Church Of The Immaculate Conception (RC), Barrack Street, Strabane, County Tyrone, BT82 8HD

Church of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholic), Barrack Street, Strabane

This is a large, almost cathedral-like Roman Catholic church built between 1890 and 1895 to designs by the architect William Hague. It stands on the east side of Barrack Street and is designed in the style of 13th century French Gothic architecture. Cruciform in its overall design, the building is essentially rectangular in plan. It is an excellent and well-preserved example of its type, retaining fine mosaic work and altar fittings internally.

The listing covers not only the church itself but also its entrance piers, gates, railings and boundary walling.

Orientation and Layout

The church is set on a south-west to north-east axis, with the chancel at the north-east end. For the purposes of this description, south-west is referred to as west, and so on. The principal features are: a large four-stage tower at the west end, flanked by two substantial two-level side porches; side aisles stretching between these porches and the transepts; and a large two-storey vestry and office block projecting from the south-east corner.

Materials and Construction

The walls are built in squared, rock-faced stone, believed to be limestone, with quoins, dressings, tracery, eaves courses and string courses all carried out in dressed, light-coloured sandstone. Some relieving arches are in rock-faced red sandstone. The uppermost stage of the tower and the spire are also in dressed sandstone. Reducing buttresses are provided to all sections of the building except the vestry projection. The roofs of the various sections are slated and finished with moulded sandstone parapets with kneelers and decorative stone finials, along with decorative red clay ridge tiles.

The Tower and West Elevation

The symmetrical west front is formed by the tower flanked by the gables of the two side porches. At ground level, the tower's main entrance consists of a flat-arch opening fitted with a panelled timber double door with decorative strap hinges. Above the doorway is a finely carved pointed-arch frieze depicting the Virgin Mary flanked by angels. The whole composition is set within a bevelled reveal, with marble colonette jambs on tall bases supporting a moulded archivolt with delicate carving. There is a drip moulding above the entrance, with carved human heads as stops. A short flight of stone steps leads up to the door. On the narrow exposed sections of the north and south faces of the tower at ground level there is a cusped window to each.

The second stage of the west face carries a large pointed-arch window with geometric tracery, marble colonette jambs, a moulded archivolt, a bevelled sill, and a drip moulding similar to that of the entrance. This treatment is broadly repeated across most of the windows of the building. The north and south faces of this stage have relatively small pointed-arch windows.

The short third stage features a blind arcade, with a cusped head to each arch and curved arches above. Two of the arches are filled with slit windows, also with cusped heads. The other faces of the tower are detailed similarly. Just below the second stage runs a moulded string course with gargoyles at each corner.

The uppermost stage of the tower is octagonal. Buttresses rise against the four angled faces to form turret-like pinnacles that are partly square and partly octagonal, each with small slit windows and conical roofs. The remaining four faces each carry a large cusped opening with louvres and a drip moulding. Above this stage, at the base of the spire, there is a string course with dentil-like moulding. The spire has tall lucarne projections to four of its faces, each with geometric tracery forming niches; the four alternative faces have small quatrefoil openings set higher up. The pinnacle of the spire is decorated with crockets and finished with a metal cross finial.

The Side Porches

The two side porches flanking the tower each have two large windows set high on their lower storey, with geometric tracery and drip moulding with decorative stops. Above a moulded string course at upper level there is a three-light window with cusped heads to each light. The central light is significantly taller than the others, and a linked drip moulding covers all three lights. A relieving arch sits above the window, with a further string course above that. The corner buttresses of each porch rise into prominent gabled pinnacles.

The North Elevation

Reading from left to right, the north elevation consists of the chancel, then a small gabled porch attached to the side of the chancel and the east side of the north transept, then the transept gable, then the side aisle, and at the far right the large side porch.

The chancel has a high-level cusped window. The uneven gable of the small porch has a pointed-arch doorway with a panelled timber double door fitted with strap hinges, set in a bevelled reveal with a moulded archivolt and drip moulding above. Above the doorway is a small slit opening with a cusped head. The east face of the porch has a small flat-arch window with shoulders. The porch extends from a taller projection with a lean-to roof, whose east face carries a high-level octofoil window.

The lower level of the transept gable projects in a shallow lean-to fashion. At lower level there are two relatively small cusped windows. At upper level there are two large pointed-arch windows with geometric tracery, each consisting of two cusped lights and a cinquefoil. At the apex of the gable there is a large but squat pointed-arch window — in effect an equilateral curved triangle — with geometric tracery in the form of three trefoils.

The side aisle windows each consist of a pair of cusped lights. At clerestory level there are five large pointed-arch windows with geometric tracery.

The large side porch at the far right has a doorway similar to that on the smaller porch but larger and with marble colonette jambs. Above the doorway is a relatively small trefoil window.

The South Elevation

The south elevation mirrors the north as far as the small porch attached to the transept and chancel. To the right of this porch, extending from the chancel and abutting the east side of the small porch, is the large vestry and office projection. The north-facing gable of this block has a large high-level window with geometric tracery consisting of two cusped lights and a quatrefoil, with a small slit window with a cusped head at the apex of the gable. On the west face of the vestry block there is a tall pointed-arch window at ground floor level to the right, and a small flat-arch window with shoulders at first floor level. A tall chimney stack rises from the west side of the vestry roof; its lower half is finished in the same rock-faced stone as the rest of the church, while its upper half is entirely in dressed sandstone.

The East Elevation

The east elevation shows the vestry block to the left, the chancel to its right, and the side of the small porch to the far right (already described above). At ground floor level the vestry has a doorway consisting of a flat-arched reveal with shoulders, a panelled timber door, a pointed-arch frieze with a decorative roundel recess, and the bevelled reveal, archivolt and drip moulding found elsewhere. A short flight of stone steps with low flanking walls leads up to the door. To the right of the doorway are three flat-arch windows, each with two cusped lights and a relieving arch above. At first floor level there are four windows: three with single cusped lights, and one — the third from the left — with two lights. The chancel has a large window with geometric tracery, with a small slit window with a cusped head at the apex of the gable.

Interior

The church is well preserved internally and retains fine mosaic work and altar fittings.

Setting and Grounds

In front of the church there is a paved forecourt and drive. Paving continues around the entire perimeter of the building, with well-tended lawns beyond. The church grounds are enclosed from the road by a low squared stone wall with bevelled sandstone coping, topped with decorative and distinctive iron railings. The wall is punctuated by square sandstone piers with bevelled bases, bevelled corners, cusped panels and gabled caps with trefoil and roundel panels and moulded ridges. There is a carriage gateway flanked by two pedestrian gateways; the piers to the carriage gateway have more elaborate pyramidal caps. The south and east sides of the grounds are enclosed by simple stone walls with sandstone coping. The wall to the south is taller and has had modern metal fencing attached to its south side.

Historical Background

This church was built between 1890 and 1895 to replace an earlier and smaller Roman Catholic church — St John's — which had been built at the south end of Meetinghouse Street in 1821 and extended and embellished over the two following decades. By the late 19th century the Catholic congregation of Strabane had grown beyond what St John's could accommodate, and the building itself had fallen into disrepair. It was abandoned around 1890, with services transferred to the chapel of the Convent of Mercy while the new church was completed. The building work was largely funded by the congregation, though some money was also raised by the curate, John McElhatton, from members of a congregation he had previously served in the United States.