Omagh Methodist Church, Church Street, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, BT78 1DG

Omagh Methodist Church is a double-height stone Gothic church set on a raised basement, dated 1857 and located on the west side of Church Street in Omagh. It was designed by church member William Elliot and local builder William Mullan, who also oversaw the construction work.

The church stands as part of an important collection of four denomination churches in the area, alongside the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Trinity Presbyterian Church, and St. Columba's Church of Ireland. Its Gothic design is typical of Methodist churches of the period and shares similar detailing with the neighbouring Trinity Presbyterian Church, built the year before, which served as inspiration for this congregation to construct their own place of worship.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing east, with a pitched natural slate roof topped with roll-top blue and black clay ridge tiles and half-round uPVC gutters. The walls are constructed of random-coursed squared undressed basalt set over a chamfered plinth. Windows are gothic cusped latticed glazed casements with stained glass margin lights, splayed flush reveals and sills. Buttresses with offsetting appear on all symmetrical elevations.

The principal eastern gable is three openings wide, with gabled buttresses positioned between the openings and diagonal buttresses with gabled pinnacles at the end corners. The centre features a tripartite full-height cusped window above a former date plaque inscribed "Methodist Chapple AN. D. 1811", with a blind trefoil at the apex containing a date plaque inscribed "Wesleyan Chapel 1857", flanked on each side by bipartite windows with quatrefoils above. Gothic vertically sheeted varnished timber doors with splayed surrounds provide access via stone stairs. The south elevation displays six windows across, with basement windows being square-headed casements. The north elevation mirrors the south in its detailing. The rear western gable is abutted by a modern hall. The church sits within a tarmac parking lot on a sloping site, elevated to the northeast, set back from the road by lawn and enclosed by cast-iron railings over a stone plinth between square stone piers with triangular caps and a double gate.

The building retains its original character with fine stonework and detailing displaying a high level of craftsmanship, despite some alterations and the construction of an adjoining modern hall.

Historical Context

An earlier Methodist church, dated 1811, previously occupied much of the area now forming the car park. The datestone from this earlier building has been incorporated into the current church. The site was provided by Samuel Galbraith, a prosperous businessman and local landowner. In 1865, the congregation decided to build a more suitable residence for the senior minister on ground to the south of the church, also obtained from Galbraith.

In 1856, congregation members were invited to submit designs and ideas for a new church. Only one submission was received, from William Elliot, a building sub-committee member who had visited Methodist churches in Cookstown and Sligo and was particularly interested by Sligo's basement design. William Mullan, the local builder, undertook the detailed design work, drawings, and plans. Advertisements for builders appeared in the Tyrone Constitution on 19 November 1856, with further advertisements in the Londonderry Sentinel and the Northern Whig.

When the works committee met on 23 December 1856, they discovered only one tender from Mr. Mullan, priced at £1,300. To reduce costs, the committee decided to substitute a large tracery window in the west gable for three narrow ones and to leave the basement unfinished. After further negotiations, Mr. Mullan completed the basement for a total of £1,100 on the condition that he retain the slates and timbers from the former chapel. Work began in January 1857, and the Memorial Stone was laid by the Honourable H. T. Lowry Corry, senior Member of Parliament for County Tyrone. The opening service was conducted by Dr. William Applebe on Friday, 25 September 1857, with Dr. McClintock of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States presiding the following Sunday.

In 1858, the building was recorded in Griffith's Valuation as the 'Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and yard', valued at £33, with Samuel Galbraith as lessor. Valuation Revisions recorded the addition of a house, office, and yard to the church site in 1866, occupied by Reverend William Molloy and valued at £24. The building first appeared on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1905–6, captioned as 'Methodist Meeting House'.

The original church doors were replaced in 1977. The church underwent renovation in 1997 when a new church hall was constructed and the former hall demolished. Despite these alterations, the church retains its well-proportioned form and original character.