St Johns RC Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Simple barn-like, single cell gabled RC church of 1863 with a ‘L’ shaped single storey gabled school of 1894 joined to its N gable. The ensemble is situated on the SE side of the Drumnacanvy Road with the long side of the school lying right on the roadside.

Note that the front elevation of the church faces NE but for description purposes this will be referred to as E.

The roof is covered with natural slate and the rw goods are cast iron rwp’s and extruded aluminium gutters. The church is constructed in coursed fieldstone. A small-carved stone cross tops each of the stone gable parapets.

Prior to the building of the school the church entrance was to the N gable. It is now entered from the long E side.

To the left side of the E façade is a modest sized door opening with a pair of modern panel doors which are set within a brick dressed flat arched opening. To the right are three evenly spaced and very tall sash windows with horizontal astragals and margin panes. Each opening is segmental arched and is dressed with brick. The sides and top of the reveals have ‘inner brick reveals’. Each has a plain stone sill.

The S gable is blank while the W façade has three sash windows, all as before.

The lower portion of the N face is much obscured by the abutting schoolhouse. The lower sides are blank while the upper section has three windows the centre of which is set higher than those to the sides which themselves are slightly narrower.

Historical information

This church was constructed in c.1863, replacing an earlier one of 1813 which stood a few metres to the north east. The school house was added in 1894. Unusually for a National School, (which since their establishment in the 1830s were intended to be outside of the influence of the various religious denominations and, symbolically, not allowed to be physically attached to any church), Lylo appears to have been linked to St John’s from the beginning. However, it is not clear if the ‘linking block’ originally belonged to the schoolhouse was constructed as a vestry.

After the building of the school, the interior of the church was reordered with the moving of the altar from the S wall to the N wall. In c.1910 the then parish priest donated the present altar and surroundings, and in c.1962 the altar railings were removed and the altar table moved forward to allow the celebrant to face the congregation.

In the 1970s damage caused by a terrorist bomb resulted in the removal of a boiler house which had stood against the west gable.

The school itself closed in 1974.

References- Secondary sources
1 Information supplied by local historian Frank McCorry.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Simple, barn-like, single cell gabled RC church of 1863 with an ‘L’ shaped single storey gabled school of 1894 joined to its north gable. The presence of both church and school on the same site is unusual. The altar and its associated mosaics are worthy of note in such a simple church.