St. Eugene'S Cathedral, Francis St., Londonderry

St. Eugene's Cathedral, Francis Street, Londonderry

St. Eugene's Cathedral is a Decorated Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral, built between 1853 and 1873, and serving as the Mother Church of the Diocese of Derry. It stands on the west side of the River Foyle, on an irregular triangular site bounded by Francis Street, Upper Great James Street, Infirmary Road and Creggan Street, set within its own grounds. The listing extends to the cathedral itself, its gates, railings, pillars and walling. The cathedral precinct also contains the Bishop's House and St. Eugene's Primary School.

Origins and Historical Background

The decision to build a cathedral was taken as early as 1838, when a meeting held in the Long Tower School — chaired by Bishop Peter McLaughlin — resolved that "the building of a cathedral was a praiseworthy object." At that time, the Long Tower Church (constructed in 1786) remained the only Roman Catholic place of worship on the city side of Londonderry. A committee was appointed to raise funds, but the project was halted by the decade of famine that followed and did not resume until the 1850s.

The cathedral is believed to stand close to the original site of a former Dominican Friary, an area then known as "Friar's Gort." In 1849 Bishop Francis Kelly acquired the current site, and the foundation stone was laid on 26th July 1851. An initial architect was appointed but dismissed after making grave errors in the foundations. The commission passed to James Joseph McCarthy (1817–1882), a Dublin-based architect described by the Dictionary of Irish Architects as the leading architect of Irish Catholic churches in the mid-Victorian period. McCarthy's earliest independent contract had been St. Columb's Church on the Waterside (1838–41), and his Gothic Revival approach at St. Eugene's was directly shaped by his friendship with Augustus W. N. Pugin, the English architect who pioneered the Gothic Revival movement. McCarthy was appointed to complete Pugin's unfinished works following Pugin's death in 1852, carrying out those contracts simultaneously with the design of St. Eugene's, and the influence of Pugin's distinctive Gothic Revivalism is evident in the result.

Building work proceeded sporadically over two decades due to funding difficulties. The cathedral's ground plan appeared largely complete on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1853, and the building was recorded in Griffith's Valuation of 1856, at which point the site was leased from a Mr. William Hazlett. The cathedral was completed in 1873 at an estimated cost of £40,000 and was ceremoniously opened by the Bishop of Derry on 4th May of that year. Its rateable value was set at £400 in 1873, a figure that remained unchanged until at least 1931.

In 1873 the furnishings, pulpit and font were installed by Earley & Powell, Dublin-based church decorators. The Bishop's House followed in 1876. Between 1880 and 1902, stained glass windows were installed in the aisles, side chapels and chancel by the German glaziers Mayer & Co., including a window dedicated to Bishop Kelly. A rose window was supplied by Clokey & Co.

When first completed, the cathedral had no spire. In 1899, at a meeting in St. Columb's Hall, Bishop O'Doherty noted that the building remained unfinished some sixty years after the first collection had been made. Construction of the spire began in 1900 to designs by Edward J. Toye (1857–1932), a local architect whose practice was predominantly focused on work for the Catholic Church. The spire — 256 feet in height and topped by a granite cross — was completed by Christmas Eve 1902, at which point the carillon of bells installed by Gillett & Johnson rang out for the first time. St. Eugene's thereby became the tallest building in Londonderry, surpassing St. Columb's Cathedral, which reaches 191 feet. As Brian Lacey observed, "the sheer size of the cathedral … was an architectural symbol of the arrival of a confident Catholicism in the city."

Following the completion of the spire, Earley & Powell returned to carry out further alterations in 1904, including the construction of the eastern turrets with statues in their niches and the extension of the organ gallery; a high altar with reredos was also added that year. E. J. Toye built the gate lodge in 1905 and in 1906 installed the canopy over the pulpit, which weighs two tonnes and was made in Austrian oak by Ferdinand Stufflesser of Austria. A sanctuary lamp by Ashlin & Coleman and a new heating system were installed in 1905. The interior was completely repainted and redecorated in 1921 by James Patrick McGrath. On 21st April 1936 the cathedral was consecrated, its debt having been finally cleared. The First Revaluation in 1935 raised the rateable value to £1,500, and this was further increased to £2,050 by the close of the Second Revaluation period (1956–82).

The current organ was installed in 1955. Following the Second Vatican Council, the sanctuary was reorganised in line with changes to the liturgy: a temporary wooden altar was put in place in 1964 while McCormick Tracey and Mullarkey Architects designed a new free-standing altar and pews, completed in 1975.

The cathedral was listed at grade B+ in 1976. Between 1985 and 1989 three major phases of renovation were carried out. The first phase (1985–87), by George Cregan & Sons, involved the restoration and repointing of the external stonework — including the tower and spire — and replacement of the roof covering with natural Welsh Bangor Blue slates. The second phase (1987–88), by O'Neill Bros to designs by McCormick Tracey Mullarkey Architects, involved the construction of the granite sacristy extension to the north side of the building, the only significant change to the cathedral's ground plan. The third phase (1989), again by George Cregan, focused on the interior: new seating was provided, the sanctuary reorganised, and a new floor installed. The total cost of all three phases was £1.2 million, raised locally. In 2012 a structural report identified cracking in the central stone support column of the tower and recommended structural repairs.

Exterior

The cathedral is of double-height construction with a symmetrical tower. It has a rectangular plan with a projecting four-stage porch tower to the south-west, complete with belfry and octagonal spire. A two-storey extension was added to the north-west around 1988.

The walls are built of local blue-green Derry schist, coursed with snecking. The side aisles are buttressed with granite ashlar and chamfered weathering stones. Gothic-arched window openings contain triple lancet trefoil tracery windows with inset quatrefoils and Gothic hood mouldings above with label stop-ends. The first-floor clerestory has smaller double lancet trefoil windows with quatrefoils, alternating with double ogee lancet windows with trefoils and a quatrefoil above.

The principal entrance porch is flanked by hardwood braced and sheeted double doors separated by a granite column, with recessed orders featuring cusped Gothic arches executed in restrained moulded granite. The tower is buttressed and carries a large tracery window above the door, a statue alcove above that with quatrefoils to either side, double lancet trefoil vents, and elaborate detailing at the top including crockets, corner pinnacles, an octagonal spire and a cross finial. The spire is in a 14th-century style with twelve crocketed pinnacles and diaper stone panelling in bands across the needle. The pitched roof is covered in natural Bangor slate with black clay ridge tiles; the gable walls extend above the roofline with stone copings, gabled eaves stones and granite Celtic crosses at the apex. There are four ventilation dormers to each side of the principal roof, and cast iron guttering on stone corbel brackets.

At the north-east corner is a small two-storey sacristy block in Newry Granodiorite, which was extended and refurbished around 1988.

Entrance gates are decorative wrought iron, set in ashlar Mourne granite pillars. The boundary walls are in ashlar granite with wrought iron railings and support posts.

Interior

The interior is of significant architectural quality. The stained glass windows in the aisles, side chapels and chancel are by Meyer of Munich, and the rose window is by Clokey & Co. The post-Vatican II remodelling of the sanctuary area, including the marble sanctuary furniture designed by McCormick Tracey and Mullarkey Architects, complements the historic character of the interior.

Significance and Setting

St. Eugene's Cathedral is a fine and largely intact example of the Decorated Gothic Revival style, with its external fabric, overall character, proportions and style all of the highest quality. The circa 1988 extension by McCormick Tracey Mullarkey Architects is wholly sympathetic, with excellent detailing throughout and the use of traditional materials. The cathedral has clear landmark qualities within its urban setting and continues to serve as a socially and historically significant building both within the local community and across the whole Diocese of Derry. It lies within a conservation area and has group value alongside the Bishop's House, St. Eugene's Primary School and the gate lodge on William Street.