St John's Church of Ireland, Bellagherty Road, Cookstown, BT80 0BA

St John's Church of Ireland, Bellagherty Road, Cookstown

This early Victorian church was built in 1849 to the designs of Joseph Welland of Dublin, architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It is constructed of masonry in the Gothic Revival style and represents a particularly fine and intact example of Welland's work, a leading Church of Ireland architect who designed churches throughout Ireland. The building is of more than local interest, both as a demonstration of the Tractarian movement's influence on mid-19th-century church design and as a rare survivor of the period's ecclesiastical principles put into practice.

The church exemplifies the 'Ecclesiological' approach to church building, with a clear plan form that distinguishes the various functional parts of the building. Notably, it contains a rare example of a rood screen and features painted glass contemporary with the original construction, both elements of considerable rarity for the period. The arrangement of the pulpit, which is approached only from the rear by a stairway not visible from the nave, is unusual in Episcopalian architecture of this period and demonstrates the thoughtful liturgical planning characteristic of Welland's designs.

The building comprises a nave and chancel, a south aisle with a projecting gabled porch, and a vestry located in the north-east angle of the nave and chancel junction. Buttresses mark the main corners and bay divisions.

Externally, the walls are constructed of coursed rubble blackstone with sandstone gable copings and dressings to the window and door openings. A projecting plinth runs around the building, and weathered buttresses support the main structural points. The roofs are of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with the nave, chancel, and porch roofs steeply pitched and the aisle roof of much lower pitch. A gabled bellcote of regular coursed sandstone sits on the west gable of the nave, containing a bell housed in a Gothic headed opening. Both the bellcote and the east gable of the nave are surmounted by a small square chimney at the apex. Cast iron rainwater goods comprise moulded gutters and circular downpipes throughout.

The south elevation displays a four-bay aisle spanning the full length of the nave, with a gabled porch projecting from its centre. The main entrance, facing south, is located within this porch. It comprises a Gothic arched ledged timber door with decoratively treated ironwork hinges, set in a moulded Gothic arched opening with ragged edged surrounds. The door is approached by two stone steps with an apron of modern tiling below the threshold. The aisle windows are Gothic arched lancets, either single or coupled, set in irregular block surrounds and containing lozenge pattern clear glazing in metal frames. The second bay from the right features stained glass, and above a window in the east wall of the aisle is a small quatrefoil of painted glass. The chancel extends to the east, set back from the aisle, and contains a single bay with a Gothic arched lancet window.

The west gable of the nave contains a Gothic arched plate traceried window comprising two Gothic lancets surmounted by an oculus, containing lozenge pattern glazing that incorporates stained glass medallions. This window is covered by later storm glazing.

The north elevation comprises the four-bay nave, with the chancel extending to the east and partly obscured by the projecting vestry. The nave bays are each lit by tall coupled lancets, except the second bay from the west, which contains a doorway surmounted by a pair of shorter coupled lancets. This doorway holds a Gothic arched timber boarded door with large decoratively treated ironwork hinges and multiple bolt heads. It is approached by two stone steps. The windows of the third bay from the west contain stained glass; all other windows have lozenge pattern metal frames with clear glass.

The vestry, positioned at the north-east, has a roof of lower pitch than the nave and chancel. Its east side contains a shouldered rectangular timber boarded door with large hinges and multiple bolt heads, set in a moulded stone surround of matching form and approached by two stone steps. The south and west faces contain small coupled lancets.

The chancel contains one lancet window and a basement doorway. The doorway is segmental arched in blackstone with undressed blackstone jambs and a timber boarded door bearing exposed bolt heads. It is approached by a flight of stone steps contained by a blackstone retaining wall with sandstone coping. A large circular metal flue pipe is affixed to the chancel wall and rises above eaves level. The east gable of the chancel contains three tall Gothic arched lancet windows set within a large Gothic blackstone relieving arch. These windows contain lattice pattern decorative painted glazing. The apex of the gable is embellished with a sandstone finial of fleur-de-lys form.

The church stands in a rural setting set back from the public road within its own open grassed grounds. It is approached from the public road to the east by a tarmac path extending around the building's perimeter. A second approach from the south-west, from another public road, uses a grass path along the edge of a field connecting to a narrow tarmac path within the churchyard. The grounds are laid out with lawns containing 19th and 20th century memorials.

The front boundary to the main road is formed by a low rubble stone wall backed by a hedge, breached near the south end to accommodate a small bus shelter. The main gateway contains a pair of original spear-head iron gates inscribed 'Hill & Smith, Brierleyhill', set in a pair of octagonal piers of regular coursed squared sandstone. Other boundaries are formed by hedges and fences. The smaller pedestrian path to the south-west is marked by a small gateway containing an original ironwork gate of scrolling design, set in a pair of monolithic octagonal sandstone piers.

To the north-east of the church, in an area of the grounds now fenced off from the graveyard, stands a large rendered modern church hall.

The building is of social value to the immediate area and remains in use as a place of worship. Its pleasant rural setting, fine proportions, ornamental detail, and exemplary interior treatment combine to make it a significant work of mid-19th-century ecclesiastical architecture and a testament to the enduring influence of the Gothic Revival in Ireland.