St Patrick's C of I Church, Upper Badoney Parish, Glenroan Burn, Glenelly Road, Plumbridge, Co Tyrone, BT79 8BN

St Patrick's Church of Ireland is a detached double-height church built around 1785, located on the west side of Glenroan Burn near Plumbridge. It was constructed under the Board of First Fruits scheme and stands as one of the oldest churches in the area. The church occupies an enclosed site with an early graveyard to the west, surrounded on three sides by a complementary stone boundary wall of random rubble with soldier coping.

The church comprises a rectangular-plan nave aligned east-west with a two-stage tower at the west end and a chancel at the east with a connecting single-storey lean-to vestry to the north. The roofs are pitched natural slate with blue-black clay ridge tiles, flat stone verges, and half-round cast-iron rainwater goods supported on projecting eaves courses. The main walls are ruled-and-lined-rendered over projecting smooth rendered plinths; the west elevation is roughcast rendered.

The architectural character is defined by pointed-arched-headed geometric bar-tracery windows with chamfered mullions, lattice glazing with margin lights and top-hung openings, set within chamfered droved finish surrounds with flush splayed cills. This detailing is original to the 1785 build.

The principal west elevation is largely blank where abutted by the two-stage tower at its centre. The tower is roughcast rendered with continuous eaves course detail. The first stage contains the principal entrance at the south, set within a flush stepped stone surround and accessed by a single masonry step, with a replacement timber window to the west and a lean-to boiler house abutting the north side. The second stage has pointed-arched-headed timber louvred belfry openings on the north, south, and west sides, with the east side blank. The tower terminates in a crenellated parapet.

The north elevation is three windows wide. The east gable is abutted at its centre by a double-height chancel added around 1860 to designs by Joseph Welland, with exposed sections blank. The chancel has a pitched natural slate roof at a steeper pitch than the nave, with blue-black clay ridge tiles and flat stone verges supported on cavetto moulded kneelers. The walls are exposed random rubble with droved finish and stepped quoins. The chancel's north elevation is abutted by the single-storey lean-to vestry extension. The chancel's east elevation contains a geometrical bar-tracery window with a single window to the south. The vestry entrance is positioned at the south, with a vertically timber sheeted door in a chamfered droved finish stone surround, accessed by two stone steps. The chancel's west elevation is blank; the east has paired lattice glazed windows within droved finish stone surrounds. The south elevation is three windows wide.

The site is bounded by the random rubble walling with soldier coping on three sides. Access is by pedestrian gate only at the south, formed of coursed rubble piers with pyramidal coping and cast-iron gate. A church hall was built to the south around 2000. The graveyard to the west contains eighteenth- and nineteenth-century grave markers and a random rubble vault at the east.

Historical records confirm the church was first recorded on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832, captioned as "Church", and later as "St Patrick's Church" on the third edition map of 1905-6, at which point the chancel had been added. The Townland Valuation records the "Parish Church and Steeple" valued at £7 18 shillings. Griffith's Valuation of 1858 records "church and graveyard" under exemptions, originally valued at £8 10 shillings and later revised to £8 15 shillings. Diocesan records state "Badoney Upper Church, near Plumbridge...was built in 1784"; the parishes of Badoney Upper and Lower were separated in 1774 and reunited in 1924, with the parish later united with Ardstraw and Baronscourt in 1986. The interior has suffered minor alterations from refurbishment work carried out around 2000.

The church presents an impressive feature in its unspoiled rural setting, well-proportioned with good detailing and traditional construction methods throughout.