St Colmans Church, Gallows Street, Dromore, Co Down, BT32 1BG

St Colman's Roman Catholic Church, Gallows Street, Dromore

This is a free-standing Gothic Revival stone Roman Catholic church with a square entrance tower, dated 1871 and attributed to the Belfast-based architect Timothy Hevey (1846–1878). It stands on the east side of Gallows Street in Dromore town centre, set on an elevated site. The church was proposed in 1870, its foundation stone laid on 27th October 1871, and construction completed in mid-1873 at a total cost of approximately £17,000. It was formally dedicated on 28th September 1873. The builders were H & J Martin of Belfast, with the spire contracted separately to McCullough of Armagh. The church replaced a previous chapel that had stood on the same site since 1782, itself built under the supervision of Fr. Edward Greenan on land granted by Bishop Thomas Percy of Dromore, who permitted Catholic services on his estate at Maypole Hill following years of outdoor Mass Stations, including at an ancient rath on his land. That original structure was described in the 1834 Ordnance Survey Memoirs as a stone building, roughcast and whitewashed, extensively renovated in 1829 and capable of accommodating a congregation of 600. By the 1860s it was considered inadequate for the growing parish, and the new church was erected through the efforts of Fr. William McCartan. Much of the original architectural detailing and historic character survives, and the architectural interest of the building is considered to lie in its style, proportion, ornamentation, plan form, quality and survival of its interior, and its setting. Its historical interest encompasses social, cultural and economic importance, authorship, local interest, age, and authenticity.

Architectural Overview

The building is oriented on an east–west axis and comprises a double-height nave with clerestory and side aisles, a four-stage square entrance tower, a baptistery and sacristy to the northwest. The roof is pitched natural slate with banded fishscale tiles, decorative ridge crestings, raised stone skews and kneelers, and masonry and cast-iron cross finials. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are carried on a bracketed eaves course. The walling is squared greywacke, built as uncoursed rock-faced rubble with a chamfered plinth and sandstone string courses. Buttresses have sandstone offsets and caps, and all dressings are sandstone. The primary stone is greywacke with Dungannon sandstone, Giffnock sandstone, and replacement English Carboniferous sandstone also recorded. Windows are mainly replacement leaded and stained glass lancets set in sandstone surrounds with chamfered sills.

Entrance Tower and Southeast Elevation

The entrance tower stands to the south of the building. Its southeast elevation carries a double-leaf timber-sheeted entrance door with cast-iron strap hinges and door furniture, set in a sandstone Gothic surround flanked by Armagh granite colonnettes and surmounted by a hood mould with carved stops. The second stage has a trefoil opening and the third stage a narrow lancet. The belfry stage has paired louvred openings to all four sides with a carved band at impost level. The tower is crowned by a stone broach spire with a metal cross finial and lucarnes. A three-stage stairwell turret abuts the tower to the southeast.

Southwest Elevation

The southwest gable elevation has three narrow square-headed windows to the ground floor, all with sandstone surrounds and Gothic window heads. At gallery level there are two lancet windows with label moulds and head stops flanking a sandstone Gothic statuary niche. Above these rises an eight-cusped circular window.

Northwest Elevation

The northwest elevation is eight windows wide to the nave, with alternate cinquefoil and quatrefoil windows to the clerestory. The gabled baptistery projects slightly to the right. Its entrance is a double-leaf timber-sheeted door with cast-iron door furniture in a Gothic sandstone surround with semi-engaged polished Armagh granite colonnettes, surmounted by a sandstone string course inscribed "A. 1871. D" and a carved medallion. The southwest elevation of the baptistery has paired Gothic lancets with a dividing semi-engaged colonnette. To the far left is the sacristy, which has a tall polygonal sandstone chimneystack to its gable, a mullioned window to the southwest elevation, and to the northeast elevation a Gothic-headed 1-over-1 timber-framed sash window alongside a timber-sheeted door with a Gothic-headed transom light, all in a sandstone surround.

Northeast Elevation

The northeast elevation has an apsidal end at the centre, five windows wide, flanked on either side by lean-to side chapels each containing a cinquefoil window.

Southeast Elevation

The southeast elevation has six windows to the nave. To the far right is a geometric mullioned window. To the far left is a transept housing the confessional, with an eight-cusped circular window on the southeast elevation.

Interior

The interior is largely Gothic in character, with some restoration having taken place. The current Stations of the Cross were added in 1924. In 1992–93 a modern altar, lectern and president's chair were installed and new seating added. The church suffered arson attacks in 1993 and again in 1994, the second causing significant fire damage; it was repaired and reopened in 1994.

Alterations and Restorations

In 1924, the architect John Valentine Brennan (c.1878–1960), practising in Belfast and Dublin, carried out a renovation of the tower and spire. An attribution to Alexander MacAlister (c.1821–1897) made by C. E. B. Brett in 1974 has been superseded; both contemporary sources in the Irish Builder and subsequent scholarship by Sean O'Reilly confirm Timothy Hevey as the designer. Brett nevertheless described the church as "an orthodox blackstone church with rather bulging apse, and turret stair to the spire; the spire itself, broached and banded, is of lighter stone on a blackstone base." The church was listed in 1977.

Setting

The church is set on an elevated site surrounded by late 20th-century housing. A cemetery to the south and east contains headstones dating from at least 1845. The ground to the west is lawned with a tarmacadamed vehicular access from Gallows Street. To the south stands a two-storey detached rectory and to the southeast a 20th-century single-storey community hall. The boundary along Gallows Street is formed by a rubble stone wall with coping topped by original cast-iron railings with decorative cross finials. There are three original square gate piers with pointed Gothic caps, surmounted by decorative cast-iron cross finials and carrying original cast-iron gates. A cross finial from the original building is preserved in the north yard. The original gatescreen, railings and parochial house to the south all survive as part of the listed extent.