Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB11/11/001 A

Address :
Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart Church Street Omagh Co. Tyrone BT78 5HE

Townland:
Meetinghousehill

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Survey 2:
A

Date of Listing:
23/11/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
137-4SE

IG Ref:
H4490 7273

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Owner Category

Church - RC

Exterior Description And Setting

A triple-height over raised basement stone French Gothic Roman Catholic church, dated 1892-1899 (date stones) built to designs by William Hague, refurbished c.2000, located on west side of Church Street. Rectangular nave, facing east with flanking five-stage towers with spires; double-height lean-to aisles to north and south; lower chancel to west flanked to either side by gabled double-height chapels; double-height sacristy over basement to south of chapel and aisle; modern projecting bay to north of aisle (of no interest). Pitched natural slate roof, fleur-de-lys red clay ridge tiles, moulded stone verges with Celtic crosses to apexes, ogee cast-iron gutters over splayed stone corbels with rectangular downpipes. Walling is rock-faced stone over moulded plinth with dressed sandstone quoins and moulded trim. Windows are gothic stained glass casements with flush splayed sandstone surrounds and sills; some have Decorative tracery with label-ended hoodmoulds; basement windows are depressed gothic painted timber 4/4 sashes. Doors are gothic raised-and-fielded-six-panelled double-leaf with wrought-iron strap hinges, sculptural tympanum over, in four-stage rebated reveals supported on crocketted polished granite collonettes, label-ended hoodmould. Principal (east) gable is symmetrical (with the exception of spires); apex has tripartite lancet with hood mould over double-height Decorative-tracery window with double-rebated surround supported on full-height crocketted red stone collonettes extending to base and framing square base with principal entrance; Door has timber tympanum without hoodmould in gabled surround with crocketted pinnacles and foliated spandrels, devotional saints occupy outer spandrels; entrance flanked to each side by single cusped lancet with three loop windows (one above the next) lighting internal spiral stairs to ends at junction with towers. South tower has moulded stone stringcourses between stages, openings contained in continuous recessed panel above first stage; south elevation first stage has Geometric-tracery window; left cheek entirely abutted by aisle; right cheek has door; rear cheek (north) is entirely abutted by nave. Second stage has paired lancets, each with embossed shields on transoms (date plaque to each shield); left cheek similarly detailed but without date plaques; right cheek has statuary niche supported on a collonette cluster with crocketted canopy. Third stage (all elevations) has triple loop windows in gothic cusped arcade. Fourth (belfry) stage (all elevations) has single pointed-arched Geometric-tracery with metal louvres. Fifth stage has decorative gablets flanked by crocketted pinnacles; surmounted by squat crocketted octagonal spire and pinnacles with wrought-iron Celtic Cross finial. North tower has elongated spire with lucarnes at cardinal points, each having a wrought-iron Celtic Cross finial. South elevation is abutted by aisle, chapel to left and to right by tower. Clerestorey is seven windows wide with clamp buttresses between Geometric-tracery windows. Aisle is six windows wide with corresponding louvred loops at basement level; left cheek is entirely abutted by chapel; right cheek is entirely abutted by tower. Rear (west) gable is abutted by chancel. Exposed section is blank. Chancel gable has single double-height Geometric-tracery window with loop over, buttresses with off
setting; basement level has three windows; cheeks abutted by chapels, exposed sections are blank. Each chapel has two gothic cusped windows, with trefoil over in flush splayed surrounds; two basement windows. Aisles abut to either cheek; right cheek is two windows wide with stained glass trefoil in apex, buttresses with offsetting at ends. South chapel is detailed as North Chapel but elevation is entirely abutted by sacristy. North elevation is detailed as south but without sacristy; aisle is abutted to centre by modern projecting bay (of no interest). Setting:- Situated on an elevated site at a road junction with graveyard and lawn to east, terraced stairs to south and surrounded by tarmac footpaths. The edifice is the largest in an ecclesiastical complex that includes the modern St. Joseph’s Parish Hall facing Church Street to south, the former Christian School (HB11/11/001B) and Parochial House (HB11/11/001C) and modern St. Joseph’s Parochial House to west; the modern St. Colmcille’s Primary School is to northwest; while along Church Street to south lie St. Columba’s C of I Church (HB11/13/002), Omagh Methodist Church (HB11/11/006), and Trinity Presbyterian Church (HB11/11/007A). Roof: Natural slate Walling: Rock-faced stone Windows: Stained glass Rainwater Goods: Cast-iron

Architects

Hague, William

Historical Information

The church is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1905-6, captioned ‘RC Church.’ The church features two datestones on the south elevation of the south tower, one inscribed: 'foundation laid 1892' and the second 'dedicated 1899.' The site is recorded in 1893 under exemptions as ‘site for RC Chapel.’ The church is added to the Valuation Revisions in 1916 as ‘RC Church and land’ and valued at £959. Simon Walker in “Historic Ulster Churches” notes the towers are of unequal height which ‘was intentional and not, as fable has suggested, due to a sudden exhaustion of building funds.’ (Walker, p.148). The architect was Mr. William Hague Jr. (1840-1899) of 50 Dawson Street, Dublin, and the church was built by the Colhoun Brothers of Derry at the contract price of £46,000 (Convery, pg.57). Hague designed several churches in his native Co. Cavan, as well as the similarly French Gothic styled RC Church of the Immaculate Conception (1890-5) in Strabane, according to the shortlist of works provided by Simon Walker in “Historic Ulster Churches” (2000). Hague also designed the Cathedral of St Eunan at Letterkenny, which was completed by his partner T. F. McNamara following his death (Convery, p.8). As Hague died the year Sacred Heart was dedicated, it was ‘a culmination of his amazing catalogue of completed ecclesiastical designs and his continuous championship of the Gothic Revival style’ according to Richard Oram in ‘Expressions of Faith-Ulster’s Church Heritage’ (p.126). Alistair Rowan summarises Sacred Heart thus: ‘as so often, the exterior is only a facade, with a long, plain, Puginesque gabled nave and lean-to aisles behind. The chancel is expressed by a step in the roof ridge, and the side chapels at the ends of the aisles have independently gabled roofs.’ Rowan praises the church as ‘by far the most ambitious piece of architecture in Omagh, set at the top of the town and dominating both the court house and the Church of Ireland St. Columba beside it....What makes the church memorable is its fine entrance front: an elaborate essay in French Gothic with twin towers.... That to south is shorter and more heavily detailed, giving rise to the unusual stories of money running out, though it is clear that Hague designed two different spires. The interior is memorable....” (Rowan, p.448) Two date plaques on the south elevation of the south tower are embossed ‘cornerstone laid 1892’ and the second ‘dedicated 1899.’ In ‘Poetry in Stone’ (1999), Rev. Gerry Convery writes that the foundation stone ceremony took place on 18th of June 1893 with Cardinal Logue of Armagh presiding but the actual construction was well underway and the foundation stone was laid half a metre from the front entrance. The dedication occurred on the 28th of May 1899 and was presided over again by Logue, as well as the Most Rev. Dr. O’Doherty, Bishop of Derry, Most Rev. Dr. O’Donnell, Bishop of Raphoe, Monsignor Bernard McNamee, parish priest, and the Rev. Jame O’Kane, parish priest of Cappagh. The organ is recorded to have been installed prior to dedication and Dr. O’Doherty unveiled the Archbishop Hughes Memorial Altar. Despite the elaborate ceremonial dedication, as is the custom, the new church remained unconsecrated until it was free from debt, which followed fifty-six years later. Convery supposes the contract price to have been fully paid in the early years of the twentieth century but Fr. Daniel McCrea writing in 1910 wrote of a heavy annual head-rent to the owners ‘Mrs. Herbert and the Misses Guy’ that he hoped would be ‘wiped out.’ In the early 1950s, the Very Rev. Patrick McDowell finally ‘bought out the remaining ground rent’ and enabled the final consecration of the building, which occurred 14th July 1955 (Convery, p.50-59). The church replaced the earlier Brook Street Chapel, which had been built with Gothic detailing in 1829 and had a four-stage tower added c.1849 (Convery, p.25). The church reopened on the 30th August 1998 after substantial renovations, a new Castle Street porch and altar was added. At dedication, the north spire was still in scaffolding, however, the south spire was not added until c.1905. The spire designs were heightened a year after construction began and the north spire was contracted for £1,835 to Mr. Colhoun in September 1895. In May 1897, he was given a six month contract for £1,150 to add additional height. The bell for the north tower came from the old Brook Street Chapel, which was made at by Tyrone-born Mr. Sheridan at the Sheridan foundry in Dublin in October 1849. The bell is stamped ‘Erin go brath’ and inscribed: “Laudo Deum verum (I praise the true God) / Plebem voco (I call the faithful) / Congrego clerum (I gather the clergy) / James Sheridan, Dublin. (Convery, p.130-132) The high altar was dedicated in memory of Archbishop John Hughes of New York City (1797-1864), who was born near here (emigrated 1817) and whose admirers donated funds for the high altar. Hughes was one of the most prominent and influential nineteenth-century American Catholics and is notable for building and founding many of New York City’s notable Catholic institutions, including the French Gothic twin-towered St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Considered the church’s finest piece of stained glass by Rowan, the window above the high altar was designed and executed at a cost of £600 by the famous German stained glass makers Mayer & Co. of Munich, who provided most of the stained glass to RC churches of this period because they were stained glass artists to the Holy See. The window was refurbished between 1938-1948. This window, the towers and possibly the rose window over the organ were donated by Edward Boyle, who also donated the altar and altar window at Killyclougher Chapel (HB11/12/015). The stained glass in the side chapels was also their work and mostly donated by the ‘Broderick Family of New York and Brooklyn,’ as well as other families in New York City and St. Louis, Missouri. (Convery, p. 120) Mayer & Co. also provided the Stations of the Cross at a cost of £35 each for a total of £490. These were refurbished and repainted in 1998 by Irish Contract Seating, Dromod, Co. Leitrim. (Convery, p.122) The organ was manufactured by the Positive Organ Company Limited, Berkly Road, Chalk Farm, London at a cost of £2,500, and built by Mr. Rousch to designs by Rev. H. Bewerunge of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, who gave a recital on it the evening of dedication. In 1964, the organ was rebuilt by the Irish Organ Company of Steeple Road industrial estate in Antrim. The polished oak confessionals (now in the transepts) were constructed at a cost of £300 by Mr. Cosgrove of Glasgow, formerly of Fintona. The pews were made in Canada, shipped in Glasgow and assembled by the Bennett Furnishing Company at a cost of £5 each for a total of £700. (Convery, p.122-123) The side altars were added many years later: Our Lady’s Altar was finished c.1917 and St. Jospeh’s Altar was finished c.1929. (Convery, p.142) The rear of the church is now used as a graveyard for priests. The hillside was originally landscaped by Mr. Shepherd of Dublin at a cost of £300 and a large rookery/grotto was created. In the walls there is a stone with a faded inscription of ‘1117,’ which came from the demolished Brook Street Chapel but was originally excavated from the ruins of Gortmore Abbey. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/6/35/1-First Edition OS Map (1833) 2. PRONI OS/6/6/35/2-Second Edition OS Map (1854) 3. PRONI OS/6/6/35/3-Third Edition OS Map (1905-6) 4. PRONI VAL/2/D/6/17 –Town Plan of Omagh (1849-69) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/36 –Valuation Revisions (1860-1929) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/37-Valuation Revisions (1903-1929) 7. PRONI VAL/12/E/186/1 –Town Plan of Omagh (1882-1909) Secondary Sources 1. Convery, Gerry. “Poetry in Stone: Sacred Heart Church.” Omagh: Drumragh RC Parish, 1999. 2. Oram, Richard. “Expressions of Faith-Ulster’s Church Heritage.” Newtownards, Co. Down: Colourpoint, 2001. 3. Walker, Simon. “Historic Ulster Churches.” Belfast: Queens University at Belfast, 2000 4. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

A triple-height French Gothic Roman Catholic church, dated 1892-1899 to designs by William Hague Jr. (1826-1899). Part of an interesting collection of churches of four different denomination’s including Omagh Methodist (HB11/11/006), Trinity Presbyterian (HB11/11/007A) and St. Columba’s Church of Ireland (HB11/13/002). Sacred Heart is the chief element in a group of parish-related buildings that now includes the former schoolhouse (HB11/11/001B) and parochial house (HB11/11/001C). These form part of a larger campus including the Loreto Convent (HB11/11/002). This finely-proportioned church displays a high quality of ornamentation and stonemasonry in the detailing of the polychromatic sandstone and the interior demonstrates an assured lightness of touch. The church is a major work by an important architect in the lexicon of Catholic church architecture and its scale, design and character raise it to the highest category of buildings of special architectural or historic interest.

General Comments

Previously HB11/11/001

Date of Survey

15 January 2009