St. Tierney's RC Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A large c1800 barn church with later tower and entrance porch c1834 aligned NW-SE parallel with Church Road. Set within a maturely planted churchyard containing many 18thC and 19thC stone memorials.

Pitched natural slate roof with stone verge and kneelers to each gable. SE gable has a cloverleaf cross finial. Half-round plastic rainwater goods.

Principal elevation faces SW. Walls are cement dashed and painted with stepped dressed stone quoins and sandstone dressings to openings. NW gable is abutted by a tower and SE gable is abutted by an entrance porch (see later).

SW elevation has four equally spaced Y-tracery lancet windows with splayed and tooled reveals and cill. A reeded colonette frames each window with moulded head. All contain fixed leaded and coloured margin-paned lights with central decorative panel.

NW gable is abutted to centre by a three-staged tower (see later). To each exposed face is a lancet window containing a pair of 6/4 sliding sashes with horns with traceried heads. Pair of modern sheeted timber doors to left end.

The NE elevation is abutted to centre by a sympathetic two-storey sacristy c1987. Each exposed end has a window detailed as those to SW elevation without colonettes. Sacristy has a pitched artificial roof and walls as church. Its NW face has a t+g sheeted and painted door to right-end with decorative furniture. To left is a 6/6 sliding sash window with horns and painted cill – all are as detailed as this. First floor has two windows but diminished in height and set slightly to the right. Its end gable is blank. Its NE face has two windows to each floor. To centre is a cement dashed plinth with oil tank.

SE gable of church is abutted to centre by a lower two-storey entrance porch set below the eaves level of main block and to right by a boiler house set flush with the NE elevation. To each exposed face is a lancet window containing a pair of sashes as those to NW gable. Porch is detailed as church and its roof is concealed behind an embattled stone parapet. Its SW face has a pair of timber sheeted doors with decorative furniture set within a chamfered reveal with hood mould. Above is a circular window with spoke-glazing. Its SE gable has a lancet-headed to each floor; that to ground floor contains a pair of Y-tracery 2/2 sliding sashes, set within chamfered reveal and hood mould. Above is a pair of 2x3 casements with traceried transom over. Both are without cill but have a narrow strip of lead flashing beneath them. Its NE face is blank.

Boiler house has a lean-to natural slate roof with small skylight. Its SE face has a 2/2 sliding sash window with painted concrete cill to left and a pair of modern timber louvred doors to right. Its NE face is blank.

The tower, added to church c1834, is three-staged, constructed in coursed stone with V-jointed stepped quoins and moulded stringcourse defining each stage – all openings have hood mould over. First stage contains the entrance to the SW face set within slightly advanced and chamfered reveals. Door is as entrance porch with sheeted tympanum over. Above door is a dressed stone shield reading “DEO/ Optimo Maximo/ DEDICATUM/ MDCCCXXXIV/ CONDITUM”. The NW face has a narrow lattice window set within a lancet opening with stepped reveals, sweeping cill, and hood mould with label stops. Its NE face is blank. The second stage has a circular window as that to entrance porch to each exposed face. That to NW face is set within a diamond-shaped reveal with triangular hood mould. The third stage stands free from the church and rises to a crenellated parapet with tall pointed finials to each corner with cusped mouldings to each face of finial. Each face has a tall lancet opening containing a pair of cusped-headed timber louvres.

Setting
Church is set within a maturely planted churchyard with a weeping willow tree to SW of the church. It contains many 18thC and 19thC stone memorials, some of which have wrought-iron enclosures. The earliest memorial c1700 is located to the SE of the church, now missing its upper half. A Celtic cross erected in 1949 is dedicated to local United Irishmen hanged in Enniskillen in 1797 (Patrick Smith, John Connolly, and Brian McMahon). Another worthy of mention (c1824) is set to the right on entry - it has an interesting inscription reading, “Dear friend as you pass by/ as you are now so once was I/ As I am now so you must be/ prepare the way to follow me”; local people add to the inscription “to follow you I’d be quite content, but I’d be damned if I knew which way that you went!" Churchyard is enclosed on all sides by a rubble stone wall with field stone embattlements. It curves inwards to a pair of square-in-section V-jointed dressed stone gate piers with fluted frieze and moulded cornice. They support a pair of wrought-iron gates with scrolled finials.

Historical information

The church was built c1800. Tower and entrance porch added c1834.

Primary sources:
1. Datestone on porch.

Secondary sources:
1. A. Rowan, ‘North West Ulster’ (Harmondsworth, 1979), p.479.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

An early 19thC barn church with tower, beautifully set within a maturely planted churchyard. The embattled porch and tower along with dressed sandstone reveals to openings enrich the external appearance of the Church. The Classical interior with gallery spanning three internal walls and highly embellished central altar screen with painting make for an interesting interior of architectural importance. The rear extension is sympathetically designed to compliment the original Church. The church has a similar plan to Massmount in Co Donegal and the Old Church at Garrison, Co Fermanagh.