Baronscourt Parish Church,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Gothic Revival Church of Ireland Church, built c.1840 and funded by the Board of First Fruits, located to the north side of Cloonty Road. Church consists of rectangular nave with gabled chancel to east abutted by gabled vestry to north; single-storey gabled porch to south-west.

Roof is pitched natural slate with blue/black clay ridge tiles over corbelled eaves; raised leaded verges on cavetto moulded kneelers; chimney-stack to east; gabled bellcote to west consisting of chamfered pointed-arched-headed aperture containing bronze bell. Walls are coursed rubble with ashlar sandstone quoins over projecting plinth; diagonal buttresses with offsets. Windows are pointed-arched-headed reticulated tracery containing leaded stained glass in sandstone surrounds surmounted by hood mould and rubble voussoirs.

Principal elevation faces south and is two windows wide; two timber framed flat-roofed dormers containing cusped lattice lights to roof slope, added c.1920. Elevation abutted on left by gabled porch containing pointed-arched-headed double-leaf vertically-sheeted doors surmounted by hood mould; accessed by two stone steps; single cusped pointed-arched-headed window containing leaded lattice lights to east and west elevation.

West gable contains single window; access to basement via sandstone steps below.

North elevation is three windows wide; two dormers to roof slope (detailed as south elevation).

East gable is abutted at centre by gabled chancel containing large window; single cusped pointed-arched-headed window containing leaded lattice lights to south elevation; north elevation abutted by gabled vestry containing pointed-arched-headed vertically-sheeted timber entrance door accessed by four stone steps; pair of cusped pointed-arched-headed windows to east elevation.

Single-storey vertically-sheeted timber Sunday school building with pitched slate roof and gabled rubble store to north-west.

Set within churchyard containing selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century memorials on rural site bounded by rubble walling with rubble coping; access through square pillars supporting pair of timber gates to north-west; pedestrian access through gabled Lych-gate to west; timber framed over stone plinth consisting of pointed-arched-headed opening with quatrefoil perforations; decorative timber bargeboards; quarry tiled floor; flanked by plinth wall surmounted by timber fence and square sandstone pillars.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Coursed rubble
Windows Pointed-arched-headed containing leaded stained glass
RWG Replacement cast-iron half-round gutters and round downpipes

Historical information

Baronscourt Church is thought to date to c.1840. The first map to show it is the 1854 OS map, with the caption ‘Church’. The 1833 map shows that the church was built on the site of a school house. The 1907 and 1947 OS maps both record ‘Barons Court Church’ (‘Ch’ in 1907) with adjacent ‘Grave Yard.

A plan of the Chancel dating to 1898 shows the same layout as present. A drawing of a proposed new chimney dated 1876 does not resemble the present chimney. However it must have been replaced around this time as the chimney is described as wooden in 1876.

Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) and subsequent revisions (1860-1979) record the value of the church at £14.10s and leased from the Marquis of Abercorn.

Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary records in 1837 that a ‘new church, or chapel of ease, is about to be built at Baron's Court, or Magheracreegan, for which the late Board of First Fruits granted £600, now in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.’ (p 57). The Clergy of Derry and Raphoe states the church was consecrated in 1858 (p 47). According to Abercorn records, the church was insured for £2000 in 1908.

Clarke & Bell are believed to have designed the stalls, and the building is in their style (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). The Irish Architectural Archive date the church to 1858, but this is most likely based on the date the church was consecrated.

The church was originally built as an estate church for the Abercorn family and their workers at Baronscourt. The church features one of two ‘lych gates’ in the Dioceses of Derry and Raphoe, installed in 1905 in memory of the Duchess of Abercorn. A number of additions were made to the interior of the church at this time, also in memory of the Duchess, by her son Frederick Hamilton – choir stalls and an organ well in 1905; plaques of the Ten Commandments were added to the Chancel and the Chancel paved in 1906. It is said that Louisa Jane, 1st Duchess of Abercorn, kept these marble plaques in her bedroom at Baronscourt before her death.

The adjacent grave yard features a large Celtic cross monument to the first Duke of Abercorn c.1885, by Walter G. Doolin.

Timber framed dormer windows to the north and south roof slopes were a later addition to the church, thought to be added c.1920.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/25/1 -First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/25/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/25/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1907)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/25/4 -Fourth Edition OS Map (1947)
5. PRONI VAL/1B/637A -Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/25A -Griffith’s Valuation Map (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/25 -Griffith’s Valuation (1856-1925)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/7A-F -Annual Revision Records (1860-1925)

Secondary Sources

1. 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.
2. Dictionary of Scottish Architects. [Internet Source] Available from:
(Accessed 22/04/09)
3. Ferguson, G. Eric, June Cochrane, John Dunbar, Joan Ferguson, Victor Laughlin, Lily Loughlin, Carol McKelvey, eds. “The Changing Years in the Grouped Parishes of Ardstraw, Baronscourt and Badoney Union. Omagh, Co. Tyrone: Graham Printers, 2001.
4. Lewis, S. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Vol. I.” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837.
5. Rowan, A. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.
6. The Irish Architectural Archive Dublin. [Internet Source]. Available from: (Accessed 22/04/09)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Well proportioned and detailed Gothic Revival Church of Ireland Church, built c.1840 and funded by the Board of First Fruits, located to the north side of Cloonty Road. The church has a well-conceived design, enhanced by repair in recent years to detailing including ornate reticulated tracery and stonework; later timber dormers permit light to flood into the rich interior, enlivened by various marble plaques and family memorials. The churchyard is entered through an ornate timber Lych gate to the south-west. The church, originally a private chapel, mainly attended by the Abercorn family and workers, has adapted to use by the wider local community and remains an important element within the parish of Ardstraw.