Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB10/07/002 A

Address :
Church of the Good Shepherd Melmount Road Sion Mills Co. Tyrone BT82 9ET

Townland:
Liggartown

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
17/01/1979 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:
72-16

IG Ref:
H3409 9306

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

A triple height Byzantine style Church of Ireland church, built 1909 to designs by William F. Unsworth, located on the east side of Melmount Road, Sion Mills. The church is rectangular on plan with semi-circular projections comprising a full-height apsidal chancel to east, double-height stair tower to west, double-height store and vestry to north and south respectively; the stair tower is further flanked by lean-to porches and there is a campanile tower to north-east corner. Roof is pitched natural slate, angled clay ridge tiles, stone verges on moulded stone kneelers. Rainwater goods are profiled aluminium over dentilled eaves course. Walling is coursed rubble limestone with ashlar Bath stone dressings. Each elevation (except chancel end) is divided into panels framed by lesene strips with arcaded frieze over (raking to gables). Windows are generally round-headed (unless otherwise stated), all have lattice glazing with lead cames, ashlar surrounds and flush splayed sills. The clerestorey is lit by a continuous series of semi-circular windows (one spanning each panel) with continuous moulded lead-capped sill course. Entrance gable faces west, with central stair tower surmounted by a large circular window, and porches surmounted by a single clerestorey window. Porches are identically detailed, each with stepped ashlar quoins and containing a central square-headed door opening having shallow triangular-headed lintel and deep ashlar reveals; cheeks have a paired rectangular window with central mullion and ashlar chamfered surround. The stair tower has a semi-conical roof over arcaded upper level framed by colonettes (recessed arches are alternately blind and glazed); the main body of the tower contains staggered window openings lighting the stairwell. North elevation consists of five panels, each with clerestorey window. Lower level is as follows: right panel has a tripartite rectangular window; left panel is abutted by store block; remainder each have a round-headed window. Vestry has an arcade over string course at two-thirds height, blind with the exception of two round-headed windows; lower section has small square windows, north by a square-headed door reached by four steps. East end is abutted by the apse to centre and a square tower to left. Chancel has a half-conical roof; walling is divided into panels with string course; upper section has a roundel to each panel, round-headed windows to north and south. Tower has a shallow pyramidal roof and is plainly detailed with loop windows. South elevation is detailed as north. Campanile has pyramidal roof over a dentil course, surmounted by a cross finial. Upper section contains a triple-arcaded opening to each side, each set within a round-headed recess. Setting: The church is set close to the road with open grassed areas to all sides with the exception of west. To west is a semi-circular walled enclosure containing the Riccardo Monument (HB10/07/002B). This walling also extend to the sides. Roof: Pitched natural slate Walling: Rubble stone, Bath stone dressings Windows: Round headed timber, lead cames Rainwater goods: Profiled aluminium

Architects

Unsworth, W F

Historical Information

Sion Mills was a company-owned town established by Herdman & Co., a flax spinning mill, run by the Herdman family as a model village for their workers and village maintenance staff, who all had an option for healthcare, until the village was privatised in the mid 1960s when the mills needed to raise capital during a slump in the linen industry. The church is first shown on the fourth edition OS Map of 1951, captioned “Church of the Good Shepherd.” The Diocesan history for Derry and Raphoe states that the church at Sion Mills was built in 1909, replacing an older church of 1889. It is in the Italian renaissance style and is modelled on a church at Pistoia near Florence. The architect was W.F. Unsworth who designed the first Shakespeare Memorial theatre at Stratford upon Avon. The old church, St Saviours, is used as a parish hall (p.105). A contemporary article in “Recent English Architecture,” stated: “The architect was Mr. W[illiam] F. Unsworth, F.R.I.B.A. (Messrs. Unsworth, Son & Triggs), of Petersfield, [Hampshire, England]. The builders were Messrs. J. Ballintine, Ltd., of Londonderry. Messrs. E. Luscombe & Son, of Exeter, executed the stone, marble, and mosaic work; the Well Fire Co., Ltd., of London, supplied the electric light fittings; Thomas Elsely, Ltd., of London, the door furniture, locks, etc.; David Bros., of Portmadoc, the roofing slates; and Musgrave & Co., Ltd., of Belfast, the heating and ventilating apparatus.” “The church seats 350 persons. The choir and organ are placed in the west gallery, leaving the whole of the chancel free. The chancel is raised 3 ft. 6 in. above the level of the nave, and is entirely paved with Devonshire marbles. The church is faced externally with local coursed rubble with Bath stone dressings. The roof is covered with Precelly green slates, the brown and green tones of which harmonise with the colour of the local stonework. (“Recent English Architecture,” p.142). Walker notes that:“On the north wall is a memorial to the local employer and landlord, Emerson Tennent Herdman and his wife Fanny Alice (both died 1918), and, on the opposite wall, one commemorating Ambrose St. Quentin Riccardo (died 1923).…The driving force behind the construction of the new church, dedicated on 15 May 1909, was the rector, Canon J. Olphert, with the help of Brigadier-General Ambrose St. Quentin Ricardo, whose classical table-tomb [HB10/07/002B] is placed outside the front door of the church…. In a daring move away from the Tudoresque architecture of the rest of Sion Mills, Unsworth based this church on one he had seen at Pistoia in Florence [that he admired]. Such a remarkable piece of architecture would be sufficient to ensure that the architect was remembered locally, but at the building’s completion he presented a chalice inscribed, ‘Of your charity remember in God W.F. Unsworth, architect of this church 1909.’ (Walker, p153-4, 143). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/6/10/1 -First Edition OS Map (1832-33) 2. PRONI OS/6/6/10/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1855) 3. PRONI OS/6/6/10/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905) 4. PRONI OS/6/6/10/4 -Fourth Edition OS Map (1951) 5. PRONI VAL/12/E/182/1 -Town plan of Omagh (1866-1898) Secondary Sources 1. “1835 to 1935 At the Works of Herdmans Limited, Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone.” Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Self-published, 1935. 2. Bence-Jones, Mark. “A Guide to Irish Country Houses.” Second Revised Edition. London: Constable and Robinson, 1990. 3. de Breffny, Brian and George Mott. “The Churches and Abbeys of Ireland.” London: Thames and Hudson, 1976. 4. “Church of the Good Shepherd, Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone, Ireland: W. F. Unsworth, F.R.I.B.A., Architect.” In Bart, Charles Nicholson and Charles Spooner. “Recent English Architecture.” London: Caxton House, 1911. 5. Curl, James Stevens. “Victorian Architecture: Diversity and Invention.” (Reading: Spire Books, Ltd., 2007.), p.502. 6. Dixon, Hugh. “An Introduction to Ulster Architecture.” Second Edition. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2008. 7. Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland). “Sion Mills Conservation Area.” Belfast: H.M.S.O., 1977. 8. Herdman, Rex. “Recollections of Rex Herdman.” In Ferguson, Celia, ed. “The Herdmans and Sion Mills, 1835-2005: Book One – The Early Years: A Collection of Letters, Photographs & Extracts from Documents and Books of Interest.” (Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust, 2005.), p.123. 9. Fawcett, F. W., D. W. T. Crooks and James B. Leslie. “Clergy of Derry and Raphoe.” Belfast and Londonderry: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1999. 10. Ferguson, Celia, ed. “The Herdmans and Sion Mills, 1835-2005: Book One – The Early Years: A Collection of Letters, Photographs & Extracts from Documents and Books of Interest.” Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust, 2005. 11. Kennedy, Michael G. “By the Banks of the Mourne: A History of Strabane.” Strabane, Co. Tyrone: Strabane Historical Society, 1996. 12. McEvoy, John. “Statistical Survey of the County of Tyrone with Observations on the Means of Improvements; Drawn Up in the Years 1801, and 1802, For the Consideration, and Under the Direction of The Dublin Society.” (Dublin: Graisbery and Campbell, 1802. Reprinted as McEvoy, John. “County of Tyrone, 1802: A Statistical Survey.” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1991), p.172. 13. Mitchell, C. J. Haldane. “Omagh: Paintings and Stories from the Seat of the Chiefs.” Donaghadee, Co. Down, Cottage Publications, 2000. 14. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979. 15. Walker, Simon. “Historic Ulster Churches” Belfast: The Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, 2000. 16. Williams, Jeremy. “Architecture in Ireland, 1837-1921: A Companion Guide.” Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd, 1994. 17. Young, Robert Magill “Belfast and the Province of Ulster in the Twentieth Century.” Pike's New Century Series, ed. W. T. Pike. Brighton : W. T. Pike, 1909.

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

V. Authorship W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

The Church of the Good Shepherd is a remarkable triple-height Romanesque Revival style Church of Ireland church, prominently located on the main road in the centre of Sion Mills. The church was designed by William F. Unsworth, based on a church near Pistoia, Tuscany. It was consecrated in 1909, and represents an exemplary and scholarly example of Romanesque styling and ornamentation, which had enjoyed something of a revival in the preceding years. The internal layout capitalizes on space and, although for the most part plainly detailed, is dominated by a chancel richly finished in marble. The church is an important landmark in the Sion Mills Conservation Area and is of wider significance as an outstanding example of Romanesque Revival architecture in N Ireland.

General Comments

Date of Survey

10 March 2009