Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/02/015

Address :
St Patrick and St Colman's Church The Point Road Banbridge Craigavon Co. Down BT63 6EA

Townland:
Coose

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
25/10/1977 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:
201/15

IG Ref:
J1002 4904

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Owner Category

Church - RC

Exterior Description And Setting

A double height cruciform plan Gothic style Roman Catholic Church pre-dating 1830; bell tower added 1912; extensively renovated 1966. Located at the junction The Point Road and Holymount Road, adjacent to the bridge (HB17/02/014). Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles; replacement uPVC fascia and soffits; cast-iron / cast aluminium rainwater goods. Rubble masonry walling partially rendered; smooth rendered long and short quoins; cement repairs. Squared coursed rubble masonry to bell tower with cement dressing. Gothic timber lattice tracery windows; plain chamfered sandstone surrounds with projecting cill. Diagonally sheeted square-headed double-leaf timber door with decorative strap hinges; long-and-short sandstone surrounds; shouldered lintel supporting plain recessed tympanum within gothic-arch. The principal gable faces north and is symmetrically arranged; long-and-short quoins; moulded gable shoulders and deep decorative coping centrally abutted by a three-stage symmetrical tower with angled buttress rising to pinnacles. The entrance is located on the north face of the tower accessed by concrete steps; plate-tracery window comprising bipartite gothic lights surmounted by a quatrefoil cusped oculus; pair of string courses to second stage; paired gothic timber louvered openings to the third stage rising to a corbelled parapet with Irish crenallation with central cross over raked coping. The east and west faces comprise tripartite lancet windows at first stage; single gothic window at second stage and paired gothic timber louvers at third stage. The left (east) elevation is asymmetrically arranged. Two single gothic windows to the right with a quatrefoil between; gabled side altar and baptistery right of centre; north face rendered with a single traceried gothic window with plain raised surrounds right of centre; rubble masonry gable; distinct change in stone work where raised c.1966; chamfered flat-roof projecting bay centrally located at ground floor; traceried gothic window over; blank oculus below gable apex; matching quoins and coping to principal elevation; diminutive apex cross. Blank rendered south face with single-storey flat-roof abutment to the re-entrant. Left of the side altar the elevation continues as rubble masonry (evidence of raising at eaves) comprising two windows. The altar gable faces south and is symmetrically arranged; matching quoins and coping; square-headed tripartite lattice window at ground floor; central gothic lattice window at upper level flanked by single matching diminished in scale windows; oculus below gable apex; diminutive apex cross. The right (west) elevation largely matches the left elevation. From the right; two windows; the right window altered to accommodate door below. Single storey flat-roofed abutment located at the re-entrant of the blank north elevation of the side altar, and continues across the face of the gable to form a secondary entrance comprising a projecting porch with raked coping flanked by three diminutive elongated windows. The upper portions of the gable match the left elevation (raising of the gable is evident). The north face of the side altar and remaining right elevation match that on the left elevation. Setting: Located at the corner of a T-junction adjacent to Lawrencetown bridge (HB17/02/014). The site is bounded to the north and east by a rubble masonry wall; brick arched opening close to the corner now infilled. The site is access via cast-iron gated granite piers. Parochial house to the west with a large graveyard to the south. Beyond the graveyard are modern detached houses. Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Rubble masonry Windows: Lattice tracery RWG: Cast-iron / cast aluminium

Architects

Hobart & Heron (Tower Only)

Historical Information

Laurencetown chapel was enlarged c.1834 as part of a wave of church building that followed the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 and saw at least eleven catholic churches built in the Banbridge and Gilford area between 1831 and 1852. However, contemporary
references indicate that the building dates from prior to 1833, the original construction date remaining uncertain. (OS Memoirs; Cairns) Campbell dates the early church to 1750 and a ‘chapel, chapel yard and paddock’ are shown in a survey carried out by Henry McClatchy in 1781. (Campbell) The chapel at Laurencetown bridge is cited twice in OS Memoirs of 1834 and 1837. Lieutenant Bennett appears to be referring to the older building when he records that the chapel will accommodate 300 while J R Ward gives a plan, dimensions and a fuller description of the enlarged T-shaped building, “Tullylish Roman Catholic chapel...is a plain, whinstone building...The floor inside is not boarded and there are only seats in the old part. The chapel will accommodate 750 persons and the average attendance is 600. The new part was built in 1833 and cost 150 pounds, which sum was raised by subscriptions.” (OS Memoirs) Lewis confirms that the church ‘near the bridge at Coose was greatly enlarged and improved in 1834’. (Lewis) The building appears on the first edition OS map of 1833, captioned ‘RC Chapel’ and is listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) as a RC Chapel and school house valued at £10.18s. Dimensions are given for the church, which correspond to the dimensions given by J R Ward in 1837, and the school house, both of which are slated. In Griffith’s Valuation the valuation is raised to £24 with £1.10s for the accompanying graveyard. Although the church was substantially altered in the ensuing years there are no further changes in Annual Revisions. The church was substantially remodelled in 1869-70 using the earlier church to form transepts to the new building and the new plan form is shown on the third edition OS map of 1903-4. The architect is unknown. A high altar and side altars were added in 1890. (Campbell) In 1912 a tower was added to the church at a cost of £2,000 which was financed by the newly-appointed parish priest Dr Michael McConville out of his own estate. A photograph taken during the construction work shows master plasterer Patrick Campbell of Banbridge standing in the first floor window. (Young and Quail) The tower was designed by Messrs Hobart and Heron of Belfast. (Irish Builder) Between 1916 and 1922 additional repairs and alterations were made to designs by John Valentine Brennan. A section of the roof of the roof was renewed and general repairs made to the church fabric in 1916. The contractor was Mr W Fegan of Kenbann Street, Belfast. In 1921 ‘extensive improvements’ were begun including new porches and a baptistery in white Sienna marble with enclosures. The baptistery was the gift of Mrs McKee of Lawrencetown who also provided an enclosure of ornamental wrought-iron and oak, with an ‘elaborate and beautifully designed’ bracket and suspension chain. Lead glazing was carried out by Messrs Clarke and son of North Frederick Street, Dublin. (Irish Builder) In the early 1960s, ‘beautiful and artistic’ renovations were carried out to the church under the guidance of the Very Rev Canon Thomas Pettit. (Plunkett Campbell) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1 First Edition OS Map (1833) 2. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2 Second Edition OS map (1860) 3. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3 Third Edition OS Map (1903-4) 4. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4 Fourth Edition OS Map (1903-20) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/25A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929) 6. Irish Builder 22nd June 1912. 7. Irish Builder 30th September 1916 8. Irish Builder 11th November 1916 9. Irish Builder 10 September 1921 10. Irish Builder 3rd December 1921 11. Irish Builder 17th December 1921 12. Irish Builder 25th February 1922 Secondary Sources 1. Campbell, Rev E “Ecclesiastical Buildings Diocese of Dromore” Newry Telegraph, 1940 2. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Down III, 1833-8, Vol. 12.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1992. 3. Campbell, Plunkett Parish of Tullylish in “The Diocese of Dromore Past and Present” Dromore Diocesan Historical Society, 2004 4. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co., 5. 1837. 6. Young, A F and Quail, D “Old Banbridge” Stenlake Publishing, 2002

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

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

A double height cruciform plan Gothic style Roman Catholic Church pre-dating 1830; bell tower added 1912; extensively renovated 1966.Externally much of its evolved historic character has survived. Internally it has undergone modernisation and re-ordering with attendant loss of historic fabric. However, it remains a good example of the type of small village church hereabouts and its relatively early origin relating to the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 is of note.

General Comments

Date of Survey

01 November 2011