St Patrick's Church, Church Street, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1AR

St Patrick's Church of Ireland, Coleraine, is a freestanding Perpendicular Gothic church built in black stone, constructed on an ecclesiastical site of exceptional antiquity. The present building is largely the result of an extensive remodelling carried out between 1883 and 1885 to designs by the renowned church architect Sir Thomas Drew, though the site has supported a place of worship since at least the early medieval period, and tradition holds that it was established by St Patrick himself. The name Coleraine — derived from the Irish 'Cuil Raithin', meaning 'ferny retreat' — is said to originate from St Patrick's choice of a fern-covered spot on the north bank of the River Bann as the site for a church. Excavations in 1994 uncovered the foundations of a probable 14th-century building, which can still be viewed through a panel set in the floor of the north aisle, and foundations of a still older structure were reportedly uncovered during the 1880s renovations, extending eastwards beyond the present chancel.

The site came under the stewardship of the Honourable the Irish Society in the early 17th century, when Coleraine was laid out as a fortified plantation town. The church, then in a state of disrepair, was rebuilt by the Irish Society and is shown on Carey's 1611 plan with 'new roof and walls repayred'. A tower surmounted by a spire was added in 1719, and a south transept in the 1770s; the church appears in the 1816 'Book of Coleraine' with a slender tower and spire, nave, transept and porch. In 1851 Joseph Welland, architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, added a north transept, chancel, robing room and a new south aisle with porch. Further modifications followed in 1875 to designs by James H. Coyle, comprising a new organ chamber, vestry, heating system, and new floor tiles — replacing stone flags with Maw's encaustic tiles — along with redecoration by Messrs J. & D. Baxter. A new organ built by Messrs Foster and Andrews of Hull was installed at this time at a total cost of £1,150; the contractor was D. Christie of Coleraine.

By 1883, with the congregation growing and parts of the fabric decaying, the rector Henry Stewart O'Hara commissioned Thomas Drew to carry out the virtual rebuilding of the church, retaining as far as possible the lines of the ancient structure. Drew's design gave the church a new tower, north aisle, south porch and chancel, and raised the height of the nave to incorporate a clerestory. The transepts were retained and integrated into the new design. Though the rebuilt church was some 50 feet longer than its predecessor, Drew's approach was characterised by the eclecticism typical of the period, working broadly within a Perpendicular Gothic idiom but incorporating disciplined and refined detailing that includes Celtic Revival devices, notably the application of the shamrock motif. The total cost of the works was £7,400, carried out by contractors Messrs Dixon & Co of Belfast, and the church reopened on 28th April 1885. Sculpture on the porches was the work of Coleraine craftsman Charles McGowan, while ornamental sculpture in the nave was by Dublin sculptor Emery. The choir stalls were of Austrian oak and the prayer desk was made from oak salvaged from the roof timbers of the old church.

The building is cruciform in plan, comprising a nave, chancel, transepts and side aisles, with small 19th-century additions to the western re-entrant angles and a choir vestry added to the north-west corner around 1960 in a style similar to the main church. The dominant external feature is the square-based four-stage pinnacled tower at the south-west corner, which visually commands much of Coleraine town centre. The tower has set-back, offset angled buttresses rising to the third-stage belfry. Its south face has a large pointed-arched opening with ornate foliated carvings to the spandrels and angelic busts to the stops, now fitted with a late 20th-century plain timber and glazed door with matching transom and sidelights, which are of no architectural interest. A projecting string-course rises to the second stage, where a three-light pointed-arched window sits directly above the entrance. The third stage on each face contains a pair of two-light pointed-arched openings with timber louvres and quatrefoils spanning the centre, with engaged and angled buttresses rising to points at the outer sides and a blind cross on the western elevation. At the summit, square-based crocketed pinnacles with cusped panels rise to foliated points at the four corners, with square-headed and cusped crenellations spanning between them over heavily moulded eaves containing foliated consoles and a large angled bracket to the centre that extends to a point above the crenellations. Angelic and gargoyle figures project at the four corners carrying water spouts. The pinnacles have been braced in recent decades.

The walling is generally roughly coursed, rock-faced black stone with smooth ashlar sandstone dressings. The tower is of random, rough-faced ashlar, and the east wall of the south transept is of uncoursed random rubble. Flush strip-quoins are used at corners, with a full projecting base-course topped by a chamfered sandstone coping. Pitched saddle-back slate roofs run throughout, incorporating a large number of replacement slates, with roll-moulded terracotta ridge-tiles; gables have generally pyramidal or flat stone copings with kneelers, and elaborate stone cross finials to the apex of the nave, chancel and southern porch. Rainwater goods are largely replacement metal ogee pattern with a mix of squared and rounded downpipes, mounted on a moulded stone course at the projecting eaves, punctuated by stone console brackets to the nave — most of which are replacements.

The windows are generally lead-paned stained glass with Perpendicular tracery and cusped heads; much of the tracery has undergone recent repair or replacement. The aisles are lit by tripartite cusped-headed square openings with labels and coiled stops, with similar two-light clerestory windows above having pointed-arched heads and foiled tracery. Windows to the nave and transepts are generally of four lights with pointed-arched heads, splayed reveals having flush stepped architraves and labels with coiled or figurative stops; a similar five-light window also serves the nave. The doors are generally pointed-arched timber, sheeted and braced, with original ironmongery and studs retained; they are set within in-stepped surrounds with label or hood moulds and sculpted stops, and foliated carvings to the architrave of the central porch on the south elevation.

The principal elevation faces south, comprising the double-height nave lit by four clerestory windows above an advancing mono-pitched south aisle lit by three windows. A projecting gabled entrance porch sits right-of-centre, with angled buttressing, quatrefoils, and a cusped pediment featuring foliated and armorial carvings, with a lattice-paned square-headed single-light window to the right cheek. To the far right the gabled south transept projects, its right cheek abutted by a lean-to side chapel with a diminutive window to the south elevation, a single-light cusped and pointed-arched window to the east elevation, and a timber-sheeted basement door below. The tower abuts the far left of the south elevation. The west elevation has a large four-light window to the gable, abutted on the right by the tower and on the left by the advancing mid-20th-century gabled extension, which is four openings wide with central windows to both cheeks and a central doorcase with a window to each side — of no architectural interest. The north elevation mirrors the south, with four windows at each level, abutted on the left by the twin-gabled north transept, which contains a four-light and a three-light window to the left and right respectively, a diminutive pointed window above left, and the remains of a round-headed brick arch at ground level to the right. The east elevation is entirely abutted by the lower chancel; the north gable-head has been modified with a sandstone and rendered chimney inserted. The chancel has a large five-light window to the centre with octagonal stops and a twin-light pointed window with a foiled head to the left cheek; the right cheek is blank and abutted by a mono-pitched return forming a vestry, with a pointed doorway, a squared single-light window to the east, and three pointed windows to the north. A small mono-pitched addition to the north-west re-entrant angle has a timber-framed leaded window to the centre and arches over a stepped passageway leading to a timber-sheeted and braced basement door with strap hinges and vent holes. The north-west single-storey gabled extension of around 1960 is executed in a style similar to the north aisle but is of little architectural interest.

The east window was fitted with stained glass in 1891. A peal of eight bells was acquired for the tower in 1893, cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough. The pulpit, attributed to Sharp & Emery, was installed in 1894 — though Alistair Rowan credits it to Richard Francis Caulfield Orpen — and the same firm supplied the oak communion table, presented by congregation member James Brooks in 1898. In 1902 the organ was rebuilt by the Leeds firm of Abbot & Smith for £470, at which time a mechanised water blower replaced the organ blower. Stained glass was fitted in the west window in 1909 by the London firm of Butler & Bayne, but this was damaged in a fire at a neighbouring garage in 1941 and subsequently replaced. A war memorial window was dedicated in November 1953. The choir vestry was added in 1961 and the interior redecorated at the same time. The organ was rebuilt in the late 1960s by the Irish Organ Co and again in the 1990s. Following a bomb explosion in Coleraine town centre in 1992, the interior was refurbished, modifications were made to the chancel including the raising of the floor and enlargement of the floor area, pews were removed and replaced with upholstered seats, and the tower was repaired with the pinnacles stabilised.

Coats of arms above the tower porch are those of the City of London on the left and Coleraine on the right. Above the south doorway are the coats of arms of the Diocese of Connor in the centre, with those of Armagh and O'Hara on either side.

The church contains a number of important 17th-century monuments, all unattributed. These include the monument to Ann Munro, wife of Colonel George Munro (died 1647); the Hamilton memorial commemorating brothers who fought for James II, one of whom defended Londonderry during the siege; a commemoration of Sir Tristram Beresford (died 1673), the first mayor of Coleraine; and a memorial to Elizabeth Dodington (died 1610), wife of Sir Edward Dodington, armourer, Captain of the King's Fort at Dungiven, and designer of the walls of Londonderry. A weathered block of sandstone on the north wall is said to bear the marks of a cannonball fired during the 1641 rebellion.

The church is set within a raised graveyard containing a number of historic memorials, within the urban centre of Coleraine. It is set back from the main thoroughfare of Church Street in a mature setting. The south and south-west sides are bounded by a painted and rendered saddle-back wall topped with decorative cast-iron railings; the remainder of the site is bounded by a coursed rubblestone wall. Primary access is through the main cast-iron gates on Church Street, supported by a pair of squared sandstone piers surmounted with stepped coping and ornate lamps, with a small pedestrian gate to the left. The ground descends to the north where Anderson Park is located. The listing extends to the church, boundary wall, gates and railings.