St. Colmans R C Church, 17 Monteith Road, Tullintanvally, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 5AQ

St. Colman's Roman Catholic Church is a double-height, single-nave Gothic-style church with tower, built in 1840 in the townland of Tullintanvally, approximately three miles south-east of Banbridge. It was designed by Thomas Duff (c.1792–1848), a Newry-based architect primarily known for church design but also responsible for work on private residences including Hillsborough Castle and Clandeboye House. The church sits on a rectangular plan, with a three-stage tower to the east, a two-storey extension to the west, and a porch and confessional projected to the north. It is located adjacent to the junction of Monteith Road and Millvale Road and has landmark qualities in its rural surroundings.

The church replaced an earlier chapel that had stood on the same site since 1802. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 depicted the original chapel as an oblong building oriented north-west to south-east along the modern Monteith Road. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs recorded that Roman Catholics constituted half the population of the Parish of Annaclone, and described the earlier chapel as a "plain building erected in 1802 by subscription of Christians of all denominations." That original structure was valued at £5 7s. The current building, oriented south-west to north-east at a right angle to its predecessor, was consecrated on 6th November 1840 and dedicated to St. Colman. It was erected largely through the efforts of the Reverend J. S. Keenan, founder of St. Colman's College in Newry. The new church was considerably grander than the original and was valued at £30 in Griffith's Valuation of 1862, a figure that remained unchanged through to the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929.

The exterior is constructed of random rubble masonry built to courses with snecking, with cement strap pointing — though this pointing is considered inappropriate and has detracted from the building's character. Granite quoins are used at the corners of the main body of the church. The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles, and rainwater goods are cast-iron half-round gutters on metal brackets. The pointed-arch windows have painted stone surrounds punctuated by blocks, with brick voussoirs and painted masonry cills. The pointed-arch doorway similarly has plain surrounds, brick voussoirs, and replacement timber panelled doors.

The principal gable faces east and is symmetrically arranged, with the three-stage tower centrally placed and flanked by windows to the gable end. The entrance door is on the north elevation of the tower; the south entrance has been blocked up. The east elevation of the tower reads as follows: at ground floor a single window rises to a string course; the second stage has square-headed timber louvered openings with brick surrounds, label moulding, and a brick elliptical relieving arch over, rising to a string course; the third stage has a pointed-arch timber louvered opening with brick voussoirs and hood mouldings, rising to a string course, above which sits an Irish crenellated parapet with pointed plain dressed granite pinnacles. The tower also has a string course and stepped crenellated parapets with pinnacles throughout.

The south elevation is symmetrically arranged and four windows wide, with a door between the left-hand windows now blocked. The rear gable is blank, finished in ruled-and-lined render and surmounted by a gable cross. It is largely abutted by a two-storey extension, diminished in scale and cement rendered, with a crow-stepped gable and pinnacles matching those of the church, and symmetrical uPVC casement windows to the west gable. To the south cheek of this extension is a single-storey lean-to boiler room. The north cheek is finished in exposed coursed random rubble masonry, with a single door at ground floor left and a uPVC window with brick surrounds centrally placed at first-floor level. The north elevation mirrors the south. To the north elevation, a porch sits left of centre, built in rubble masonry with a rendered upper portion, a leaded pitched roof, and a Tudor-arched opening. A blank half-octagonal confessional projection with a hipped leaded roof and circular roof light also projects from this elevation. The windows throughout contain stained glass.

External additions have been carried out using sympathetic materials and the exterior has retained much of its character, style, and proportions despite the inappropriate cement pointing.

In 1878, alterations and additions to the church were carried out by Timothy Hevey (1846–1878), an established church architect based in Belfast and Dublin; this was among the last contracts Hevey completed before his death that same year. The precise nature of those alterations is unclear, though they were likely minor interior works, as the valuation and the church's layout on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902–03 remained unchanged. The Parochial House, a two-storey three-bay building now standing adjacent to the north, was erected between 1859 and 1902. Further alterations were made in 1924, when the interior was redecorated and two side-altars were added; a new High Altar was installed in 1928. During the 1940s the original latticed windows were replaced with stained glass.

The most significant phase of alteration came in the 1960s, when an octagonal baptistery was added, a new entrance porch installed, and the choir gallery enlarged. New lighting and heating systems were also installed. The architects for this work were Smith and Fay, and the total cost of renovation stood at £17,000. The church was closed during the works and reopened and rededicated on 11th June 1967. This renovation completely modified the interior of the church, resulting in the total loss of original fabric and historic character.

The church was listed in 1977. In 1997 it was the subject of an arson attack, which damaged the rear of the building and destroyed the windows, floors, staircases, and interior furnishings of both the upper and lower sacristies. The church was subsequently restored by the Northern Ireland Office, with floors and staircases rebuilt at a cost of £50,000.

The setting is rural, bounded largely by rubble masonry walls and dressed granite piers with replacement gates. A graveyard lies to the south, bounded by hedges. Car parking is situated adjacent to the north elevation.