Former Methodist Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached gable-fronted single-storey rendered former church, dated 1818, facing east with a gabled entrance porch added c.1900. Rectangular on plan on an elevated site with a flight of stone steps to the street and a front raised area enclosed by modern steel railings.

Pitched fibre cement slate roof, cement ridge tiles and uPVC rainwater goods. Cement pebbledash rendered walling and smooth render plinth course. Central painted stone plaque to centre of front east gable states…”METHODIST/ chapel /1818”; uPVC windows, concrete sills.

Front east gabled elevation comprises a pair of round-headed window openings with painted stone hood mouldings, concrete sills and replacement uPVC windows. Between the pair of windows is a lower gabled entrance porch with a pointed-arched window opening containing uPVC window and concrete sill. To the south cheek is a square-headed door opening with a vertically-sheeted timber door.

South side elevation is blank except a square-headed door opening.

Rear west and side north elevations not accessed.

Porch opens onto concrete front area with a flight of thirteen stone steps covered in cement enclosed to either side by a rendered stone wall with saddle-back coping surmounted by replacement steel railings returning to enclose the raised area to the street. A pair of earlier wrought-iron pedestrian gates open onto the street. A granite carved milestone is embedded into the front retaining wall with an indecipherable inscription.

Roof: Fibre cement slate
Walling: Pebbledash render
Windows: uPVC
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

The church bears a datestone of 1818. The porch is a later addition c1900. It has undergone extensive renovation in 1984-5 when the church was virtually rebuilt following a bomb blast. In 2007 the current owners Hood and Co bought the former church and with minimum changes are using it as a funeral home.

The church is shown on the first edition OS map of 1833, uncaptioned. Townland valuations record it as a ‘Methodist meeting house’ valued at £7 10s, situated in ‘Back St’. Griffith’s Valuation (1858) describes it as a ‘Primitive Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and garden’ leased from Daniel Baird Esq and valued at £6 13s. The dimensions are 26.6x50.6x12.6. Revisions increase the value to £8. The Annual Revisions town plan of 1908 shows that a porch has been added to the east elevation.

OS Memoirs comment, “The Primitive Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Back Street is a building in good repair, 52 feet long and 28 feet broad, erected by subscription in the year 1818 at an expense of 300 pounds. It accommodates 230 persons and the average attendance is 130. The ministers are Mr Adam Ford and Mr John Hurst.” (p.8)

Gebbie writes that Newtownstewart was evidently an important centre for Methodism as Methodist founder the Rev. John Wesley visited the town twice, in 1787 and 1789.(Gebbie, 1946)

There is evidence for Methodism in the area from 1767 when a traveling preacher, John Smith, based in Armagh, was invited to the home of Mr. John Grey of Lislap, near Newtownstewart. Subsequently, Mr. Smith established a circuit in 1778 of over 600 members from Cavandarragh, Aghyarahn, Drumquin, Lisleen and Newtownstewart. The expansion of this circuit led to its division in 1786 between Lisleen and Omagh, the latter containing Newtownstewart, and this circuit expanded so rapidly that by 1792 a “preaching house” was erected on the then called “Back Street,” now St. Eugene’s Road, Newtownstewart, near the present structure. The small building sat a hundred at most and was later converted into a Masonic Hall. Subsequently Newtownstewart broke off the Omagh Circuit in 1792, and remained as the separate Newtownstewart Circuit until 1831. Within Irish Methodism, a schism occurred in 1816 between Wesleyan Methodists and Primitive Methodist, shortly before the construction of the present building in 1818. The denominations remained separate until 1878. (Johnston, etc., p.3-4,5)

A milestone, of indeterminate age, perhaps eighteenth century or earlier (later mileposts being usually made of metal) appears in the wall forming the front boundary of the church. (Rynne p.322)

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/1A/6/17 – Townland Valuation Map
5. PRONI VAL/1B/637A-F – Townland Valuation Records (1828-1840)
6. PRONI VAL/2/D/6/10 – Griffith’s Valuation Town Plan (1849-1869)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/40B – Griffith’s Valuation Records (1858)
8. PRONI VAL/12/E/160/1 – Annual Revision Records Town Plan (1898)
9. PRONI VAL/12/E/160/2 – Annual Revision Records Town Plan (1908)
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/27A-F – Annual Revision Records (1860-1929)

Secondary Sources

1.Gebbie, John Hewitt. “Ardstraw Parish Church, Newtownstewart: Year Book and Blotter, 1946.” Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone: Self-published, 1946.
2.Gebbie, John Hewitt. “Ardstraw (Newtownstewart): Historical Survey of a Parish 1600-1900.” Omagh: The Strule Press, 1968.
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.Johnston, Norman and Desmond Preston. “Methodism in Omagh: An Historical Account of Methodism, Over Two Centuries, In the Omagh and Fintona Circuit.” Omagh: Self-published, 1982.
5.Rynne, Colin. “Industrial Ireland 1730-1930: An Archaeology.” Cork: The Collins Press, 2006.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

The original Primitive Methodist chapel built in 1818 was originally a building of substantial local interest but it was unfortunately severely damaged and then substantantily rebuilt following a bomb explosion in 1982. It now has inppropriate uPVC windows, fibre cement slates, pebble dash render and an entirely modern interior. These changes have diminished its architectural interest.

General comments

There is no postcode available for this address.