St Patrick's RC Church, Glenelly Road, Cranagh, Plumbridge, Co Tyrone, BT78 8LR

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached Gothic Revival Roman Catholic Church, built c.1905, located to the south side of Glenelly Road. Church consists of rectangular nave with gabled chancel to east abutted to north by gabled sacristy; single-storey gabled porch to west.

Roof is pitched natural slate with blue/black clay ridge tiles over corbelled eaves; raised concrete verges with trefoil moulded gablets to base and mid-point over moulded kneelers; cross finials to gables; gabled bellcote to west consisting of chamfered pointed-arched-headed aperture containing bronze bell; smooth rendered chimney to sacristy. Walls are smooth rendered over projecting plinth; buttresses with offsets and gablets. Windows are pointed-arched-headed Y-tracery containing leaded stained glass surmounted by hood mould with label stops; chamfered painted masonry sills.

Principal gable faces west and is abutted at ground floor by gabled porch; exposed section contains single window at left and right; above, cusped tracery window at centre surmounted by louvred oculus with hood moulding. Gabled porch contains single window; north elevation contains pointed-arched-headed double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber entrance doors surmounted by hood moulding; south elevation contains pointed-arched-headed niche surmounted by hood moulding.

North elevation is seven windows wide (separated by buttresses).

East gable contains louvred oculus to apex; abutted by gabled chancel containing large geometrical tracery window surmounted by louvred oculus to apex; south elevation contains two windows; north elevation is abutted by sacristy. Sacristy contains pointed-arched-headed vertically-sheeted timber entrance door surmounted by hood mould at right; four square-headed timber framed 1/1 sliding sash windows to east elevation; three windows to west elevation.

South elevation is seven windows wide (separated by buttresses).

Set within churchyard containing selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century memorials (earliest found dates from 1859); carpark to west. Site bound to road at north by smooth rendered walling with concrete coping; access through square piers supporting pair of steel gates; bound to all other sides by wire fence.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Smooth render
Windows Pointed-arched-headed Y-tracery containing leaded stained glass
RWG Replacement cast-iron ogee profile gutters and square downpipes

Historical information

The church can be dated to the early twentieth century, stylistically, and was built to replace an older church which is still in existence.

The church is first shown on the fourth edition OS map of 1953, captioned ‘St Patrick’s RC Church’, it does not appear on the third edition OS map of 1905-6. It is located opposite the site of an older ‘R C Chapel’ which is captioned on the first and second OS maps of 1832 and 1853. On the 1905-6 map this is captioned ‘St Joseph’s RC Church’.

Valuation Revisions record the previous ‘RC Church and Yard’ under exemptions, at a value of £13. This church is noted as ‘disused’ in 1916 and added to exemptions in the same year (1916) is the ‘site of RC Church’ However no valuation for the new church is found in subsequent valuation books.

OS Memoirs records the older RC church as follows; ‘established in 1815, has 2 galleries which contain 200 each, the body 600. There are no seats either in the body or the gallery’. (p.20).

Rowan dates the new church to ‘later c19’, located ‘opposite the old Catholic Church, T-Plan of 1814’. (p.454).

The church appears to date from the early twentieth century, indicated by the simple stylised features and window tracery. The building remains as built; all additions to the regular form, including chancel, sacristy and porch, are constructed in the same style with similar ornamentation indicating they are from the same period.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/12/1 -First Edition OS Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/12/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1853)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/12/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905-6)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/12/4 -Fourth Edition OS Map (1953)
5. PRONI VAL/12/D/6/12/E -Valuation Revisions Map (1896-1925)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/39/3A-E -Valuation Revisions (1862-1923)

Secondary Sources

1. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone II, 1825, 1833-5, 1840, Vol. 20.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990.
2. Mitchell, C. J. Haldane. “Omagh: Paintings and Stories form the Seat of the Chiefs.” Donaghadee, Co. Down, Cottage Publications, 2000.
3. 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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A large detached Gothic Revival Roman Catholic Church, built c.1905, located to the south side of Glenelly Road. The church has a simple rectangular form with chancel and porch to gable ends; the plain facade is enriched by ornate moulded gablets, bellcote and window tracery. The building retains much of its original character both externally and internally. A prominent feature within the rural village of Cranagh, the church has a good setting within the village and the wider surrounding valley.