Drumclamph Parish Church, Greenville Road,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached single-cell Church of Ireland church, built c.1840, located to the north side of Greenville Road. Church consists of rectangular nave with single-storey gabled porch to west and lean-to vestry to north-east, added c.1900.

Roof is pitched natural slate with blue/black clay ridge tiles over corbelled eaves course; raised sandstone verges; chimney-stack to west; square-headed bellcote to west consisting of Tudor-arched-headed aperture containing bronze bell supported on panelled supports on corbelled brackets; corbelled cornice and pinnacle. Walls are roughly coursed rubble with ashlar sandstone quoins; roughcast to north and south elevations. Windows are pointed-arched-headed timber framed containing leaded stained glass in sandstone surrounds; sandstone sills.

Principal elevation faces west and is abutted at centre by porch; exposed section contains blind pointed-arched opening to apex. Porch contains single window; pointed-arched-headed entrance opening containing double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber doors with decorative cast-iron strap hinges; bead moulded sandstone surround surmounted by hood moulding with label-stops to south elevation.

North elevation is two windows wide; abutted at left by vestry; shouldered vertically-sheeted timber door at left flanked at right by single window to west elevation.

East gable contains large Tudor-arched-headed timber framed Y-tracery window with rubble voussoirs.

South elevation is two windows wide.

West elevation contains large plate tracery window; quatrefoil window contains leaded stained glass.

Two-window wide roughcast outbuilding to south-west contains pointed-arched-headed leaded windows.

Set within churchyard containing selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century memorials on rural site bounded to north by River Derg; bounded to road at south by roughcast walling with concrete coping; access through square pillars with moulded coping supporting pair of cast-iron gates; pedestrian access through gate to west.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Roughly coursed rubble
Windows Pointed-arched-headed containing leaded stained glass
RWG Cast-iron half-round gutters and round downpipes

Historical information

The church was built in 1846 with a porch and vestry added c.1900. The gallery and stained glass windows date from the 1990s.

The church first appears captioned ‘Crew Church’ on the 1855 OS Map as a simple rectangular structure with a porch at the west end. A ‘School Ho’ is also captioned. By the 1905 OS map it is captioned ‘Drumclamph Church’ and a vestry has been added to the north-east. ‘Drumclamph School’, ‘Rectory’ and ‘Grave Yard’ are also captioned.

The church is listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) as a ‘church and ground’ valued at £10 and 10s for the yard. There are no changes to the value in Revisions but these show that the church is built on land owned by the Marquis (later Duke) of Abercorn.

OS Memoirs comments that, in the years before the church was built, ‘The rector [of St Eugene’s, Newtownstewart] also conducts divine service in Drimclamp school-house very frequently.” (p.11) It seems that a need for a new church was felt and this was built near the school house where services had formerly been held.

The Diocesan History states, “Drumclamph Parish…was formed as a perpetual curacy out of Ardstraw [in 1838]. It became a parish in 1877. The church was built in 1846, and a new gallery was added in 1993…The parish was amalgamated with Baronscourt from 1921 to 1976 and with Langfield Union from 1976.” (p.69)

A date of 1846 for the main church building is confirmed by its style and features such as the absence of a chancel to the east end of the building. Although the 1855 OS Map shows a porch the current porch and vestry were added at a later date. The more sophisticated stone detailing and styling of these elements, including unusual label-stop detail suggest that these extensions date from around 1900. The gallery was installed in 1993, in line with general renovation work. Stained glass windows in the porch are dated 1996 and other windows in the church are similar. A stained glass window in the chancel is dated 1984.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/17/1 – First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/17/2 – Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/17/3 – Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/40A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/35/19A-F – Annual Revision Records (1862-1929)
6. 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. Fawcett, F. W., D. W. T. Crooks and James B. Leslie. “Clergy of Derry and Raphoe.” Belfast and Londonderry: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1999.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A detached Church of Ireland church, built c.1840, located to the north side of Greenville Road. This simple barn church retains much of its original early Victorian rural character with well detailed stonework, including a distinctly Gothic bellcote and bead-moulded door surround. The building has benefited from the later addition of a stone porch and vestry. This church is set within a picturesque rural site and remains an important part of the architectural heritage of the local area.