St Patrick's (C of I) Church, Leckpatrick, Artigarvan, Strabane, Co Tyrone, BT82 0LE

St Patrick's Church of Ireland, Leckpatrick, is a free-standing, gable-fronted, double-height rendered church dated 1815, set on an elevated site on the east side of Victoria Road, facing west. Despite its understated rural exterior, the building conceals a long and rich history and an interior of exceptional rarity and importance.

EXTERIOR

The church is rectangular on plan with a single transept to the north nave, an entrance porch projecting from the front west gable, and a further projection to the south nave. The roof is covered in natural slate with lead valleys, black clay ridge tiles, and stone ashlar copings to all three raised gables. A stone ashlar bell-cote sits atop the front west gable and contains a cast-iron bell. The south and west projections have roofs hidden behind parapet walls with stone copings. Rainwater goods are replacement cast-iron fittings to rendered eaves.

The walls are finished in pigmented rough-cast lime render with a smooth render projecting plinth course. A shaped sandstone date plaque over the principal entrance is inscribed 'A.D. 1815'. Window openings are round-headed throughout, with sandstone sills and replacement six-over-six timber sash windows fitted with interlacing Y-tracery to the upper sash, except where otherwise noted below.

The front west elevation is double-height and gable-fronted, abutted by a square-plan entrance porch. The porch has a round-headed window opening to its upper level on the west face with a timber sash window, a round-headed opening to its north face enlarged to form a doorway fitted with a replacement sheeted timber door, and a round-headed doorway to its south face with a chamfered sandstone surround and plinth blocks, fitted with replacement double-leaf sheeted timber doors with interlacing tracery to the timber fanlight above. This door opens onto three stone steps with a pair of iron handrails. Above the porch rises a diminutive round-headed window opening at upper level and the bell-cote above.

The north nave elevation is abutted by a gable-ended transept with two window openings to its west elevation only. A lean-to extension dating from around 2003 is attached to the east end of the transept. The east gable elevation has a large round-headed window opening fitted with a replacement fixed multi-pane timber window containing interlacing Y-tracery. The south nave elevation has four window openings and is abutted centrally by a square-plan projection with a diminutive round-headed window opening fitted with a fixed-pane timber window.

SETTING AND GROUNDS

The church stands on an elevated site approached by a bitmac path that encircles the building, with a small forecourt to the south continuing as a short avenue down to the road. The avenue opens onto Victoria Road through a pair of original wrought-iron gates with fleur-de-lis finials, set between a pair of pebbledash rendered piers. The site contains a cemetery with several upstanding stone and marble grave markers, enclosed to the road by pebbledash rendered walls.

INTERIOR

The interior is of the greatest significance. It retains its T-shaped plan with the pulpit positioned on the side wall — specifically a two-decker pulpit at the centre of the south wall, described as a very rare survival in a 19th-century church. High box pews painted grey fill the main hall, giving a strong sense of the church's original appearance. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners at some point proposed replacing the pulpit and reading desk, but this work was never carried out. The interior is further enriched by an important collection of early wall-mounted stone and marble memorials.

Among the most notable memorials is one dated 1673 to Isabella Sinclair, wife of the then rector, which was brought from the earlier church on this site. Inscribed in Latin, it translates as: "John Sinclair, Rector of Leckpatrick, erected this monument (indicative of his extraordinary grief) to his most esteemed wife Isabell, taken in the prime of her life, an example to all. She was most faithful in her love, first amongst the most devoted of wives. She lived most affectionately, of gentle disposition, with a serious sense of virtue, in loyal marriage. She bore fine offspring, one son James and two daughters, Elizabeth and Rebecca. Only Rebecca survived. Full of hope and devotion, she died 10 January 1673."

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The present church replaced a much earlier building on this site dating back to Plantation times, which is reported to have been burned by King James II's retreating army in 1689 but rebuilt by 1693. The 1815 church was built during the incumbency of Reverend Francis Brownlow and was consecrated in 1821. It was enlarged in 1834, at which time it was dedicated to St Patrick. Historical records reflect this enlargement: the Townland Valuation records a Protestant Church valued at £11 4s and exempt from rates, while Griffith's Valuation, in which the leaseholder is recorded as the Lord Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, gives the dimensions of the church as 64 by 33 by 18 feet, with two additions of 30 by 30 by 18 feet and 8 by 9 by 10 feet, and a porch of 13 by 13 by 14 feet. The church was valued at £14, later raised to £19 10s, with an additional 10s for the graveyard. No significant changes are recorded in the Annual Revision Records covering the period up to 1929. A new rectory was built in 1980.

The church appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, and by the third edition of 1905 is captioned as St Patrick's Church.

Reverend John Sinclair — whose wife Isabella is commemorated by the 1673 memorial — also became Rector of the adjoining parish of Camus in 1668 and purchased the Holyhill estate by 1683. The later incumbent Reverend Francis Brownlow is also historically notable as the person who inherited the celebrated 9th-century Irish manuscript known as the Book of Armagh, which had been in his family since the late 17th or early 18th century. He loaned it to the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy; it was subsequently purchased by an antiquarian and is now held by Trinity College, Dublin.

A recent restoration has employed traditional materials and reinstated faithfully reproduced fittings, including the sash windows, ensuring the future of the building.