St Lawrence's Roman Catholic Church, 26 Lisdergan Road, Ecclesville Demesne, Fintona, Co Tyrone, BT78 2NS

St Lawrence's Roman Catholic Church is a detached double-height Gothic Revival church built in 1841, located on the north side of Lisdergan Road in Ecclesville Demesne, Fintona. It represents a large, robustly characterised rural church with particular historical significance to the local Catholic community.

The church consists of a rectangular nave with chancel to the east, a gabled porch to the south (dated 1925), and a square tower to the west. A two-storey roughcast lean-to extension extends to the north, and a single-storey flat-roofed extension has been added to the east (dated 1996). The roofs are pitched natural slate with blue and black clay ridge tiles; stone verges with stepped weathering on cavetto moulded kneelers and a cross finial to the east gable. The walls are constructed of squared-and-snecked sandstone with sandstone quoins set over a projecting plinth. Windows are gothic leaded stained glass in stepped sandstone surrounds with splayed sandstone sills.

The principal elevation faces west and is abutted at its centre by the square four-stage tower. Exposed wall sections to left and right each contain a single window. The tower entrance is a gothic bead-moulded chamfered opening with voussoirs, containing double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors. Stages two and three each contain narrow square-headed windows to north and south; stage two also has a single window, and stage three features a cinquefoil oculus. Stage four contains a pair of cusped gothic louvred openings to each elevation, surmounted by a crenellated parapet rising to a squat square-based spire.

The north elevation is five windows wide, with the central section abutted by the extension; exposed sections at left and right each contain two windows. The east elevation is abutted at its centre by the double-height gabled chancel, which has parapets to its corners and contains a single tracery window surmounted by hood moulding with stop-ends. A narrow square-headed louvred opening sits at the apex, with a pair of elliptical-headed windows to north and south. The exposed section contains a trefoil oculus to the apex and is abutted at ground floor by the extension. The south elevation is five windows wide, abutted to the left by the gabled porch. The porch features a Tudor-arched-headed rebated entrance with hood moulding containing double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors. Above the apex is a cusped gothic niche containing a statue of St Lawrence, supported on a corbelled bracket (dated 1925). A pair of elliptical-headed windows sit to the east and west of the porch.

The church is set in a rural location within its churchyard, with car parks to east and west and a garden to the north-east. The boundary to Lisdergan Road consists of rubble walling with a set-back entrance comprising square sandstone pillars supporting cast-iron gates. Stone urns engraved with "Revd Patrick Conlon, Parish Priest of Fintona" crown the coping, connected by a rendered plinth wall surmounted by cast-iron railings. A small grotto constructed in 1989 stands to the north-west, consisting of gabled rubble walling. The graveyard occupies an elevated site to the south. Rainwater goods are cast-iron.

The building possesses considerable historical depth. An RC chapel is recorded on the 1833 Ordnance Survey map, with the current church building appearing on the 1854 map on the same site. Historical records indicate a Roman Catholic chapel was built in 1780, described in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs as "a slated building without spire or steeple". By the time of the Memoirs' compilation, this chapel held approximately 1,500 persons though it was noted as being in a dilapidated state. Local history records state that in 1823 an old thatched chapel stood on this site, and it was to the entrance of this building that the present gate pillars were erected in 1823 by Rev Patrick Conlon, Parish Priest.

The present church was completely rebuilt between 1839 and 1841 under Fr James Kelly, PP. It is possibly the largest church of its type in the diocese of Clogher, measuring 115 feet in length by 51 feet 8 inches in width. The roof spans are carried on massive tie beams of memel timber, which remain sound. The building material is local red sandstone of indifferent quality, though the masonry is noted as being exceptionally good. A tablet on the front of the church reads: "Erected by Rev J Kelly, PP, Fintona 1841".

The tower and spire were erected in 1872 under Canon Cassidy. Between 1924 and 1927, a complete renovation and significant extension programme was undertaken following designs by Professor R M Butler, the architect, under the direction of Canon Maguire at a cost of £8,000. These works included the addition at the eastern gable of a new apse extending seventeen feet beyond the original gable wall and enriched with a fine stained-glass window, designed to receive a splendid new high altar in marble. A spacious new sanctuary, twenty-six feet in depth, was furnished with new marble side-altars and enclosed by a new marble communion-rail extending the full width of the church. New sacristies were provided, and a new porch (dated 1925) was added to the door towards the western end of the church, containing a new marble baptistry. A new entrance was also created through the bell-tower at the western gable, which became the main entrance to the church.

Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 records the new church at a value of £31, which remained constant throughout subsequent revisions. By the 1897–1911 revision records, the Roman Catholic body is listed as the occupier, with the church leased from Amy McClintock. A grave yard is recorded from the 1877–81 revisions onwards.