Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/15/022 A

Address :
Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer 30 Church Street Dromore Co Down BT25 1AA

Townland:
Balleny

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
18/05/1976 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:
202/4

IG Ref:
J2008 5335

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

A rubble stone Parish church in the Early English-style built c.1660 on the site of an earlier church with square tower added 1808 and later alterations. Extended to north in 1811 and again in 1870 to include a chancel and baptistery to east and an organ aisle to north, to designs by Thomas Drew. Further aisle added to north in 1899. Plan comprises central nave on an east-west axis with entrance tower to west and apse to east end; projecting porch to south; extended aisle to north with projecting entrance bay. Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and raised stone verges; decorative filigree crestings with finial to ridgeline of apse; chimneystack to south wall of apse. Walling is random coursed rubble stone with sandstone dressings and quoins. Ashlar sandstone string course to apse (1870) and north aisle (1899); northeast corner of projecting bay to north (1870) is corbelled out to upper level with sandstone corbel stones. Windows are a variety of leaded-and-stained glass lancets and tracery. Mullioned round-headed lattice windows to tower in round headed sandstone surrounds. South nave (1661) has four tripartite Y-tracery windows to south wall. North nave has windows dating from 1869, moved from their original position on the original north wall when aisle was added 1899. Windows to baptistery (1870) are diminutive lancets in continuous sandstone surrounds depicting the four Christian virtues. Four-stage entrance tower (1808) to west, with castellated parapet instepped to upper stages and louvered vents to three sides at belfry with rubble voussoirs to openings; clock to east. Bi-partite round-headed lattice windows to first and second stage at west elevation. Ground floor has, to north and west elevations, timber-sheeted door with cast-iron strap hinges and Gothic timber transom in a pointed-headed chamfered ashlar reveal. North aisle incorporates projecting entrance bay to left built in two distinct phases, left section dates from 1811 and is two windows wide; right section with timber-sheeted entrance door surmounted by Gothic timber-casement window dates from 1870. Aisle (1899) has Y-tracery painted arched windows flanked by lancets. The east elevation has, at right, paired lancets and cinquefoil and is abutted at ground floor by a baptistery (1870) with canted end, having four windows to left and Gothic timber sheeted door to right. To left is the apse with six windows at upper level; abutted to south by the projecting porch opening to east with a three-panelled timber door with Gothic panelled transom light in a sandstone surround with moulded architvolt. South elevation has four sets of evenly-spaced inter-locking Y-tracery windows. Setting Prominently sited at the junction of Church Street and Banbridge Road in Dromore town centre, adjacent to the Northern Bank (HB17/15/024) and opposite the Rectory (HB17/15/023). Set to the northwest of the site surrounded by graveyard with burial markers dating from the eighteenth-century. The River Bann flows directly to south. Roof: Natural slate Walling: stone Windows: eaded-and-stained glass RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer in Dromore was constructed in 1661. The church is believed to have been erected on the site of an ancient church complex established by St. Colman in the 6th century. The building was depicted on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833 as an irregular-shaped structure possessing the current western tower, however the extension to the north of the building (carried out during the mid-to-late-19th century) was not constructed at that time and the church possessed a roughly rectangular-shape (although a north-facing transept can be seen on the map, having been constructed in 1808). In the Townland Valuations (1830s) the church was valued at £20 and was described in the contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1834) as a ‘stone building, roughcast and whitewashed [measuring] 80 feet by 30 feet.’ The writer noted that the church possessed pews and a gallery that could accommodate a congregation of 650 (at the time the average attendance was 500). The building also originally possessed a spire atop its tower; however this was taken down as it was found to be in a state of disrepair and since that time has not been replaced. Within the tower a bell, dated 1708, was a gift of Madam Joanna Rust, John Magill and Matthew Stothard Gent who were members of the congregation (Ordnance Survey memoirs, p. 74). By the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1859 there had been no discernible alteration made to the site although extensive repair work had been carried out by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1856 (Slater’s Directory of Ireland). In 1861 Griffith’s Valuation revalued the church at £40 and, although there were major alterations to the building over the subsequent 40 years, there was no change to the value of the building by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. The first modification occurred between 1869 and 1871 when Sir Thomas Drew (1838-1910), a Dublin-based architect who is best known for his design of St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, erected a new chancel, apse and north aisle in memory of Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667). The construction work was carried out by a Mr. Walter Doolin and cost £1,500 (Builder 1869, p. 29; 1871, pp 32-33). Further alteration was carried out in 1898 when the north aisle was extended to designs by Henry William Edward Hobart (1858-1938), a local architect who also designed the Cowan Heron Hospital (HB17/12/028A) and the Ulster Bank on Church Street (HB17/15/037 (Irish Builder, p. 100; Dictionary of Irish Architects). As a result of these alterations the church was depicted as a rectangular-shaped structure possessing a large north-facing extension on the third edition Ordnance Survey map in 1903; there was no other alteration to the layout of the site by the fourth edition map in 1919-20. Rankin cites that the original church on this site was founded by St. Colman in the year 500; there are no remnants of this ancient church, however a stone with the inscription of an early cross known as St. Colman’s pillow (located in the chancel), may date from the early Medieval period whilst the worn granite Celtic Cross (located in the graveyard) is likely from some centuries later (Atkinson pp 87-88; Rankin, pp 182-4). By the 17th century a substantial church had developed on the site along the River Lagan; in 1622 the building was described as ’almost all now builded, covered, glassed and in part furnished with seats;’ however this building was destroyed during the 1641 Rebellion and during the Irish Confederate Wars (1642-53) it is said Cromwell’s troops pulled down the Celtic Cross. The site lay vacant for twenty years, the once ornate building’s ‘walls ruined, without covering, door or windows;’ the current church was built in 1661 under the supervision of Bishop Jeremy Taylor soon after his appointment. (Rankin: Atkinson) There is little information concerning the first 150 years of the Cathedral’s history; in 1808 Bishop Thomas Percy supervised the addition of the northern transept and replaced the original tower with the current structure and a spire. The spire was subsequently removed; however the Cathedral remained unaltered for the next 50 years until the Ecclesiastical Commisioners carried out much needed repairs in 1856. Over the next 50 years additions to the Cathedral resulted in the current layout of the building. The many alterations to the Cathedral of 1661 have resulted in an ‘architectural hybrid’ where each phase of the church’s development can be viewed, however Brett describes the interior of the church as ‘disturbingly shaped and an unsatisfactory hybrid’ whilst Atkinson stated that: "The Cathedral was repaired, enlarged ... And unhappily modernised throughout; and although we cannot but deplore the substitution of slates for the oak shingles with which it had been up till then roofed, and the effacement of the Jacobean features it had possessed since its rebuilding by Jeremy Taylor – all was no doubt done with the best intentions and largely at the Bishop’s expense" (Atkinson, p. 74). The Cathedral acts as the final resting place for two of the most significant Bishops associated with Dromore and the church. With the death of Bishop Thomas Percy in 1811 his body was buried under the north aisle he had constructed (now known as Percy’s aisle; further, in 1868, prior to the construction of the apsidal chancel (1869-71), workers discovered an underground vault within which were found five human skulls; these were believed to have belonged to Bishop Jeremy Taylor, his wife and three other bishops (Crosbie, p. 23). Prior to its restoration in 1887 the Celtic Cross, supposedly pulled down in the mid-17th century, had fallen into a state of disrepair and was situated in the Market Square where it was used as a mount for the Town Stocks. The cross was laid flat on the square with the shafts of the stocks imbedded into the granite stone and whilst a detainee was shackled to the stocks he was forced to sit upon the ancient monument. In 1887 Canon W. A. Hayes rescued the cross from the Market Square and, with the assistance of the Town Commissioners, remounted it in its current location to the south-side of the Cathedral. A portion of the cross was irretrievably damaged due to the insertion of the shafts of the stocks; the town stocks were subsequently remounted in 1910 (see HB17/15/011) (Atkinson, p. 88). Later additions included the addition of oak pews to the earlier Victorian pine seating in 1962 (Rankin). The Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer was listed in 1976 and since the additions of the mid-to-late-19th century its layout has not been altered. In 1974 Brett described the building as ‘one of the smallest and most modest of Irish Cathedrals’ Brett, p. 26). References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1833 2. PRONI OS/6/3/21/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859 3. PRONI OS/6/3/21/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903 4. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-20 5. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/13 – Townland Valuation map c. 1834 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/342 – Townland Valuations c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38A – Griffith’s Valuation 1861 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10A – Annual Revisions 1864-1878 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10B – Annual Revisions 1879-1891 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10C – Annual Revisions 1892-1898 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11A – Annual Revisions 1899-1910 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11B – Annual Revisions 1911-1919 13. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11C – Annual Revisions 1920-1930 14. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down III, Vol. 12 (1834) 15. Slater’s Directory of Ireland (1856) 16. Builder (Vol. 27, 31 Jul 1869; Vol. 29, 14 Jan 1871) 17. Irish Builder (Vol. 11, 1 Aug 1869; Vol. 12, 1 Jan 1870; Vol. 40, 1 Jul 1898) 18. First Survey Record – HB17/15/022 (1969) Secondary Sources 1. Atkinson, E. D., ‘Dromore: An Ulster Diocese’ Dundalk: W. Tempest, Dundalgan Press, 1925. 2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of Mid Down: Hillsborough, Dromore, Dromara, Ballynahinch, the Spa, Drumaness and Saintfield’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1974. 3. Cosbie, J. E. M., ‘A tour of Mid and South Down: 1910-35’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush, 1992. 4. Rankin, F., ‘Clergy of Down and Dromore’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior K. Group value

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Dromore Cathedral is a rubble stone Parish church in the Early English-style built c.1660 on the site of an earlier church with square tower added 1808 and later alterations, including those to designs by Thomas Drew in 1870. Of significant architectural and historic interest particularly due its early origins and subsequent development as the congregation increased during the Victorian era. Of note is the variety of historic masonry techniques and examples of traditional crafts. Architectural detailing from all periods is relatively intact, the church has undergone restoration works in recent years and the building houses a relatively intact nineteenth-century interior. The original gates and railings and graveyard with headstones dating from the early nineteenth-century remain as the original setting. There is group value with the Rectory opposite (HB17/15/022B). This s is a noteworthy example of an early church surviving and developing into modern times with much fabric and character surviving.

General Comments

This record has been renumbered: previously known as HB17/15/022. New Listing Criteria R & S to be added when available. Stone Database NI describes the stone type as: Stone Type Category: Basalt Primary Stone Type: Basalt Secondary Stone Type: Greywacke Other Stone Type: English Lower-Mid Jurassic Limestone Replacement Stone Type: English Lower-Mid Jurassic Limestone Stonework Construction: Un-coursed rubble

Date of Survey

27 January 2012