Methodist Church, 2 Craigavon Road, Fintona, Edenasop West TL, Omagh, Co Tyrone

Methodist Church, 2 Craigavon Road, Fintona

This is an early Methodist church built around 1860 in simple vernacular style, located on the north side of Craigavon Road. It is well-maintained and retains most of its original fabric, presenting an appealing building of considerable charm that has long served as the focus of the Methodist Church community. Though in need of some decorative attention, the interior is well preserved, including the original timber sheeted ceiling of the adjoining hall.

The church is a double-height, single-cell rectangular building accessed through a central gabled entrance porch. It has a pitched natural slate roof with angled clay ridge tiles and a stone finial to the south gable. The walling is ruled-and-lined render with exposed stepped stone quoins at window dressings and a projecting plinth. Rainwater goods are replacement ogee profile uPVC, supported on a corbel table with some cast-iron downpipes remaining.

Windows throughout are pointed-arched-headed diamond lattice lancets with stepped stone quoins and flush splayed stone cills. The principal south-facing elevation is flanked by windows on either side of the entrance porch, with paired windows above, diminished in height. The south gable contains a double-leaf pointed-arched-headed timber sheeted door within a stepped stone surround, accessed via a single masonry step. Single windows to each cheek contain leaded stained glass.

An adjoining hall was built around 1890, attached to the west side. It features an exposed roughly coursed squared-and-snecked rubble stone exterior with boast mortar and splayed plinth, an artificial slate roof with blue and black clay ridge tiles, and replacement uPVC eaves boards and rainwater goods. A replacement timber sheeted door at the south may replace an earlier paired window opening, with two small paired windows located above it. The west gable contains two windows. A single-storey flat-roof extension was added to the north around 1990.

The church currently has two entrances: one at the north providing access to the rear of the church and the adjacent manse, and a second independent access at the south approached via replacement mild-steel gates and railing on a rendered plinth wall.

Methodism was first introduced to Fintona in 1775 when Methodist preachers from Enniskillen visited the town. A Fintona Primitive Methodist church was built in 1828, seating 120 people, but no trace of it now remains. The present church was constructed in 1863, originally valued at £400 and seating 150 people. In 1882 the two Fintona churches amalgamated and the Cavan church closed. The building was extended in 1893 by the addition of a new transept, costing £300, to house Sunday Schools and prayer meetings whilst providing 100 additional seats to accommodate the growing congregation. By the latter part of the nineteenth century, Fintona had around 300 members. The church first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1905-6, alongside a nearby manse. A plan from 1934 shows the trustees of Fintona Methodist Church as owners, with seating accommodation for 207 and electric light, with the building valuation then raised to £35.