained glass
Walls Stone / Render

Historical information

The first church in the vicinity, in the neighbouring townland of Castlesessagh, dated from 1790 to the 1840s. A church on the present site, originally dated from 1846 but was radically altered in 1876 to conform with late-Victorian Gothic taste.

The 1833 OS map shows an ‘R C Chapel’ about a quarter of a mile away from the site of the present building. A church on the present site first appears on the 1853 OS map captioned ‘R C Chapel’. By the 1905 third edition the church assumes an entirely new plan. A ‘Burial Ground’ is also captioned. On the 1939 OS map it is captioned ‘St Patrick’s R C Church’.

Griffith’s Valuation records a chapel and graveyard at a value of £20 and 15s for the yard. By 1877 the church has been entirely remodelled and a plan is sketched in the margin of the fieldbook. The value is duly revised to £40.

OS Memoirs record the existence of the first chapel and hint at the need for a new building, “[There is] a Roman Catholic chapel situated in Castlesessagh townland. It was built about the year 1790. The expenses of the original building and subsequent addition are supposed to have amounted to 200 pounds. This sum was defrayed by the late Mr Gilly McHugh of Castlederg, who was afterwards remunerated by voluntary subscriptions. The length of the chapel is 80 feet and breadth 25 feet. It will accommodate about 500 persons. The average attendance is more than the chapel will accommodate.” (p.138)

Rowan comments on the present church that, “The plan of the interior is one much used by E.J. Toye, with an arcade across the transepts ending in small side chapels that flank the chancel…Fonts in stone, taken from the [first] Catholic church. (1790-1846)” (p.182).

The parish website states, “The present church of Saint Patrick was first dedicated on Sunday 8th October, 1876, by Most Rev Dr Francis Kelly, Bishop of Derry from 1849 until 1889…It was built at a cost of £3000 …Between 1886 and 1888 the tower and the spire were added to the building. The bell…was founded by J Murphy of Dublin in 1888… [The church] is an extension on the first St Patrick’s Church, which was dedicated by the retired Bishop McLaughlin in 1846. By the 1970’s however it was felt too costly to repair and maintain, so a new church dedicated to St. Eugene was built and opened in May 1978. It remained in use as a church until it too became in need of serious repairs, and so it was decided to refurbish the old Saint Patrick’s Church. On 11th May 1997, it was rededicated, by the Bishop of Derry, Most Rev Seamus Hegarty DD.”

The nave of the 1846 church building has been retained in the structure of the new church as suggested by the rough-cast render wall finish and window surrounds of sandstone on the west end of the present church. The church was restored in 1997 having been completely re-roofed with the addition of a single-height gabled wing to the west gable (containing toilet facilities) and a further projection with attached entrance lobby to the north nave, both executed in stone to match the existing fabric. The 1997 renovations also involved the partial salvage of some stained glass windows which have been incorporated into modern stained glass. All flooring and joinery appears to date from this extensive refurbishment.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/16/1 – First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/16/2 – Second Edition OS Map (1855)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/16/3 – Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/16/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map (1939)
5. PRONI OS/8/72/1 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan 1905
6. PRONI VAL/1A/6/16 – Townland Valuation Map
7. PRONI VAL/1/D/6/3 – Townland Valuation Town Plan (c.1834)
8. PRONI VAL/1B/626A – Townland Valuation Records (1828-1840)
9. PRONI VAL/2/D/6/5 – Griffith’s Valuation Town Plan (c.1859)
10. PRONI Griffith’s Valuation, printed copy – Union of Castlederg
11. PRONI VAL/12/E/166/1 – Annual Revision Records Town Plan (1904-9)
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/35/6A-F – Annual Revision Records (1860-1929)
13. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone I, 1821, 1823, 1833-36, Vol. 5.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990.

Secondary Sources

1.Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.
2.Castlederg parish website. http://www.castledergparish.com/stpatricks.htm

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

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

Evaluation

St Patrick’s Catholic Church has the appearance of a late Victorian Gothic revival church in external design and internal finish. However, the main body of the nave is of an earlier date evidenced in the earlier window surrounds and external wall finish. The 1870s improvements transformed the plan and interior of the church. During the late twentieth century the church was renovated and restored, with the extensions allowing for more up to date church facilities. The resultant building is an impressive, well detailed and proportioned public building. It is situated at the end of a listed stone terrace of dwellings and marked the northern boundary of the town until recent suburban sprawl. The open space provided for the graveyard retains this demarcation while providing a dramatic view of the church from the north, and a spacious setting for the church.