St. Mary's R.C. Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached double-height rendered church, built c.1860, facing east with a three-stage stone entrance tower. Cruciform on plan with single-storey vestry to south, single-storey entrance porch to west and north.

Roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and cement fractables to all gables surmounted by stone and iron crosses, with an octagonal rendered chimneystack to the south gable (above altar). Ogee moulded cast-iron guttering to blocked eaves course with square-profile cast-iron downpipes having trefoil brackets. Walling is painted ruled and lined render with shallow diamond-faced rusticated render quoins to all corners and to window surrounds. Windows are gothic lancets with Y-tracery timber frames, leaded stained glazing (unless otherwise stated) and concrete sills.

East entrance elevation is abutted by a three-stage stone tower with broached spire. Tooled stone ashlar to broached spire surmounted by iron cross and moulded string course to base. Squared rubble stone to tower with slightly projecting tooled stone ashlar quoins and ashlar string course defining each stage, resting on a chamfered ashlar plinth course. Gothic openings to third stage on all four sides with stone ashlar surrounds, stone sills and timber louvers. Gothic window openings to east and north sides of the second stage with replacement 9/12 timber sash windows with integrated Y-tracery to the upper sash. To the south is a round-headed niche with stone ashlar surround and sill, painted render to the niche containing a painted statue of Mary on a stone base. Four-centred arched door opening with chamfered stone ashlar surround, original vertically-sheeted timber door with decorative iron furniture and an original timber tracery overlight.

South (road-facing) elevation consists of a single lancet window to either side of the gabled projection abutted by a single-storey projection (containing the vestry) with an M-profile roof, each having an iron cross to its apex. Three lancets to the gabled projection (above the single-storey vestry) with plain chamfered surrounds and weather glazing. A diminutive pointed-arched vent with timber louvres is positioned above the central window with a St. James’s cross to the apex. The vestry has paired square-headed window openings to both side elevations and to the front on the right with a square-headed door opening to the left. All have shallow diamond-faced render quoins, concrete sills and uPVC windows, and a vertically-sheeted timber door.

West elevation comprises an off-centre gabled projection surmounted by a stone cross with indecipherable plaque below and a single lancet window to the left. A lancet vent opening to the gable above a single gothic window opening having Y-tracery timber frame and leaded glazing with replacement stone sill. Below the window a gabled entrance porch with vertically-sheeted timber doors to either side and a square-headed window opening with leaded coloured glazing.

North elevation has a central gabled projection surmounted by an iron cross and windows, porch details as above.

Setting:-
Church is set back from the road within its own grounds with its south side elevation facing Knockmoyle Road. The church is set within a lawn with a bitmac driveway and path, enclosed by a low rendered wall to the south, west and north, with rendered piers and replacement steel gates giving vehicular and pedestrian access from the road. A bitmac car park is located to the west with a cemetery to the north. The cemetery contains numerous stone and marble grave-markers including some unmarked stones and some fine stone box-tombs and table-tombs, dating from 1827 to the present.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Render
Windows: Timber stained glass / uPVC
Rainwater goods: Cast-iron

Historical information

The church is shown on the first edition OS map of 1833, captioned ‘RC Chapel’. At this stage it has a nave and transept, however the second edition of 1854 shows a chancel added to the building. The building is captioned ‘St Mary’s RC Chapel’ on the third edition of 1905-6.

The Townland Valuation records the ‘Roman Catholic Chapel and yard’, under exemptions, the building being valued at £5.10s. Griffith’s Valuation of 1858, records the ‘RC Chapel and Burial Ground’, with the building valuation at £7.

OS memoirs state that there are two catholic chapels in the parish of Cappagh, ‘…one at Killyclogher, the other in Knockmoyle, north of the demesne’. (p.18).

While records show a church on this site during the 1830s, stylistically, only the east tower appears to be of that date. With its tower and hall, this building resembles a Board of First Fruits church. The exterior detailing of the nave and transepts would suggest a late nineteenth-century date while the tower conforms to an early nineteenth century style.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/26/1-First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/26/2-Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/26/3-Third Edition OS Map (1905-6)
4. PRONI VAL/1/B/645B –Townland Valuation
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/47A -Griffith’s Valuation (1858)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/32A-33G –Valuation Revisions
7. 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.

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
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Detached double-height rendered church, built c.1860, facing east with a three-stage stone entrance tower. This small scale rural Roman Catholic church retains much of its original character and is well-sited within churchyard. Although some original interior elements survive including a fine arch-braced coffered timber roof structure, recent alterations have compromised its character. However, it remains a good example of the type.