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

St John's Church, Desertmorgan Parish Church

A five-bay long nave church with aisles, clearstorey, square apse, and tower, faced in ashlar sandstone in the Romanesque style. The main west front (facing south-east) is dominated by a three-stage tower projecting from the nave gable, with the principal entrance at its base. The tower has clasping buttresses at each corner rising to a stringcourse below the belfry. The arched doorway features a receding cluster of mouldings with wide chamfers at the frame. A pair of diagonally sheeted doors with decorative strap hinges fills the opening. Three steps lead up to the entrance, flanked by low, wide kerb walls with handrails and a boot scraper.

A large round-headed window at the second stage sits centrally above the doorway, with hood moulding and a stringcourse that dips down the reveal to the cill. A protruding stone roundel rises above the window. 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, beneath a cornice with low crenellations and a flat roof. All belfry sides are similarly treated. The tower side walls carry small round-headed lancets at the first and second stages. The west gables of the aisles have plain wide angle and shouldered buttresses, each with a single large arched window featuring hood moulding and cill stringcourse. Thin bargestones end in kneelers just above the buttresses. Spiral stairs within projecting stonework occupy the angle between tower and aisle gables.

The south-west elevation displays a five-bay aisle, each bay divided by wide buttresses with arched windows between, each with hood moulding and cill stringcourse. A corbel course carrying a solid parapet tops each pair of buttresses. The clearstorey likewise comprises five bays divided by wide shallow buttresses, each with arched windows having arched and continuous hood moulding, corbel courses supporting the parapet between buttresses.

The square apse continues from the nave without aisle or clearstorey windows. The roof ridge and roof parapet drop slightly. A flat roof vestry fills the angle between aisle and apse. An arched door with hood moulding provides entry. The north-east elevation mirrors the south-west except for a small arched lancet with hood moulding instead of an access door to the second vestry. The north-west end features triple arched large lancets, the centre being taller, with shouldered angle buttresses at cill stringcourse level. A small roundel above the lancets provides roof space ventilation. Thin barges and kneelers finish the gable. Both vestries are lit by single small arched lancets. A lean-to temporary storage building stands below cill level between the buttresses.

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 road boundaries are formed with good stone walls, railing, and two pairs of vehicular and pedestrian gates topped with impressive round piers. Other boundaries are in random rubble. The church sits in the middle of the site with graves on three sides. Graves include those of the Lennox-Conynghams of Springhill and Mina Lennox-Conyngham, author of An Old Ulster House.