Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB09/03/004

Address :
St Michael's Roman Catholic Church 9 Clagan Road Cookstown Co Londonderry BT80 9XE

Townland:
Tullynure

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
01/10/1975 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
108-11

IG Ref:
H8026 8310

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Owner Category

Church - RC

Exterior Description And Setting

A large early 20th century stone-built church in a Lombardic Romanesque style consisting of a nave, aisles, and chancel, flanked by gabled side porches and chapels, with an offset round tower belfry of Celtic inspiration on the entrance front. It stands on the crown of a hill within its own grounds in a commanding position overlooking the public road, in a rural location. The main entrance faces east. The east elevation is symmetrical except for the belfry tower and consists of a high nave gable in two stages, flanked by lower side aisles, with a lower side porch set back to one side and a matching baptistry set back to the other side. Walling is of rock faced sandstone, laid in regular courses, with tooled edges to projecting pilasters, corbel courses, and corners. There are ashlar dressings to door and window openings and the upper stages of the tower. The main entrance contains a pair of original timber diagonally sheeted doors with scrolling decorative ironwork hinges set in two orders of moulded semi-circular arches carried on small colonnettes with scolloped capitals over which rises a tangent gable. There is a high degree of surface articulation with projecting stringcourses, projecting drip mouldings, projecting pilaster strips and raking corbel courses. The nave gable also has a prominent stone cross placed on its apex. Windows are semi-circular arched and contain leaded glazing, with one small circular cusped rose window high in the nave gable. The belfry tower is attached at the junction of the nave and right hand aisle, and rises in stages to an open arcaded belfry capped with a conical stone roof surmounted by an elaborate ironwork finial. Lower level narrow lancet windows in the tower and windows to the side porch and baptistry have the semi-circular head cut from one stone. The belfry stage comprises two arcades of circular columns and simple bell capitals set between piers which support a large bell. The south elevation comprises a long nave lit by pairs of clerestorey lancet windows set between pilaster strips, stepping down at the west end for the chancel which is lit by single clerestorey lancets between pilasters, with the lower storey covered by a long side aisle, similarly lit by pairs of lancets, with a small porch projecting forward at one end and a transeptal side chapel and sacristy projecting at the other end. Materials, character, and detailing are similar to the main entrance front. Roofs are of green slate in regular courses, with ridge cresting to the nave and chancel, and stone crosses on the gables. Rainwater goods are moulded cast iron gutters and hoppers with square section cast iron downpipes held by trefoil pattern brackets. Those of the nave roof are carried in troughs down over the aisle roof. The north elevation is similar to the south. The west or rear elevation is of similar materials but plainer in detailing, without corbel courses. On the south-west corner of the main gable is a datestone inscribed 'The Corr Memorial Church. AD 1907. Patron St Michael'. SETTING: The ground immediately around the base of the church is laid in tarmac, extending to a car parking area to the north. To the front and the south there is an extensive grassed area, with a further car park just inside the main gateway. Driveways are of tarmac. The grounds are enclosed to the north by a front boundary wall with gates and piers. FRONT BOUNDARY WALL, GATES, AND PIERS: These consist of walls of both regularly coursed rock-faced sandstone, and snecked sandstone, with two sets of ironwork gates mounted on square piers which have moulded caps. The set of gates to the west end are signed 'W.B. Greer, Belfast'.

Architects

Ashlin & Coleman

Historical Information

Built in 1907 to the designs of Ashlin and Coleman architects of Dublin. They were one of the most prolific firms of ecclesiastical architects in Ireland in the late 19th to early 20th century period. Known as “The Corr Memorial Church”. References – Primary Sources 1. OS Map 2. Datestone of 1907 on the building. Secondary Sources 1. A.J. Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North-West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979), p 362.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

This is an impressive early 20th century church carefully constructed of cut stonework, in a very distinctive style, Lombardic Romanesque overall with an Irish or Celtic nuance in the attached round tower. It was designed by one of the leading ecclesiastical firms in Ireland, Ashlin and Coleman of Dublin, and is a fully developed example of its type of typical plan form and spatial organisation, and displaying an appropriate degree of architectural elaboration to the exterior, and ornamental features to the interior which is almost entirely intact. It enjoys a pleasant rural setting within its own grounds which are enhanced by original front boundary wall, gates, and piers, and forms a prominent landmark in its locality.

General Comments

Date of Survey

30 November 2007