Aghyaran Methodist Church, Church Road, Castlederg, Co Tyrone, BT81 7XZ

Aghyaran Methodist Church is a detached double-height Methodist church built around 1870, located on the east side of Church Road in Castlederg, County Tyrone. The building sits on an attractive rural site bounded to the south by Church Road, to the north and west by hedging, and to the east by the River Derg and Aghyaran Bridge. It is entered through an alcoved entrance comprising roughcast rendered walls and square-plan piers with pyramidal coping supporting original wrought-iron gates, which enhance the setting.

The church is rectangular on plan with a single cell and chancel to the north. A single-storey entrance porch and boiler-house are positioned to the left of the south elevation, while a single-storey outbuilding to the east is connected to the nave by a single-storey flat-roof extension. Pitched natural slate roofs with blue and black clay ridge tiles sit above the walls; flat stone verges are supported on cavetto moulded kneelers, and box profile cast-iron rainwater goods are throughout. The walls are constructed of squared-and-snecked rubble with a stugged finish, and quoins project over a plinth.

The principal elevation faces east, abutted at its centre by the entrance porch. The exposed section contains three windows at the centre. Windows throughout contain lattice glazing and margin lights within chamfered pointed-arched-headed openings with stugged finish stepped surrounds and splayed flush cills. The east gable of the porch contains a pointed-arched-headed opening with a timber-sheeted door retaining original ironmongery including decorative strap-hinges. The left cheek of the porch contains a single diminished window; the right cheek is abutted by the boiler-house, which is detailed as the nave but has a parapet concealing a flat roof. A square-plan two-stage chimney rises from the nave east wall at the rear of the boiler-house. The boiler-house east elevation contains a single window, and its north elevation a square-headed timber-sheeted door.

The south gable contains paired windows at its centre with a modern timber wall-plaque at the right. The west elevation contains three windows at the centre. The north gable is abutted by a single-storey extension with a flat roof; the exposed section contains three centrally located pointed-arched-headed window openings, the central one taller than the others, each containing leaded stained glass with margin lights. The extension has a felted flat roof and smooth rendered walling. Its east elevation contains a metal casement window; the west elevation contains three metal casement windows. The north elevation contains a timber-sheeted door at the left and is abutted at the right by an earlier single-storey outbuilding with a pitched natural slate roof and roughcast rendered walls. The principal east elevation of this outbuilding contains a central timber door with a metal casement window at the right; further windows appear on the north and west elevations. The north outbuilding stands at a slightly lower ground level than the church or extension, with the entrances to both separated by a roughcast rendered wall with saddleback coping.

The church was built around 1870 and has remained largely unchanged in plan. The porch and adjoining boiler-house were constructed at this date using similar construction and detailing. The building first appears on the 1907 Ordnance Survey Map captioned "Methodist Church (Wesleyan)". Valuation Records show that the land belonged to the Guardians of the Earl of Caledon (a minor) in 1862. In 1872 the "Methodist Meeting House" was recorded and valued at £5, with dimensions of 13 yards long by 8 yards wide and a side projection of 3 yards by 2 yards, corresponding to the porch and boiler-house.

The interior has been substantially altered following a major refurbishment around 1955, when the plan form and internal detailing were substantially changed, including the installation of chancel windows dated 1955. These alterations detract from the overall integrity of the building. The older building located to the north of the church, no longer in use, appears to be older than the church itself, constructed in vernacular style with random rubble walling and a pitched natural slate roof; it may have been used by the Aghyaran congregation prior to the construction of the church but does not appear on Ordnance Survey maps.

Despite the interior alterations, the church remains beautifully detailed externally in both style and proportion, contributing positively to the architecture of the local area. The building is enhanced by the wrought-iron entrance gates and masonry gate screen.