St John’s Church (C of I), Desertlyn Parish Church, 24 Smith Street, Moneymore, Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, BT45 7PF

St John's Church, Moneymore

St John's Church of Ireland at Moneymore was completed in 1832, replacing an earlier church that stood in the graveyard on Lawford Street. Built at the end of the Georgian period, the church is designed in Norman or Romanesque style and faced throughout in ashlar sandstone. While its external appearance is somewhat austere and forbidding, the building demonstrates fine workmanship and is constructed of handsome stone. The interior is considerably more impressive, featuring a vigorous arcade, fine timber ceilings and good fittings. The church was designed by William John Booth, the Draper's Company architect, and built by James Boyd of Belfast. The Draper's Company funded the construction at a cost of £6,000. Several stylistic solutions were considered before the Norman or Romanesque style was chosen.

The building comprises a five-bay nave with aisles, a clearstorey, a square apse and a tower. The principal entrance, which actually faces south-east, is located at the base of a three-stage tower projecting from the nave gable. This tower has clasping buttresses at each corner rising to a stringcourse below the belfry. The arched doorway features a receding cluster of mouldings with a wide chamfer at the door frame. A pair of doors, framed and diagonally sheeted with decorative strap hinges, fill the opening. Three steps with a low, wide kerb wall on each side, handrail and boot scraper lead to the entrance. A large round-headed window sits at the second stage centrally above the doorway, with hood moulding above and a stringcourse at the window's mid-point that dips down the reveal to the cill. Above this window is a protruding stone roundel. At belfry level, two small arched louvred windows are set in shallow recessed panels with corbelling above. A moulded stringcourse circumscribes the belfry at the window arch springing line, with a cornice and low crenellations above, beneath which lies a presumably flat roof. All sides of the belfry are treated similarly. The tower's side walls feature small round-headed lancets at the first and second stages. Within the angle between the tower and the aisle gables, spiral stairs are built into the projecting stonework.

The western gables of the aisles feature plain wide angle and shouldered buttresses, each with a single large arched window with hood moulding and cill stringcourse. Thin bargestones end in kneelers just above the buttresses. The entire front is faced in ashlar sandstone.

The south-west elevation contains a five-bay aisle, each bay divided by wide buttresses, with arched windows between them featuring hood moulding and cill stringcourses. Between the tops of the buttresses runs a corbel course carrying a solid parapet. The clearstorey is similarly five-bay, divided by wide shallow buttresses, with arched windows between them featuring arched and continuous hood moulding. Between the buttresses, a corbel course supports the parapet. The apse continues the line of the nave without the aisle and clearstorey window. The roof ridge and roof parapet drop slightly at this point. In the angle between the aisle and apse, a flat-roofed vestry occupies the space, with an arched door featuring hood moulding providing entry.

The north-east elevation mirrors the south-west elevation except that a small arched lancet with hood moulding replaces the access door to a second vestry. The north-west end features triple large arched lancets, the centre being taller, with angled buttresses that are shouldered at cill stringcourse level. Above the lancets sits a small roundel providing ventilation to the roof space. The gable end has thin barges and kneelers. Both vestries are lit by single small arched lancets. Below cill level, a lean-to temporary building for storage sits between the buttresses.

The church suffered a disastrous fire in 1889 that destroyed the roof and interior. The pulpit and one stained glass window survived; the pulpit had been installed in the former church in 1828 and was transferred to the new building. The church was renovated in 1868 and underwent restoration following the fire, with William Fullerton serving as the restoration architect. The church reopened on 10 October 1891, during which time the assembly room had been used for services. The stained glass window underwent restoration in 1959 and now depicts the Last Supper.

The church occupies the crest of a low ridge on a generous site bounded by Smith Street to the south-east and Fair Hill to the north-east. The site benefits from a well-kept graveyard with good boundary walls, piers, gates and railings. The road boundaries are formed with good stone walls with railings and two pairs of vehicular and pedestrian gates; the round gate piers are particularly impressive. Other boundaries consist of random rubble walling. The church sits in the middle of the site with graves around three sides. A fine row of elm trees formerly lined the site between the church and Smith Street but was removed due to disease.

The graveyard was extended in 1954, with the Draper's Company donating the additional land. Among those buried in the graveyard are members of the Lennox-Conyngham family of Springhill, including Mina Lennox-Conyngham, author of An Old Ulster House.