Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB01/06/004

Address :
Faughan Reformed Presbyterian Church 2 Fincairn Road Drumahoe County Londonderry BT47 3SD

Townland:
Drumahoe

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
26/02/1979 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:
37-9NW

IG Ref:
C4644 1503

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Free-standing gable-fronted double-height rendered church, built 1790, altered in 1835 and extended in 1855, further extensively refurbished 1898-99. Rectangular on plan, facing east with a gabled section abutting the west gable, dated 1986 and set within its own grounds on the west side of Fincairn Road with small cemetery to the south. Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles and plastic rainwater goods on timber fascia. Ruled-and-lined cement rendered walling with rusticated cement render quoins. Round-headed window openings with fixed-pane latticed lead windows, storm glazing and moulded render surrounds on concrete sills. Gabled east front elevation has a single round-headed door opening with replacement double-leaf hardwood panelled doors flanked by render pilasters and moulded architrave surmounted by fanlight with Venetian arch hardwood and leaded glazing. South nave elevation is unpainted ruled and lined cement render with projecting quoins to the corners. Five windows wide, round headed leaded windows are set behind aluminium framed storm glazing set in openings with plain plaser band to sides with moulded architrave to arch set on corbel brackets. Guttering (uPVC) on slightly projecting moulded eaves. Rear gabled elevation has a single window opening (as per above) and is abutted by a single-storey extension, dated 1986. Plain cement rendered with modern timber casement windows. Natural slate roof with uPVC guttering. North nave elevation as per south elevation. Setting: Located on the west side of Fincairn Road enclosed by cement rendered walls with steel railings and gates. Upstanding stone and marble grave-markers to the south of the site and extensive lawned area with bitmac footpaths. Materials: Roof Natural slate RWG uPVC Walling Ruled-and-lined cement render Windows Fixed-pane with leaded coloured glazing and storm glazing

Architects

Not Known Barker, William

Historical Information

The congregation had been established by 1770, the year in which Thomas Hamilton was ordained as its first minister. Though the Ordnance Survey Memoirs give the date of construction as 1786, Magee (p. 24) points out that the new road from Derry to Dungiven over the Faughan bridge was only being built in 1790 so prefers that date for the meeting house. The building is shown as a rectangular structure on the 1st edition OS map of 1830 and named as ‘Meeting house’. In 1856 it is similarly represented and named as ‘Covenanters Meeting Ho.’ The church grounds are shown as partly planted with trees. As the congregation grew in the course of the nineteenth century so alterations and improvements were made to it. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs describe the structure in 1835 as a ‘small rectangular building’ that had recently had a ‘thorough repair’, including a new ceiling, roof and side wall. It was capable of holding 300 people. Further alterations were made in 1855 when the session room was built, the church reseated and the floor altered. The works were carried out by a local contractor, ‘Mr McIlwee’ and cost £206. The total cost of the renovations came to £257 10s., paid for by subscriptions from members and donations from the wider community. The building was reopened on 17 June 1855. A local newspaper, the Londonderry Standard, commended the congregation for having ‘evinced much taste in rendering their church, together with the grounds attached, models for imitation.’ Historic photographs show that the windows were Georgian-glazed and square-headed. The Primary Valuation House Book of 1856 gives the dimensions of the church as 65 feet long, 37½ feet broad and 26 feet high. The ‘vestry’ (session room) measured 13½ feet by 19 feet by 7 feet high. Griffith’s Valuation (1858) lists Covenanters Meeting-house, sexton’s house and land extending to 1 acre. The land was valued at 10 shillings and the buildings at £17 10s. Extensive renovations were carried out in 1898-99. This followed a decision at the congregational meeting in 1896 that rather than continue with piecemeal repairs a substantial sum of money should be expended on ‘a good sensible permanent job which would give us comfort and last for very many years’. The main works needed included the installation of central heating, reseating the building, putting in new windows and a new ceiling. The congregation engaged William Barker to draw up plans in 1897. The tender of Musgraves of Belfast for the heating (£39) was accepted, but after the estimates for the other works exceeded what had been originally anticipated, the renovations were postponed until sufficient funds could be collected. By July 1898 the congregation was in a position to invite further tenders and that of John McFarland of Ballymoney (£458) was accepted. The contract included circular seating, windows with lead lights of five different tints and diagonal panes, and the ceiling to be sheeted with Carolina pine formed into panels and put on the existing rafters (later it was decided to add new rafters when the existing ones were found to be in poor condition). The inside walls were plastered and the other walls rendered with cement. The porch floor was tiled and walls wainscoted like the rest of the church. The door into the session room was altered and a false door added on the other side of the pulpit. Carved columns and capitals were added to the pulpit and the floor was given a fall towards the pulpit. Due to modifications to the original contracts, the costs rose to nearly £700. The building was reopened on 18 June 1899. A plan of the meeting house showing the new seating arrangements was published in Magee (p. 132). In 1951 electric lighting was introduced and in 1953 electric heating. The conversion of part of the meeting house ‘green’ to a burial ground seems to have taken place around the time of the late nineteenth-century renovations. The stable had been built in 1870 and in 1959 it was converted into a church hall which was extended in 1975. The hall was demolished and replaced by a new hall in 1984 which in turn was enlarged and refurbished in 2005. References: Primary Sources: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Primary Valuation house book, 1856 – VAL/2/B/5/50 Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1930: VAL/12/B/32/14A-K Valuers and Revaluation Binders, Faughan Ward, Drumahoe townland, 1956-75 – VAL/4/C/6/3/15/5 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1830 – OS/6/5/14/1 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1853 – OS/6/5/14/2 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1904-32 – OS/6/5/14/3 Northern Ireland Environment Agency First Survey record – HB01/06/004 HB Records – HB01/06/004 Secondary sources: Published sources Angélique Day & Patrick McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, vol. 34 (Belfast, 1996) Irish Builder, 1 Feb 1897 Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979) Trevor Magee, Planted by a River. Two hundred years of Covenanter Witness at Faughan Bridge, 1790-1990 (1990). Dan Calley, City of Derry: An Historical Gazetteer to the Buildings of Londonderry (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013) Online sources Dictionary or Irish Architects: www.dia.ie Website of congregation: http://faughanrpc.org

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 J. Setting

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Free-standing gable-fronted double-height rendered church, built 1790, altered in 1835 and extended in 1855, further extensively refurbished 1898-99, to designs of William Barker. Rectangular on plan, facing east with a gabled section abutting the west gable, dated 1986 and set within its own grounds on the west side of Fincairn Road with small cemetery to the south. A plain barn-type church which owes much of its current appearance to the turn of the century refurbishment. The setting has been retained and the building represents an important focus for the local Presbyterian community as a long established site of worship.

General Comments

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Date of Survey

14 April 2014