St Patrick's (C of I) Church, Leckpatrick,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing gable-fronted double-height rendered Church of Ireland church, dated 1815. Facing west on an elevated site on the east side of Victoria Road. Rectangular on plan with single transept to north nave, entrance porch to front west gable and further projection to south nave.

Pitched natural slate roof and lead valleys, black clay ridge tiles and stone ashlar coping to all three raised gables with a stone ashlar bell-cote to the front west gable containing cast-iron bell. South and west projections have roofs hidden behind parapet walls with stone coping. Replacement cast-iron rainwater goods to rendered eaves. Pigmented rough-cast lime rendered walling with smooth render projecting plinth course. Date plaque over principal entrance states…'A.D. 1815' inscribed in shaped sandstone plaque. Round-headed window openings with sandstone sills and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows with interlacing Y-tracery to the upper sash (unless otherwise stated).

Double-height gable-fronted front west elevation abutted by square-plan entrance porch with diminutive round-headed window opening to the upper level and bell-cote above. Porch has a round-headed window opening to the west elevation with timber sash window, a further round-headed window opening to the north elevation enlarged to form a door opening with replacement sheeted timber door, and a round-headed door opening to the south elevation with chamfered sandstone surround and plinth blocks with replacement double-leaf timber sheeted doors with interlacing tracery to the timber fanlight above. Door opens onto three stone steps with a pair of iron handrails.

North nave elevation is abutted by gable-ended transept having two window openings to the west elevation only. Abutted to the east end is a lean-to extension (c.2003).

Gabled east elevation has a large round-headed window opening with a replacement fixed multi-pane timber window containing interlacing Y-tracery.

South nave elevation has four window openings abutted by a square-plan central projection having a diminutive round-headed window opening with timber fixed-pane window.

Set on an elevated site with bitmac path encircling building with small forecourt to south continuing to south as short avenue, opening onto the road via a pair of original wrought-iron gates with fleur-de-lis finials on a pair of pebbledash rendered piers. Site contains cemetery with several upstanding stone and marble grave markers enclosed to the road by a pebbledash rendered walls.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Lime rough-cast render
Windows Replacement round-headed timber sash
Rainwater goods Replacement cast-iron

Historical information

The ‘Church’ is present on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1833). On the third edition (1905) it is captioned ‘St Patrick’s Church’.

The Townland Valuation records a ‘Protestant Church’ valued at £11.4s and exempt. In Griffith’s Valuation the leaseholder is the Lord Bishop of Derry and Raphoe and the dimensions are given of the church (64x33x18), two additions (30x30x18 and 8x9x10) and a porch (13x13x14). The church is valued at £14, later raised to £19.10s and 10s for the graveyard. This reflects an enlargement of the church which took place in 1834. There are no significant changes in the Annual Revision Records which cover the period up to 1929.

The Diocesan History states that the church was built in 1815 during the incumbency of Mr Brownlow, consecrated in 1821 and enlarged in 1834 when it was dedicated to St Patrick. A new rectory was built in 1980. (p.90 and 257)

OS Memoirs also refer to Rev Francis Brownlow as the incumbent of Leckpatrick parish. (p.117) Rev. Brownlow inherited the celebrated ninth century Irish manuscript, the Book of Armagh, which had been in his family since the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, and loaned it to the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. It was later purchased by an antiquarian and is now held by Trinity College, Dublin. (Duffy, S. ed, p.31)

It is the interior of the church that is perhaps of greatest interest today. Hutchinson (2003) describes the church as ‘plain but inviting’ and comments that “the bright interior is much as it was when built, with high box pews painted grey and a two-decker pulpit in the centre of the south wall, a very rare survival in a nineteenth-century church.” (p.66-7) It appears that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners proposed replacing the pulpit and reading desk at an unknown date but this work was never executed. (www.dia.ie)

Bradley et al claim that, “[The present church replaces] a much smaller building dating back to plantation times…reported to have been burned by King James’ retreating army in 1689 but rebuilt by 1693.” (p.291)

Amongst the memorials from the older church is one dated 1673 to Isabella Sinclair, the then rector’s wife. This memorial, inscribed in Latin, can be translated thus: “John Sinclair, Rector of Leckpatrick, erected this monument (indicative of his extraordinary grief ) to his most esteemed wife Isabell, taken in the prime of her life, an example to all. She was most faithful in her love, first amongst the most devoted of wives. She lived most affectionately, of gentle disposition, with a serious sense of virtue, in loyal marriage. She bore fine offspring, one son James and two daughters, Elizabeth and Rebecca. Only Rebecca survived. Full of hope and devotion, she died 10 January 1673.”

It was Reverend John Sinclair who, having also become, in 1668, the Rector of Camus, the adjoining parish, purchased the Holyhill estate (HB10/11/001) by 1683. (Crawford and Foy, eds., p.195)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/2/1 – First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/2/2 – Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map (1936)
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/6/2 – Townland Valuation Map
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/640 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/2 – Griffiths’ Valuation Map
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/43A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/5A-G – Annual Revision Records (1860-1929)

Secondary Sources

Crawford, W.H., Foy, R.H. eds., “Townlands in Ulster”, Local History Studies, 1999
Duffy, S, ed., “Medieval Ireland: an encyclopedia”, New York: Routledge, 2005
Hutchinson, Sam. “Towers, Spires and Pinnacles: A History of the Cathedrals and Churches of Ireland.” Dublin: Wordwell, 2003.
www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Gable-fronted rendered church on an elevated site to the east of Victoria Road. The understated exterior of this rural church hides a long rich history dating to an earlier church on site during the seventeenth-century. The recent restoration has employed traditional materials while reinstating faithfully reproduced fittings such as the sash windows, and as a result has ensured the future of the building. The interior is important and rare it that it retains its t-shaped plan with the pulpit on the side wall; its box pews which fill the main hall giving a sense of its original appearance and is enhanced by an important collection of early wall-mounted stone and marble memorials.