Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB01/09/003

Address :
All Saints Clooney Parish Church Clooney Terrace Waterside Derry Co. Londonderry BT47 6AR

Townland:
Clooney

---

Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
25/05/1976 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

---

OS Map No:
36-8NW

IG Ref:
C4417 1664

---

Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing gabled stone Gothic Revival church, built c.1867, to the designs of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon. Rectangular on plan facing south with canted chancel to the north, steeple to the southwest, lean-to side aisles and entrance porch to the east. Located on a sloping site at an acute junction with Clooney Terrace and Bond's Hill with steep steps to the front gable and enclosed by stone walls. Steeply pitched natural slate roofs with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and lead valleys set behind slightly raised gables having sandstone coping surmounted by trefoil apex stones and Celtic crosses (rolled lead ridges to hipped chancel roof). Plain cast-iron guttering supported on moulded sandstone eaves and cast-iron downpipes. Rubble schist stone walling with carved sandstone dressings, lime pointing and continuous moulded sandstone sill and impost mouldings. Paired pointed-arched window openings with sandstone surrounds, splayed sandstone sills and leaded stained glass having steel mesh coverings. Gabled front elevation is flanked by buttresses and is flush to the east aisle and southwest tower. Square-plan tower surmounted by sandstone ashlar spire with foliate finial and four matching spirelets to the corners all set on nail-head moulded cornice. The bell-stage has a pointed-headed opening to each elevation with compound moulded surrounds rising from clustered colonettes and housing stone tracery frames that are paired pointed arches surmounted by cusped oculus, all with stone louvres. The centre stages have diminutive trefoil-headed window openings (south, west and north) with lancets to the lower stage (south and west). Miniature lancets to the southwest corner light the internal spiral stone stair having latticed leaded glazing. The gable has an oculus to the apex with quatrefoil light and a pair of pointed-headed window openings with central colonette below. Over the entrance is a plate tracery stone rose window set in voussoired sandstone frame with stained glass and radiating steel mesh covering. Pointed-headed door opening with deeply-set compound moulded surround rising from clustered colonettes and housing double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber doors with decorative iron door furniture. Door opens onto single step to elevated front platform and two flights of stone steps to the west enclosed by rubblestone walls having sandstone coping. West nave elevation is three bays wide with exposed basement at street level. The main body of the church has two pairs of clerestorey windows comprising; paired pointed-headed window openings with chamfered sandstone surrounds and leaded stained glass windows. The west aisle has two sets of paired pointed-headed window openings with central colonettes. To the left is a gabled transept with pointed-arched window opening having stone tracery frames and leaded stained glass and storm glazing. Three blind pointed arches to the basement rise from splayed plinth course with oculi and cusped lights. A single square-headed door opening at basement level has slender colonettes and woodgrained vertically-sheeted timber door fronted by a wrought-iron gate to the street. North rear elevation comprises a central canted chancel projection with toothed ashlar stoen quoins and paired lancets having central colonettes. To the right is a gabled section with diminutive pointed-headed window openings and a single oculus to the gable. To the left is the lean-to vestry with a single pointed-headed window opening. East nave elevation: three bays wide with gabled transept to the right of paired pointed head clerestory windows as per west elevation (reversed); lean-to side aisle abutment with natural slate roof and two bays each having paired pointed arched windows with central colonette and advanced gabled entrance porch projection to the left; the latter has deeply-set compound moulded sandstone surround with squat colonettes. Original double-leaf vertically-sheeted woodgrained timber doors with decorative iron door furniture. Door opens onto paved front area enclosed by pair of decorative iron gates hung on stone piers with gableted capstones. The vestry to the right has a single window opening and a square-headed door opening. Pattress plate to far left hand side of clerestorey windows. Setting: Located on an elevated triangular site at the junction between Bond's Hill to the east and Clooney Terrace to the west. The east and north sides of the site are enclosed by rubblestone walls with stacked coping and two pairs of wrought-iron gates hung on rubblestone piers with gableted capstones. The sloping south side of the site is enclosed by rubblestone walls with sandstone saddleback coping and a pair of wrought-iron gates at the foot of the steps. Roof Natural slate RWG Cast-iron Walling Rubble schist / sandstone ashlar Windows Sandstone tracery with leaded stained glass

Architects

Historical Information

The growth of the Waterside of Londonderry in the course of the nineteenth century resulted in the construction of a number of new churches. On 3 June 1863 a Perpetual Curacy of the Church of Ireland was created by separating a number of townlands from the parish of Glendermott (Clondermot). A prime mover in the creation of this Perpetual Curacy, to be known as Clooney, and the construction of a new church for it, was Rev. David Babington, rector of Glendermott. In a statement of the case for a new church, issued at the time that the building contract was awarded, Babington explained that though the parish church of Glendermott had recently been enlarged and improved and could now hold 500 people, the parish membership had reached 1,600. Plans for the new church were completed in July 1864 and its site was donated by James Murray of Caw. The architects were Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon, though Rowan (p. 385) has commented that the building displays ‘more of WH Lynn in its design than anyone else.’ The cost of building the new church was met through a grant from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and private contributions. Various figures have been given for the cost of the new church, ranging from £5,175 to c. £8,000. The new church was opened on 1 September 1867. A report of the opening noted that ‘competent judges’ considered the building ‘by far the most chaste and beautiful of its kind in the North’, adding ‘it partakes more of the cathedral than a district church’. A contemporary description of the new building reads: 'It possesses main and side aisles, chancel, choir, west and side entrances, with tower and spire. The capitals of the columns traversing the building are beautifully carved with doves and other figures emblematic of the character of the Church and the doctrines which she inculcates. The roof is open and the floor is paved with encaustic tiles. The seats are open and most commodiously arranged for the worshippers.' The consecration of the new church took place on 26 November 1867 by the bishop of Derry and Raphoe, William Alexander. In 1926 Thomas Fitzpatrick Cooke left £400 towards a reredos in the church to be erected in memory of his wife. In 1983 the stonework of the church was cleaned. Repairs to the roof, including the rainwater goods, were completed in March 1994. References Primary sources 1. Belfast Newsletter, 12 October 1864, 3 September 1867, 28 November 1867 2. Dublin (later Irish) Builder, 1 November 1864, 15 September 1867, 1 December 1867 3. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1933, OS/6/5/14/4 4. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1954, OS/6/5/14/5 5. PRONI, Ordnance Survey map, 1964, OS/6/5/14/6 6. PRONI, Valuation map, c. 1908–c.1918, VAL/12/D/5/14D (based on Ordnance Survey map published in 1907) 7. Belfast Gazette, no. 285, 10 December 1926 8. NIEA, HB Records Secondary sources 1. J.B. Leslie, Derry Clegy and Parishes (1937) 2. W. S. Ferguson, A. J. Rowan and J. J. Tracey, List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the City of Derry (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970) 3. Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (1979) 4. History of Congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (Belfast, 1982) 5. Avril Thomas (ed.), Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 15, Derry~Londonderry (Dublin, 2005) 6. Dan Calley, City of Derry: An Historical Gazetteer to the Buildings of Londonderry (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013) Online sources 1. Church website: http://allsaintsclooney.co.uk/spiritual/church_history 2. Dictionary of Irish Architects: www.dia.ie (which
references drawings, signed and dated July 1864 in the Representative Church Body Library, Dublin)

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

Evaluation

Free-standing gabled stone Gothic Revival church, built c.1867, to the designs of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon and elevated on a triangular site at the junction between Bond's Hill and Clooney Terrace. A fine example of a mid nineteenth-century church, built in the gothic idiom for the Church of Ireland, with a substantial amount of internal and external historic fabric that survives intact. The elaborate detailing inside is of particular interest and the building is enhanced by its prominent setting, stone boundary walls, ornate railings and gates, marking it as one of the more significant and distinctive landmarks on the Waterside of Londonderry. The church forms part of a wider collection of religious structures that adorn the city and has important social value to the local community.

General Comments

Date of Survey

30 September 2014