St John’s Church of Ireland

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Gothic Revival Church of Ireland, built 1865, and renovated c.1998, located to the west side of Victoria Road, at the corner of Dunnalong Road. Church consists of central nave with full-height gabled vestry to south-east; single-storey gabled porch to south-west; engaged belfry to south-west.

Roof is replacement pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles over deep overhanging eaves with exposed rafter-ends; raised sandstone verges; stone chimney-stack with original clay pot to east. Walls are roughly coursed granite rubble with ashlar sandstone quoins and red brick string course. Windows are pointed-arched-headed sandstone plate tracery containing cusped pointed-arched-headed leaded lattice lights in stepped sandstone surround surmounted by red and yellow brick voussoirs.

Principal elevation faces south and consists of two-window-wide nave at centre (window at right contains leaded stained glass); abutted at left by gabled porch consisting of pointed-arched-headed rebated entrance opening with red and yellow brick voussoirs containing double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors with cast-iron strap hinges flanked at left and right by buttresses containing cusped chamfered aperture at base; surmounted by blind oculus in pointed-arched-headed stone to apex enclosed by chevron carving to eaves. Elevation abutted at right by gabled vestry containing large plate tracery window; at left, pointed-arched-headed entrance; cusped round-arched-headed opening containing vertically sheeted timber door; single cusped pointed-arched-headed window to west elevation.

West elevation contains two small pointed-arched-headed windows at low level surmounted by central rose window with pointed-arched-headed voussoirs; abutted at right by gabled belfry containing pointed-arched-headed chamfered bellcote containing bronze bell supported on chamfered piers; access via concrete steps to basement.

North elevation contains three windows; window at left contains three lights surmounted by oculus.

Set within rural churchyard with selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century memorials and gravestones to north and south. Site bounded at all sides by rubble walling with rubble coping. The entrance gates are wrought iron in a distinctive design set in sandstone pillars.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Roughly coursed rubble
Windows Pointed-arched-headed sandstone plate tracery containing cusped pointed-arched-headed leaded lattice lights in stepped sandstone surrounds
RWG Replacement cast-iron ogee profile gutters and round downpipes

Historical information

The church first appears on the third edition of the OS Map of 1905, captioned “St John’s Church” and “Grave Yard.”

The Annual Revisions for 1864 note that the church is being built but has not been completed. The date of completion is not given but by 1879 the church has been valued at £49 10s and 10s for the yard.

The Diocesan History for Derry and Raphoe states that “Dunnalong was formed as a perpetual curacy out of Donagheady parish…The Church was built in 1865, dedicated to St John and Church and Churchyard were consecrated on Nov 1 1866…The church underwent extensive renovations in 1998” (p.75, 217).

According to information provided by the church, “[In the 1830s to 1860s], there were…requests for a church to be built in the lower part of the parish of Donagheady. Finally a decision was made to create the perpetual curacy of Dunnalong. The bounds of the perpetual curacy corresponded very closely to the bounds of the manor of Dunnalong. It was also agreed that the perpetual curate of Dunnalong was to be paid a salary of £80 per annum. The church of St John was built in 1865 in Drumgauty at the junction of the main road and the Dunnalong Road on a plot of land formerly leased from James McGettigan. The cost of building the church was covered by a grant from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The church is remarkable for its steeply pitched roof and is one of the landmarks on the main road between Derry and Strabane. The first perpetual curate was Frederick James Clark who had previously been curate of Donagheady.”

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/2/1– First Edition OS Map (1832-3)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/2/2 – Second Edition OS Map (1853)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/18A-G – Annual Revision Records (1860-1925)

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.
2. Information provided by St John’s Church of Ireland. Undated.

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Gothic Revival Church of Ireland, built 1865, and renovated c.1998, located to the west side of Victoria Road, at the corner of Dunnalong Road. The church is characterised by simple proportions enlivened by eclectic ornamentation which is characteristic of the period, including Romanesque chevron stone detailing and Gothic windows, buttressing, with polychromatic brick dressings showing influences of Ruskin, typical of Victorian architecture of the time. The steeply sloping roof, which is mirrored in the boundary wall coping, treatment of the main entrance and attached belfry is influenced by early christian Irish church architecture. This church is an impressive local structure on the Road between Derry and Strabane and has social interest for the local community.