St. Mary's RC Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached Roman Catholic Church, rebuilt and dated 1844, on the site of an earlier 1764 church; located to the west side of Fireagh Road. T-plan nave; sacristy in modern extension abutting south elevation of west transept; porch (now store) to north.

Roofs are pitched natural slate, terracotta clay ridge tiles; stone verges supported on stone kneelers; cast-iron ogee profile rainwater goods supported on square cast-iron brackets and corbelled eaves course. Walls are smooth lime rendered with stepped sandstone quoins (east elevation only); windows are gothic with multi-pane timber sash windows incorporating interlacing gothic tracery fanlights and containing coloured glass; chamfered sandstone surrounds and projecting masonry cills, unless otherwise stated.

Principal elevation is symmetrical, faces east and contains a gothic door opening to each end containing replacement timber sheeted doors and interlacing gothic tracery fanlights over; four windows to centre. The central two windows originally had high sills because they were behind the altar; they have been altered to match the outer two.

South gable (nave) contains central window, exposed section at left contains datestone which reads; ‘THIS WAS BUILT BY THE ORDERS OF THE REV.D.TERENCE McCAVIE IN THE YEAR 1764.’; stone carved cross finial to apex.

West elevation is abutted to centre by slightly lower transept with pitched roof; also dated 1844 and detailed as main block; exposed sections are blank.

North gable is detailed as south gable.

Transept south elevation is abutted at left by single storey extension, dated 2005; exposed section at left contains two windows; that at left diminished in height and located above extension roofline. A datestone located at right reads; ‘ST MARYS CHURCH DRUMRAGH/ Erected 1764/ by Reverend Terence McCawill P.P./ Reconstructed 1844/ by Reverend Edward McBride. P.P./ Renovated 1964 by Monsignor Patrick McDowell. P.P.’ West gable contains single window at centre. North elevation is abutted at centre by single storey-storey confessional room (now store) with pitched roof; exposed section at right is blank; exposed section at left contains single window.

South single-storey extension dated 2005, contains modern finishes throughout and is accessed at its south side. Roof is pitched to west, flat at east; cement tiles with red clay ridge tiles; walls are part smooth rendered; part timber clad; double-glazed timber casement windows throughout.

North single-storey extension is detailed as main block with pitched natural slate roof and terracotta clay ridge-tiles. North gable contains a replacement single-pane fixed timber window; right cheek is blank; left cheek contains replacement single window.

Setting

Set in a roadside location with church graveyard to east; the site is bound at gables by modern steel gates; car park on east of Fireagh Road is accessed through double set back entrances consisting of square piers with pyramidal coping supporting pairs of replacement cast-metal gates.

Roof Natural slate
Walling render
Windows timber
RWG Cast-iron

Historical information

A date plaque on the church is inscribed: “ST. MARY’S CHURCH DRUMRAGH / Erected 1764 / by Reverend Terence McCawill P.P. / Reconstructed 1844 / by Reverend Edward McBride. P.P. / Renovated 1964 by Monsignor Patrick McDowell. P.P.”

An etched glass panel in the south extension reads, “In 1704 Rev. Thomas Cavel (Mac Cathmhaoil) was registered as Parish Priest of Drumragh. He was succeeded in 1721 by his nephew Fr. Terence Mac Cathmaoil who built a church at Cavancaw and later at Mullaghmore. In 1764 during the episcopate of Bishop John McColgan he built a church at this present site in Fireagh. The church continued to serve the rural area of Drumragh up until the famine year and in 1844 the Rev. Francis Quinn P.P. undertook a major rebuilding of the Church. It was not until another 80 years later in 1933 when the Very Rev. Dr. John McShane carried out extensive repairs and provided the new cemetery. Now in 2005, the church has undergone its latest re-birth.”

In 1833, a T-shaped chapel is shown on the first edition of the OS Map, captioned “R.C. Chapel.” It is shown in its present form on the 1854 map. Griffith’s Valuation of 1858 records under exemptions “the R.C. Chapel & Yard,” which is valued at £17. The occupier is the Rev. Man[uses] O’Kane [see HB11/11/001C] and the lessor is Alex Stuart, Esquire.

The building is captioned “Drumragh R.C. Church” on the 1905-6 third edition of the OS Map. Valuation Revisions (1860-1929) record under exemptions the “R.C. Chapel & yard,” leased from Alex Stuart and revised to Major Gen. W. J. Stuart in 1901.

A church was first built on the site by Father Terence M’Cawill in 1764 and was known as the country chapel. It was at one time the only Catholic place of worship in the parish, originally a thatched barn with an earthen floor and without seats. The land was granted by Thorny Buchanan, blacksmith. “An old resident informed me not long ago that as a boy his Sunday duties, in part, when the season came round, consisted in picking the young birds out of the thatch. Matches were not then in common use, and as there was no sacristy a smokeless coal was placed in a niche in the wall near to the altar, for the purpose of lighting the candles while the priests vested in the presence of the people. The priest usually addressed the people in Irish, and as the sermons very generally appealed to the feelings the shedding of tears was not infrequent” (M’Crea, p.12).

During the recent alterations (2005), a single storey extension at the front was removed and the two centre windows enlarged to match the others.

The church was awarded the RSUA Design Award 2008; the firm being HMD Architects Ltd.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI VAL/1/B/630A+B -Townland Valuation (1820-40)
2. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/42 -Griffith’s Valuation Map (1858)
3. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/32B -Griffith’s Valuation (1858)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/29A-F –Valuation Revisions (1860-1929)
5. PRONI VAL/12/D/6/42/C -Valuation Revisions Map (1882-1909)

Secondary Sources

1. 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.
2. M’Crea, Rev. D. F. “History of the Parish of Drumragh, Omagh” 1908

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Detached T-plan Roman Catholic Church, rebuilt 1844, on the site of an earlier 1764 church; located to the west side of Fireagh Road. The buildings exterior is plain with the original 1764 date stone remaining on its south gable. Although there have been recent alterations, the original form survives and it is a good example of an unusual type surviving on a site of early date.

General comments

RSUA Design Award 2008 Architects: HMD Architects Ltd.