St Bestius' Church (C of I), Woodside Road, Killeter, Castlederg, Co Tyrone, BT81 7TA

St Bestius' Church (Church of Ireland), Killeter

This is a detached Church of Ireland church built in 1822, situated on the west side of Woodside Road in the townland of Speerholme. It replaced an earlier church on a nearby site at Magherakeele graveyard. The building has been extended and altered at several points since its construction, but retains considerable architectural interest through its well-crafted stonework and varied interior timber roof structures.

The church consists of a rectangular nave of double height, with additions accumulated over several decades. A single-storey gabled porch to the south was added around 1840, and a lean-to boiler room abuts the nave at the re-entrant angle. The most significant addition is a west aisle, built in 1870 to designs by the renowned architects Welland and Gillespie; this is abutted to the south by a single-storey lean-to porch. A single-storey lean-to vestry to the north was added around 1890 and is distinguishable from the earlier fabric by its decorative moulded kneeler stones and differing plinth style.

The nave roof is covered in pitched asbestos slates with blue and black clay ridge tiles, and has raised stone verges on a corbelled eaves course. A chimney-stack rises from the north gable. To the south, a square-headed smooth rendered bellcote with a round-arched aperture in a moulded surround contains a bronze bell. The west aisle has raised stone verges on simple moulded kneelers. The vestry to the north has a natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and raised verges over cavetto moulded kneelers.

The nave walls are painted roughcast with smooth chamfered quoins over a smooth banded plinth. The west aisle, lean-to porch, and vestry are built of squared-and-snecked rockfaced sandstone with ashlar sandstone quoins, set over a projecting plinth. The nave windows are round-arched with sandstone plate tracery — replaced around 1870 — containing leaded stained glass. Their surrounds consist of fluted pilasters surmounted by an archivolt with keyblock detail, with sandstone sills. Windows to the west aisle, lean-to porch, and vestry have stepped sandstone surrounds with chamfered sills.

The principal elevation faces east and is four windows wide. The south gable is abutted at its centre by the gabled porch, which contains a single window; replacement square-headed double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber entrance doors are set into the east elevation. The west elevation is abutted by the lean-to boiler room, which contains a single vertically-sheeted timber door; the exposed section of wall to the right is smooth rendered. The north gable has a group of three windows with stepped sandstone surrounds and shared chamfered sills, the central window being larger than the others. The vestry abuts the north gable to the right, at the centre of the aisle, and contains a gabled dormer; its east elevation has a square-headed vertically-sheeted timber entrance door in a shouldered chamfered surround, accessed by three stone steps.

The west aisle elevation has three groups of three windows, separated by buttresses with offsets. The south gable of the aisle contains a large plate tracery rose window in a bead moulded surround with rubble voussoirs. At ground floor level, in the re-entrant angle with the nave, the lean-to porch abuts the south gable and contains a single window to the left; a gabled dormer to the right contains a round-arched vertically-sheeted timber entrance door in a bead moulded surround, accessed by two stone steps. The north gable of the aisle contains a group of three windows, with the central window larger than the flanking pair; the vestry abuts this elevation to the left.

Rainwater goods are cast-iron half-round gutters and round downpipes, with some replacement uPVC.

Internally, the church is enhanced by contrasting decorative timber roof structures between the nave and the aisle, and by stone piers. There is an early octagonal stone font on a chamfered square pedestal within the west aisle, which may have been recovered from the earlier church at Magherakeele; this has been dated to the 17th century. All stained glass within the church dates from 1977, when the church was completely refurbished. Timber panelling to the rear of the church also dates from this refurbishment.

The church stands within a churchyard containing grave markers ranging from the 19th century to the present day. The site is bounded by roughcast walling with saddleback concrete coping, with access from the east through squared-and-snecked square pillars supporting a pair of steel gates.

Historical records shed considerable light on the building's development. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record that the church was built in 1821 at a cost of £800, funded by a £600 loan from the Board of First Fruits and public subscriptions. The church was described as "a neat rectangular building 60 feet long and 30 broad" with interior pews accommodating 350 persons, though attendance in summer was noted to exceed this capacity, prompting plans to enlarge the building or erect a gallery. The Townland Valuation records of 1828–40 list the parish church and graveyard and value them at £9, with the fieldbook giving dimensions for the church and the porch and vestry, confirming that those additions had been made by 1840. Griffith's Valuation records the Reverend Martin C. Motherwell as the lessor of the church, valued at £10, with the graveyard at £1. A revised valuation of £15 in 1872 is accompanied by a marginal note referring to an addition — almost certainly the west aisle. The contractors for the 1870 Welland and Gillespie works were G & R Ferguson of Derry, who went on to carry out similar work at Seskinore three years later.

A notable rector of the parish was William Alexander, who served from 1850 to 1855 and later became Bishop of Derry and Raphoe and eventually Primate of All Ireland. He was the husband of the hymn writer Mrs C. F. Alexander. The parish was amalgamated with Derg in 1971.