St James Parish Church (C of I), Longland Road, Donemana, Strabane, Co Tyrone, BT82 0PH

St James Parish Church is a Gothic Revival Church of Ireland located on the east side of Longland Road in rural Donemana, County Tyrone. Built in 1879, it replaced an earlier parish church that had fallen into disrepair. The church was designed by architect John Kennedy of Londonderry, built by contractors Colhoun Bros of Londonderry, and consecrated by Bishop Alexander of Londonderry. It cost £3,000 to construct and was built to accommodate 800 persons using locally quarried rubble whinstone with Dungiven freestone dressings.

The building demonstrates a high level of ornamentation for a rural church, with well-conceived design and stonework detailing of considerable merit. The church comprises a rectangular nave with a gabled chancel to the north, a square tower abutting at the west, a single-storey lean-to vestry to the north-east, gabled transepts to east and west, and a single-storey gabled porch to the south-west. Roofs are pitched natural slate with blue and black clay ridge tiles, exposed rafter-ends to the eaves, and raised sandstone verges over cavetto moulded kneelers. A decorative chimney-stack rises from the north gable.

Walls are roughly coursed rubble with sandstone quoins over a splayed plinth. Windows feature gothic arched cusped geometric tracery containing leaded stained glass in stepped sandstone surrounds with flush chamfered sills and rubble voussoirs. Smaller cusped gothic arched windows with leaded lattice lights light the tower.

The principal western elevation consists of a two-window-wide nave at the centre, abutted on the left by a transept and on the right by a porch. The transept contains a large tracery window surmounted by a cusped gothic arched opening to the apex, with a cast-iron grille at low level. The porch features a gothic arched rebated chamfered sandstone opening surmounted by a hood mould with decorative label-stops, containing double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber entrance doors. A blind quatrefoil oculus occupies the apex, with cusped gothic arched windows to the north and south elevations.

The two-staged tower contains an entrance opening detailed as the porch, surmounted by a single window. The north elevation contains a single window at ground floor with two windows above. A moulded stringcourse marks the belfry stage, which contains two gothic arched chamfered sandstone louvred openings within square-headed recessed panels on each elevation. These are surmounted by a quatrefoil fretted balustrade parapet with pinnacles. A recessed octagonal sandstone spire tops the tower, crowned with a cast-iron finial. The decorative balustrade to the slender tower and the window tracery with decorative label-stops are features of considerable merit.

The north elevation is abutted at the centre by a gabled chancel containing a large window surmounted by a hood mould with decorative label-stops and a cusped gothic arched opening to the apex. The east elevation consists of a three-window-wide nave at the left (the leftmost window is diminished and fitted with secondary glazing), abutted on the right by a transept detailed as on the west. The vestry to the north contains a square-headed dipartite window with leaded lattice lights. The south elevation contains a group of three gothic arched windows (larger to the centre) with secondary glazing, arranged beneath a hood mould with decorative label-stops and a cusped gothic arched opening to the apex.

Internally, the church retains much of its original detailing. The chancel is paved with encaustic tiles of special pattern. A bell weighing 658 lbs, cast by John Murphy of Dublin, was provided at the time of construction. In 1894 the chancel was improved with the erection of a new altar rail, marble kneeling step for communicants, and marble steps to the chancel. Also in 1894, a reredos and chancel panelling in oak were installed together with a new east window and new communion rails. A font inside the church, dated 1680 and inscribed "William Hamilton of Moyah His being church warden in the year 1684 His Promotion," originates from the early parish church in Bunowen. In 1929, the church was renovated to commemorate the jubilee of its consecration, with architect Lawson of Strabane overseeing the work.

The church sits within a rural churchyard containing a selection of twentieth-century memorials and gravestones to the west. A gated plot to the west wall of the church contains a marble memorial stone commemorating a previous rector of the parish, dated 1897. The site is bounded on all sides by rubble walling with rubble coping. Access is through a swan-neck alcoved entrance flanked by square sandstone piers with pyramidal coping, which support a pair of wrought-iron gates. The boundary wall, gates, and gate piers are included in the listing.

The building is a significant architectural landmark on the edge of Donemana village and represents an important example of 19th-century parish church architecture with architectural interest in its style, proportion, ornamentation, plan form, and the quality and survival of its interior. Rainwater goods comprise cast-iron box gutters and round downpipes.