Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB09/14/010

Address :
First Cookstown Presbyterian Church 71 James Street Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 8AE

Townland:
Loy

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
24/10/1975 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:
124/7NE

IG Ref:
H8102 7813

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Owner Category

Church - Presbyterian

Exterior Description And Setting

Two-storey classical style Presbyterian church of 1841, with sandstone-faced gabled front and large session room / hall extensions to the rear. The church is prominently set on a rise on the west side of James Street in the centre of Cookstown, with a large single / two-storey hall of c.1875 sited to the west side of the building, and a two-storey manse, (also of 1841, or slightly later), to the southeast. The church is basically rectangular in plan and faces directly E. To the centre of the ground level of the front elevation there is a large flat-arched doorway with recent replacement panelled timber double door, with further timber panel over and plain timber jambs. The doorway is accessed by a shallow, splayed flight of stone steps, with disabled access ramp to the S side and recent metal handrails. The doorway is set between relatively plain square pilasters which rise to frieze level. There is an identical pair of double pilasters to each edge of the elevation, and between each pair and the doorway there is a window with moulded sandstone surround, dripstone and c.1930s replacement leaded, patterned, glazing. Directly above each of the windows, (and the doorway), there is a large panel with moulded surround. The front elevation is topped with a frieze and tympanum. The frieze is traversed by a moulded string course and the tympanum has a moulded surround. Both the N and S facades of the main body of the church are finished in lined unpainted cement render, with four windows and a blind window to the ground floor level of both, and five windows to the first floor level. The windows are set within full-height semicircular-headed recesses. The windows to the ground floor are smaller and have flat-arched heads, whilst the larger first floor windows have semicircular heads, and all are filled with glazing similar to those to front. The gabled roof of the main body of the church is covered in asbestos tiles and has a slight overhang with plain bargeboards to the rear. To the W end of the main church building there are two gabled extensions, finished in unpainted lined cement render. That directly attached to the main building is two-storey, but may have started out as single-storey (its roof does not follow same pitch as that of the main building and the internal detailing is all c.1930s). To the right on the ground floor of the S façade of this section there is a small lean-to open porch, within which is a recent panelled timber and glazed door, with a door-like partly glazed ‘sidelight’ to its left side. To the left of the porch is a flat-arch window with glazing similar to those to the ground floor of the main building, with two more to the first floor. To the N façade there are two windows to the first floor was those to the S façade. To the ground floor there are three smaller flat-arch windows, whose to the left are identical, with glazing as those to the S, but with a recent timber frame (with awning openings) to the broader window to the right. The roof of this section of the extension is covered in asbestos slates. There is a (very) slight overhang to the gable with plain bargeboards. Internal evidence suggests there may once have been a chimney to this section. The extension to the very W is single / one and a half-storey and slightly broader than the rest of the building, and built into rising ground (to the W side). This portion of the building appears to be of relatively recent construction, the doors (and the window frames) are recent. To the S façade there are two flat-arch windows, with glazing similar to those on the main section of the building. To the left side of the N façade there is a flat-ach doorway with recent timber door with two-pane fanlight. To the (W-facing) gable of this section there is a high level doorway, with timber door, to centre-left, which is reached by a short flight of concrete steps (with simple metal handrail). To the right (and set at a lower level) are two squat windows, with timber frames. The roof of this section is covered in an artificial ‘slate’; plain narrow bargeboards. The rainwater goods are composed of a mixture of cast-iron and uPVC. The sloping ground in front of the church is largely taken up with a well-kept lawn (with some small trees), intersected by a central pathway, which is largely covered in tarmac. There is a long narrow lawn to the N and S sides of the church, but the ground to the W and the pathways immediately surrounding the church to all sides are covered in tarmac. A broad flight of stone steps to the N side of the church (along the pathway) allows access to the higher ground to the W (and the large hall beyond). The church grounds are enclosed from the street to the E by a rendered wall with stone coping and decorative cast-iron railings. The wall contains a pedestrian gateway, with rusticated sandstone pillars topped with decorative lamps, and decorative cast-iron gates.

Architects

Historical Information

This church was built in 1841, on the site of an earlier one dating from 1764. Prior to this the congregation (formed in 1646) had met in a building which stood in Coolreaghs at the south end of the town, and, after 1701, in Scotstown, now part of Killymoon golf course. The present building, with a small projection to the rear, is shown on the OS map of 1857, along with the manse and its attendant returns and outbuildings. It is possible that the manse was built at the same time as the church, but its bay windows (if original) suggest it may be slightly later, perhaps c.1855. The large hall to the rear of the church was built in or around 1875 by the Rev Hamilton Brown Wilson. The post 1859 valuation books reveal nothing of any later changes to the church, however it is clear that the present pipe organ was installed in 1907 (in memory of the aforementioned Rev Brown Wilson). Judging from the patterned glazing to most of the windows and the detailing within the eastern section of the rear projection, and it appears to some work was carried out to the building around 1930. The slight awkwardness of the pitch of the roof of the projection relation to the main section of the building suggests that this work may have entailed the addition of a floor to the former, but this is uncertain. The church was renovated in 1975-76 following ‘extensive’ bomb damage, however, apart from modern style lighting, much of the internal detailing appears to have been preserved. In more recent years a large extension has been added to the west side of the rear projection and an equally large extension added to the west side of the neighbouring hall. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI MIC/1P/43, 139 Records of Cookstown 1st Presbyterian Church, baptisms, marriages etc. (1836-1950) 2 PRONI OS/6/6/29/2 OS map, County Tyrone sheet 29 (1857) 3 PRONI VAL/2D/6/3/1-2 Valuation town plans of Cookstown (1859) [This book appears to contain little detail regarding Cookstown.] 4 PRONI VAL/2B/6/22B Second valuation, Derryloran parish (1859) 5 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5A Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1860-63) 6 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5B Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1864-68) 7 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5C Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1869-81) 8 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5D Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1881) 9 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5E Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1881) 10 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5F Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1882-89) 11 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5G Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1882-89) 12 PRONI VAL/12E/171/1/1-2 Valuation town plans of Cookstown (1882-97) 13 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5H Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1889-99) 14 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5J Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1889-99) 15 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5K Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED (1889-99) 16 PRONI VAL/12E/171/2/1-2 Valuation town plans of Cookstown (1897-1910) 17 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7A Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown Urban ED (1899-1908) 18 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7B Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown Urban ED (1909-15) 19 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7C Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown Urban ED (1916-30) 20 PRONI VAL/3G/140/1/1 First General Revaluation town plan of Cookstown (1935-54) Secondary sources 1 Oram, R., and Rankin, P.J., ‘Historic Buildings…Dungannon and Cookstown’ (Belfast, 1971) [This book does not provide a date of construction for the church, but states that it is late 19th century.] 2 Rowan, Alistair, ‘North West Ulster’ (Penguin, 1979), p.216 [Rowan quotes an (unnamed) source of 1886 which states that the church was ‘of recent erection’ at that date.]

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two-storey classical style Presbyterian church of 1841, with sandstone-faced gabled front and large session room / hall projections to the rear. Despite changes at the west end, this church remains a solid, sober, example of the genre, with a well-preserved interior. It is an impressive building overlooking the main street ion Cookstown and has group value with the adjacent listed manse.

General Comments

Date of Survey