Lower Langfield Church, Sloughan Road, Drumquin, Omagh, BT78 4PF

Lower Langfield Church is a free-standing gable-fronted double-height single-cell stone Church of Ireland church dated 1842, set on an elevated corner site on the Sloughan Road, Drumquin, near Omagh. The church was constructed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners at a cost of £1,873 6s 11d, with surveyor A Hardy responsible for its design. It first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1854.

The church is constructed in squared coursed and snecked rubble stone with diagonal buttresses to the four corners of the principal volume, which are formed in stone ashlar with offsets. A splayed ashlar plinth course runs to the entire building with corner piers to the front entrance porch, also having offsets. The pitched natural slate roof carries clay ridge tiles with stone ashlar fractables to all gables. Moulded cast-iron guttering on iron drive-through brackets and cast-iron square-profile downpipes with trefoil brackets serve the roof.

The principal west elevation is gable-fronted and features a tall pinnacle rising from the diagonal buttress to either side. A large stone ashlar bell-cote rises from the gable with an open arch, slender angled buttresses, and is surmounted by a crenellation and pair of pinnacles. Below the bell-cote is a gabled entrance porch with a pair of squat octagonal pinnacles rising from corner piers. A Gothic door opening in double-chamfered stone ashlar with a hood moulding terminating in a pair of label stops is positioned to the south cheek of the porch. The opening has replacement hardwood doors and panel above, opening onto a stone platform and step. Above the door is a carved stone plaque inscribed: "THIS CHURCH WAS BUILT / 1842 / RECTOR, REV GILBERT KING / CHANCEL BUILT / 1867 / RECTOR REV CANON STACK / RESTORED / 1907 / RECTOR, REV T.L.F. STACK / RESTORED / 1965 / RECTOR, REV J.W.R. HILLIARD"

The church is fenestrated with double-height Gothic lancet windows formed in chamfered ashlar stone with moulded stone sills, pointed-headed hood mouldings with octagonal decorative label stops, and leaded quarry glazing with weather glazing. Stained glass windows are present in openings within the nave. The north side elevation displays four bays with an elliptical-headed flush relieving arch visible in the two lefthand bays, suggesting that the addition of a pair of transepts may have been intended at the time of construction. Windows to this elevation have no hood mouldings. The south side elevation similarly comprises four bays with a relieving arch at right.

The chancel, which projects from the gabled rear (east) elevation, was built in 1867, re-using the old east window. It features a large pointed-headed window opening with reticulated stone tracery and stained glass, weather glazed. A further pair of projections extend from the corners of the rear elevation: the southern projection contains a store and is finished in rubble stone; the northern projection was extended around 1990 and now contains the vestry with a cement render finish and repositioned windows. The gable apex carries a stone ashlar chimney comprising a large panelled rectangular block with a pair of square-plan pots having pitched mouldings. Gothic door openings with chamfered stone ashlar surrounds and vertically-sheeted timber doors opening onto stone steps are present at each corner projection. The rear elevation is partially cement rendered.

The church was restored and improved by James Reid of Derry in 1916, and further restoration occurred in 1907 and 1965. R E Buchanan was associated with alterations and improvements in 1907. The interior remains unaltered.

The church is set on an elevated site on a bend in the road, enclosed by a low rubble-stone wall. Stone and marble grave markers occupy the sloping south side of the site. A bituminous area to the front (west) is enclosed to the road by a pair of wrought-iron gates on octagonal stone ashlar piers. The north of the site is occupied by a bituminous tennis court and an early twentieth-century former school house. To the south stands the rectory, with a small pedestrian gateway in the boundary wall opposite the main church gateway. The church forms one of the best associations of church and glebe house with the rectory to the south, retaining its original setting, external detailing, and well-considered assured design. The fine stonework highlighted in details to the pinnacles and bell-cote gives a decorative appearance to this rural church.