Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB03/02/023

Address :
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church Brockaghboy Garvagh Co. Londonderry

Townland:
Brockaghboy

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
22/06/1977 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
40-15

IG Ref:
C8094 1281

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Owner Category

Church - RC

Exterior Description And Setting

A free-standing stone Gothic-style Roman Catholic church, dated 1879 and located to the north side of Glen Road in the townland of Brockaghboy, southwest of Garvagh. Rectangular plan with L-shaped gabled entrance porch to south, gabled chancel projection to east and gabled sacristy to north. Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, raised stone verges with kneeler stones are topped by cross finials; tall round ashlar sandstone chimneystack to gable of sacristy. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on bracketted overhanging eaves; decorative brackets to downpipes. Walling is random squared stone with chamfered sandstone plinth course and quoins; buttresses with sandstone offsets. Windows are cusped leaded lattice lancets in sandstone blocked surrounds with chamfered reveals and sills and surmounted by stone voussoirs (unless otherwise stated). South elevation is four windows wide with gabled porch at left. Gabled section of porch is lit by pointed-headed leaded lattice window with coloured glass to right cheek; entrance door to north accessed via a set of three brick pavior steps with modern metal handrails fixed to walls. Entrance comprises double-leaf timber-sheeted doors with fixed timber-sheeted tympanum in a pointed-headed blocked and chamfered sandstone surround, surmounted by hood mould with plain stops and stone voussoirs. Central sandstone block above door is carved “1879”. Porch also lit by pointed-headed leaded lattice window with Art-Nouveau style coloured glass panels to south and west. The west gable has three staged lancets over three diminutive quatrefoil leaded openings in sandstone surrounds with stone voussoirs. The north elevation is five evenly-spaced windows wide, abutted at left by the cat-slide roof of the gabled sacristy (described below). The east gable is almost entirely abutted by the chancel, which is abutted to right cheek by the sacristy. Sacristy has two sets of square-headed bipartite mullioned leaded diamond lattice windows to east elevation; west elevation has two pointed-headed leaded lattice windows with coloured glass at left and a shouldered sandstone doorcase containing timber-sheeted door accessed by a sandstone step; north gable is blank. Chancel is lit by three staged lancets to gable and a cusped lancet to left cheek. Setting: Situated in an unspoiled rural
setting southwest of Garvagh, on a rectangular mature plot with graveyard and surrounded by a variety of mature trees. Modern primary school directly to west. Lawned to front and bounded to road by roughcast rendered and rock-faced stone walls having cement saddleback coping and inappropriate ribbon pointing. Entrance is laid with paviors and has original polygonal cast-iron piers with decorated caps, supporting cast-iron gates with fleur-de-lis head finials. Modern shrine to southeast corner of site, having statue of Virgin Mary in a round-headed niche and devotional figure kneeling on a stone plinth. Replacement modern two-storey Parochial Hall to east. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Random squared stone Windows: Leaded lattice lancets RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

O'Neil, John Byrne W H and Son

Historical Information

St Joseph’s church was built in 1879 in the Roman Catholic parish of Garvagh or Glenullin. An earlier chapel, dating from 1775, was situated nearby in the townland of Brockagh. This was an unpewed, thatched building that was said to be ‘in bad repair’ in the 1830s. (OS Memoirs) The Irish Builder announced the building of the church to designs by O’Neill and Byrne in 1879. (Irish Builder;www.dia.ie) However, a secondary source records the formal opening date as 14th June 1886, an event commemorated in a popular song which was transcribed by Sam Henry in the 1920s and 30s. (Huntington) O’Neill and Byrne, of Belfast and Dublin, were the designers of numerous catholic churches and other ecclesiastical buildings in the 1870s and early 80s, particularly in the north of Ireland but also in the Dublin area. (www.dia.ie) The contractor for the construction was G R Tipping and the church is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1905 in the townland of Brockaghboy captioned, ‘St Joseph’s R C Church’. The plan form of the building is unchanged to the present day. An entrance porch leads into the church with stairs to the gallery on the left and a sacristy and boiler room lead off the chancel which is at the west end. The church enters valuation records in 1879 at £40 and 10s for the grave yard. The size of the graveyard was increased slightly in 1911 but otherwise there are no significant changes noted in Annual Revisions. In the 1930s the church was revalued at £75 and valuer’s notes of the period give a plan of the church, the valuer recording that the interior was in poor repair at that time. The church, gates and walling were listed in 1977 and in 2009 proposals were made to alter the church internally and add a small extension to the sacristy. However, these plans remain unrealised. (HB file) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/5/26/1 First Edition OS Map 1831-2 2. PRONI OS/6/5/26/2 Second Edition OS map 1853 3. PRONI OS/6/5/26/3 Third Edition OS Map 1905 4. PRONI OS/6/5/26/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1925-7 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/19A-F Annual Revisions (1864-1929) 6. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/3 First General Revaluation 1933-57 7. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/3/U/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57 8. HB file – 03/02/023 9. Irish Builder Vol 21, 15 Mar 1879, p95 Secondary Sources 1. Day, A., P. McWilliams, English L., eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Londonderry VIII, 1830, 1833-7, 1839, Vol. 27.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994. 2. Huntington, G “Sam Henry’s Songs of the People” University of Georgia Press, 1990 3. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online [Additional information (taken from notes supplied by Ms Bridgeen Canning) added by Philip Smith 24 March 2015] The church resides on a plot granted (on a 999 lease) by Lady Garvagh, who also allowed for material for the building to be quarried from her estate. The foundation stone was laid in 1879 by Fr. McGeoghagan PP assisted by Rev. Professor O'Brien of Maynooth, in the presence of an audience said to have contained many of the local protestant population; a collection taken up on that day raised £250. A bequest of £300 in the will former curate of Glencullin, Fr. James McLaughlin (d.1884), and £485 raised at a charity sermon and mass in 1885, allowed building work to be largely formally opened on 14th June 1886, although the flooring and seating were installed after this. Much of the stained glass as well as the Stations of the Cross, was produced by Mayer & Co. Of Munich, with the baptismal font by C. Walshe of Ballymena presented by the Hibernians of Glencullin in 1907. The bell was cast in 1926 by Matthew O'Byrne of the Fountain Head Foundry, Dublin, and presented to the church by Peter Mullan, a local man who had emigrated to the USA, and who returned for the dedication. According to the 'Derry Journal' (reporting in 1885) the original chapel in Brockagh TD was the last such thatched building in the diocese.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance V. Authorship X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A stone Gothic Revival style Roman Catholic church, dated 1879 and built to designs by J. O’Neill and W.H Byrne; located to the north side of Glen Road in the townland of Brockaghboy, southwest of Garvagh. Displaying proportions and detailing typical of the period, this is a good example of a relatively well-preserved example of a typical late-Victorian rural Roman Catholic church. Set in picturesque rural surroundings, the setting is largely unspoiled and a graveyard with headstones dating from the late-nineteenth century and original cast-iron entrance gates add to the historic interest of the site. St Joseph’s church is also of considerable social importance and local interest to the surrounding community.

General Comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.

Date of Survey

21 September 2012