Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, Chapel Street, Cookstown, BT80 8QB

Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church is a highly impressive mid-19th century church in the Gothic Revival style of the Early English type, built between 1855 and 1860 to designs by J.J. McCarthy of Dublin, the leading Catholic church architect of his day in Ireland. Designs were prepared in 1854 and the completed building was consecrated on 3 June 1860. The contractors were Johnston and Charles; stone carving was carried out by Purdy and Outhwaite of Dublin; the reredos was carved by Lane of Dublin; and the east window was made by John Hardman & Co of Birmingham. Additional works were carried out by Ralph Henry Byrne in the 1930s, including re-roofing, a new porch, and baptistry rails.

The church is unusually ambitious in its size and arrangement for its type, representing a fully developed example of Gothic Revival Catholic church design in terms of plan form, architectural elaboration, and interior richness. It is of considerable local interest and social value as well as formal architectural importance, and can be appreciated in a national or international context as a significant work by a major architect who practised across Ireland.

The building consists of a nave, two aisles, chancel, and a square buttressed tower with a broach spire. It stands within the built-up area of Cookstown, facing the main street but set back from it on a slightly elevated site. The walling is of snecked sandstone rubble with dressings of smooth sandstone and a projecting plinth. The roofs are covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with perforated ridge tiles.

The main east elevation is symmetrical. A very tall central tower spans the full width of the nave and projects forward from it, with the two aisles set back to either side. Angle buttresses at the corners of the tower rise in set-back weathered stages to near its full height. The main entrance occupies the base of the tower: a Gothic arched opening of three orders containing a two-leaf timber boarded door with large decoratively treated ironwork hinges, surmounted by a drip moulding with carved head stops. It is approached by a flight of stone steps running between the buttresses, mounted with modern ironwork railings on each side. Above the entrance, filling the remainder of the very lofty first stage of the tower, is a three-light cusped bar-traceried window containing lozenge-pattern leaded glazing and surmounted by a drip moulding with carved head stops. Above that is a small empty cusped arched niche set in a decorated aedicule. In the shorter upper stage above is a two-light cusped bar-traceried opening containing louvre boards, set within a Gothic arched opening of two orders rising from battered weatherings and surmounted by a drip moulding with carved stops. This upper stage has an elaborate corbel table of Gothic cuspings, above which a very tall broach spire rises. The spire contains lucarnes at two levels: two-light traceried openings near the base and cusped single-light openings further up, each containing timber louvres and surmounted by ironwork finials. The spire is further embellished with imbrications and small gablets, and is surmounted by a large finial. The north and south faces of the tower are similar to the front face, except that the lofty first stage contains only a tall thin cusped lancet window at the bottom with lozenge-pattern leaded glazing, and a small quatrefoil opening at the top. The south face of this first stage also has a full-height canted bay containing a turret stairway up to the tower. The end walls of the aisles, facing east, terminate in set-back buttresses rising to octagonal pinnacles, and each contain a two-light cusped window with trefoil tracery lights, filled with stained glass.

The south elevation consists of a tall five-bay nave with a lower chancel extending to its left, and a lower five-bay aisle projecting in front of the nave, with a lower sacristy and side chapel built across the face of the chancel. The fifth bay of the aisle from the right is now covered by a later projecting gabled porch and ancillary block. This later modern block appears to be of reconstructed stone and has openings of a modernised Gothic form that do not match those of the original building. The aisle has its bay divisions marked by two-stage weathered buttresses. The windows of both the nave and south aisle are cusped two-light clerestory windows with a trefoil tracery light, containing lozenge-pattern leaded glazing and surmounted by drip mouldings with plain block stops. Across the base of the aisle is a modern stepped terrace bordered by modern railings. The chancel contains four small trefoil clerestory windows set in circular surrounds. Across the front of the chancel, the side chapel to the right contains a two-light window similar to those of the aisle but filled with stained glass. To the left of that, the sacristy contains a similar window with leaded glazing, followed by a tall projecting chimney breast and a small projecting gabled porch containing a rectangular doorway approached by a flight of steps, a trefoil window in the gable, and a simple Gothic lancet in the west side.

The west elevation consists of the chancel gable with the sacristy gable extending to its right, the extremities of the chancel marked by buttresses. The chancel gable contains a large cusped five-light geometrical traceried window filled with stained glass, surmounted by a drip moulding with plain block stops. Near the apex above it is a quatrefoil opening in a circular surround. Below the window is a two-centred relieving arch, and below that, in the plinth, is an inverted relieving arch. The sacristy gable, of lean-to form, contains a large three-light window with reticulated tracery set in a rectangular surround surmounted by a square drip moulding with plain block stops, set beneath a two-centred relieving arch. Below it is a rectangular ledged timber door set in the plinth, presumably giving access to a heating chamber.

The north elevation is of similar character and general form to the south, though some elements and details differ. The nave and aisle contain two-light windows with a quatrefoil tracery light, while the aisle contains two-light windows with trefoil tracery. The second bay of the aisle from the left is covered by a projecting porch with a parapet roof. Its north and west faces each contain a two-light traceried window, while the east side contains a doorway. This doorway is Gothic arched and contains a pair of timber boarded doors with elaborate ironwork hinges. Above it is a cusped recessed panel that has the appearance of an uninscribed datestone. Above that, the parapet cants upward to form a pedimental gable surmounted by a stone cross. The jointing in the stonework of this porch indicates some rebuilding; judging from a published perspective drawing, the porch was originally of pitched roof form with the doorway in a gable facing north. It was probably rearranged when the later convent was built, being altered to face toward the front into an alleyway between the church and the convent. Built across part of the face of the chancel is a rectangular side chapel with the appearance of a chantry. It has a pitched roof slated as elsewhere, with buttressing at the corners and between the two windows on the north side, which are similar to those of the nave but contain stained glass. Its west gable contains a three-light geometrically traceried window also filled with stained glass, with a small leaded trefoil in a circular surround in the apex above it. Behind the side chapel, the chancel contains a tall two-light window with quatrefoil tracery containing leaded lights, as well as two small clerestory windows similar to those on the south side of the chancel.

The interior features highly ornate chancel furnishings, piscinas in the walls, stained glass windows, and impressive light fittings, all contributing to the richness of the space.

The church is approached from the main street to the east by a tarmac driveway running alongside a pedestrian path laid with modern paviours and bordered by modern railings. Both drive and path are bounded on the outside by grass strips. The path leads up to the front of the church and around its perimeter to the south side. The driveway continues along the south side to an extensive tarmac car park at the rear. The main front gateway consists of a modern arrangement of iron gates and piers with flanking railings on low screen walls recessed back from the pavement. Close to the north of the church stands a later Victorian convent and its mid-20th century chapel, enclosed within a grassy garden at the front. Behind the convent there is a lawn running alongside the north aisle of the church. Together, the church, convent, and chapel form an interesting and cohesive group of historic buildings.