St Columbkilles Roman Catholic Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached double-height Gothic Revival Roman Catholic Church, dated 1846 (replacing earlier chapel), located to the north side of Creggan Road. Cruciform-on-plan consisting of nave with chancel to east; north transept abutted by single-storey gabled porch, c.1990; south transept abutted by double-height gabled porch, c.1890; square tower to west; single-storey sacristy to north-east, c.1990.

Roof is pitched natural slate (replacement) with blue/black clay ridge tiles over corbelled eaves course; raised concrete verges. Walls are painted roughcast with diagonal sandstone buttresses with offsets terminating in square stacks above eaves line; porch to south is squared-and-snecked sandstone with ashlar sandstone quoins. Windows are gothic containing leaded stained glass in smooth painted surround; secondary glazing; painted sandstone sills.

Principal elevation faces south and consists of two-window-wide nave at left; abutted at right by gabled transept. Transept contains single window over single-storey outshoot to west elevation; single window at gallery level to east elevation; south elevation abutted at centre by porch; exposed transept gable contains single window to left and right. Porch contains pair of cusped gothic windows in stepped sandstone surrounds surmounted by quatrefoil oculus to apex; cross finial to gable; single cusped gothic window to west elevation; gothic entrance opening to east elevation containing replacement double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors surmounted by corbelled bracket supporting bronze statue of St Columbkille; cusped gablet above.

West gable is abutted at centre by three stage tower; exposed gable abutted at ground floor by canted single-storey extension containing single window at left and single-storey outshoot at right.

Tower contains single window at first stage; to south Tudor-arched entrance containing replacement square-headed double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber doors with slate spandrel in sandstone surround surmounted by datestone inscribed ‘Erected by the Very Rev’d PTK Cannon Vincent AD 1846’; moulded string course to second stage containing head stop (north and south elevations blank); moulded string course to sandstone belfry stage containing gothic louvred opening with hood moulding to each elevation surmounted by crenellated parapet supported on stone corbels; gabled parapet to west surmounted by stone cross finial; pinnacles with finials to corners.

North elevation consists of two-window-wide nave at right; abutted at left by gabled transept; single window to east and west; north elevation abutted at centre by porch containing two windows (concrete sills); depressed gothic double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors to east; exposed gable contains single window to left and right; louvred quatrefoil oculus to apex.

East elevation abutted at right by sacristy; exposed gable contains single Tudor-arched window; sandstone chimney-stack surmounted by stone cross finial.

Setting:-
Set within modern churchyard on elevated site above the village of Carrickmore; graveyard to south and west contains selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century grave markers and memorials; MacGurk memorial (HB11/19/002B) to south in churchyard. Site bounded to road at south by rendered and rubble walling and to car park at west by rendered retaining wall.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Stone / render
Windows Stained glass
RWG: Replacement cast-iron

Historical information

The present church was begun in 1846 under guidance of Canon Vincent, parish priest, and completed in 1859, according to church records.

A simple rectangular building appears on the first edition of the OS Map in 1833 captioned as “RC Chapel.” Nearby to the west is a “church in ruins.” Within the vicinity of this old site are a number of monuments, including one captioned “St Columbkille’s bed and well.”

A much larger structure, roughly cruciform in plan, replaces the earlier chapel on the second edition (1854) OS Map. Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) records “R. C. Chapel and yard” under exemptions valued at £4. The Valuation Revisions (1860-1929) records the lessor as Sir John M. Stewart Bt, and the “R C Chapel and yard” under exemptions valued £25 0s 0d.

The Stewart family arrived in the area in 1770. Sir John Stewart was forced to back down from a large rent increase in 1869 after a rousing speech outside this church to an audience of 4,000 was delivered by Fr. Bernard Murphy. Fr. Murphy was parish priest for twenty-two years from 1869 and was a prominent orator who continued to speak out against evictions and rent increases for the rest of his career (Bradley, p.69).

The “Termonmaguirke Parish Almanack” (1864) states that: “The first Parish church in Termon, of which we have any record was built in the year 1622 in the reign of King James I, after the settlement of Ulster. Its ruins are still standing in the old burial ground, near the modern Roman Catholic chapel.”

According to the church website, “This historic parish has been described as a relic sanctuary, preserving pre-Christian monuments, portal graves and dolmen tombs embellishing the countryside. These and other such monuments are located throughout the parish and demonstrate civilisation as far back as 4,500BC. Examples of such historic sites are Cregganconroe, Creggandeveskey, Tanderagee, Crockdun and Bauck. Illustrations of the portal tombs and stone markers are seen in Athenree, Loughmacrory, Copney and the dolmen in the car park of St Colmcille’s Church…. The first Church in Carrickmore goes back to monastic times and it stood on the north side of Mullinalap....”

In the late 20th century, the church interior was completely modernised with extensive removal of original fabric and replacement to address modern liturgical requirements.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/36/1 -First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/36/2- Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/36/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1906)
4. PRONI VAL/1/b/632 -Townland Valuation Records (1828-40)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/34B&C -Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
6. PRONI VAL/12/D/36A –Valuation Revisions (1860-1929)

Secondary Sources

1. Armstrong, Maurice A. “The Parish of Termonmaguirke: A Bi-centenary History, 1792-1992.” Carrickmore, Omagh: Self-published, 1992.
2. Bradley, John and Eddie Murphy. “The Life and Times of Father Bernard Murphy: Termon, Carrickmore 1832-1897.” Second Edition. Belfast: Self-published by Eddie Murphy, 1994.
3. “History” in “Termonmaguirc Parish.” http://www.termonmaguircparish.com/ Accessed on 5 March 2009.
4.Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate, Market, and Post Towns, Parishes, and Villages, With Historical and Statistical Descriptions; Embellished with Engravings of the Arms of the Cities, Bishopricks, Corporate Towns, and Boroughs; Of the Seals of the Several Municipal Corporations.” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837
5. Mitchell, C. J. Haldane. “Omagh: Paintings and Stories form the Seat of the Chiefs.” Donaghadee, Co. Down, Cottage Publications, 2000.
6. “Termonmaguirke Parish Almanac”(1864) Quoted in Maurice A. Armstrong, “The
7. Parish of Termonmaguirke” (Carrickmore, Omagh: Self-published, 1992), p.27-30.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A detached double-height Gothic Revival Roman Catholic Church, dated 1846 (replacing earlier chapel). Later additions such as the double-height sandstone porch to the south have been rendered in an appropriate style externally but the complete modernisation of the interior has compromised its character and it no longer meets the statutory and policy tests as a building of special architectural or historic interest.

General comments

This record has been renumbered HB11/19/002A - previously HB11/19/002