Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB09/06/017

Address :
St John’s Church (C of I) Desertlyn Parish Church 24 Smith Street Moneymore Magherafelt Co Londonderry BT45 7PF

Townland:
Moneymore

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
01/10/1975 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:
109/5

IG Ref:
H8583 8362

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

A 5 bay long nave church with aisles, clearstorey, square apse, tower, stone faced in Romanesque style. The “west” front, in reality facing SE, has the main door at the base of a 3 stage tower which projects from the nave gable. The tower has clasping buttresses at each corner and rise to a stringcourse below the belfry. The arched doorway has a receding cluster of mouldings with wide chamfer at door frame. The pair of doors fill the opening, are framed and diagonally sheeted with decorative strap hinges. 3 steps ascend to the door with low, wide kerb wall on each side and handrail and boot scraper. A large round headed window at 2nd stage centrally over the doorway, with hood moulding above and a stringcourse at mid point of window which dips down the reveal to the cill. Above the window a protruding stone roundel. At belfry level 2 arched small louvred windows set in shallow recessed panels with corbelling above. A moulded stringcourse circumscribes the belfry at the window arch springing line. The belfry has a cornice with low crenellations over and presumably a flat roof. All sides of the belfry are similarly treated. The side walls of the tower have small round headed lancets at 1st and 2nd stages. The “west” gables of the aisles have plain wide angle and shouldered buttresses with a single large arched window with hood moulding and cill stringcourse. The thin bargestones end in kneelers just above the buttresses. The entire front is faced with ashlar sandstone. In the angle between tower and aisle gables spiral stairs within the projecting stonework. The S W elevation has a 5 bay aisle, each divided by wide buttresses and between each an arched window with hood moulding and cill stringcourse, between tops of buttresses a corbel course carrying solid parapet. The clearstorey is likewise 5 bay, each divided by wide shallow buttresses and between each an arched window with arched and continuous hood moulding, between buttresses a corbel course supporting parapet. The apse is a continuation of the nave without the aisle and clearstorey window. The roof ridge drops a little as does the roof parapet. In lieu of aisle a flat roof vestry fills the space in the angle of aisle and apse. An arched door with hood moulding allows entry. The N E elevation is similar to S W except that there is not an access door to the second vestry but a small arched lancet with hood moulding. The N W end has triple arched large lancets, the centre being taller, angle buttresses which are shouldered at cill stringcourse level. Above the lancets a small roundel providing ventilation to roof space. The gable end has thin barges and kneelers. Single small arched lancets light both vestries. Below the cill level a lean-to temporary building provides storage and positioned between the buttresses. The church occupies the crest of a low ridge on a generous site bounded by Smith Street to the SE, and Fair Hill to the NE. The road boundaries are formed with good stone walls with railing and 2 pairs of vehicular and pedestrian gates. The round gate piers are impressive. Other boundaries are in random rubble. The church is set in the middle of the site with graves around 3 sides. That side next to Smith Street had a row of fine trees recently removed. Among the graves are those of the Lennox-Conynghams of Springhill and Mina Lennox-Conyngham the author of An Old Ulster House (Springhill).

Architects

Booth, William John

Historical Information

The present church was completed in 1832 replacing a former church in Lawford Street (Station Road) which was sited in the graveyard there (see HB09/06/015). The church was designed by William John Booth, the Draper’s Company architect and paid for by the company in the sum of £6,000. James Boyd of Belfast was builder. Designed in a Norman or Romanesque style of architecture after several stylistic solutions has been considered. The church was renovated in 1868 and in 1889 suffered a disastrous fire which destroyed the roof and interior. The pulpit and one stained glass window survived. The pulpit had been erected in the former church in 1828 and was transferred. The stained glass window restoration 1959 depicts the Last Supper. The church reopened on the 10th October 1891, the assembly room being used for services in the intervening time. William Fullerton was the restoration architect. The graveyard was extended in 1954, the Drapers Company donating the land. A fine row of elm trees lined the site between the church and Smith Street and were removed because of disease. References Primary Sources 1. O.S. Map 1832 Londonderry sh. 46. 2. O.S. Map 1832 Rev. 1856 Londonderry sh. 46. 3. O.S. Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of Londonderry XI, 1821, 1833, 1836-7, p. 37, 38 Ed. by Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams Q.U.B. 4. Curl J.S. Moneymore and Draperstown UAHS p. 46, 48, 55, 69. 5. Curl J.S. The Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914 p. 203, 205, 207, 208 6. Notes, 1st Survey, E.H.S. Hill Street, Belfast 7. St John’s Church, Moneymore – A Short Sketch. Secondary Sources 1. Brett, CEB, Courthouses and Market Houses UAHS p. 91. 2. Lewis, Topographical History of Ireland p. 388 3. Rowan A, North West Ulster, Buildings of Ireland p. 424

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

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

Evaluation

St John’s Church of Ireland, Moneymore built at the end of the Georgian period in a Norman/Romanesque style in ashlar sandstone. Its overall external form is bland and the character of the detailing stark and forbidding yet it is built of a handsome stone with good workmanship. Its interior is much superior and impressive with vigorous arcade, fine timber ceilings and good fittings. The graveyard well kept and good boundary wall, piers, gates and railings.

General Comments

Date of Survey

18 November 2000