St Columba's Church, Sixtowns Road, Straw, Draperstown, Magherafelt, BT45 7BD

St Columba's Church is a seven-bay Gothic Revival stone church built in 1852–53, architect unknown, situated on the south side of Sixtowns Road in Straw, a small village approximately one mile south-west of Draperstown, County Londonderry. The listing covers the church building itself, the gate pillars, and the grotto within the grounds.

The foundation stone was laid on 1st August 1852 and the consecration ceremony took place in 1853, with Bishop Francis Kelly officiating on both occasions, though as he did not become Bishop of Derry until 1864, he must have attended in an auxiliary capacity. The present building is the third church to have occupied this general site. The first, known as White Water Chapel, was erected in 1753 and was replaced in 1809 by a plain rectangular building measuring 94 feet by 25 feet, described in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 as having an earthen floor, broad galleries all around fitted with narrow wooden forms, eight rectangular windows, skylights in the roof, side walls twelve feet high, and accommodation for 1,184 adults. The altar stood at the eastern wall and the roof was slated. The earlier two buildings are thought to have stood slightly north of the current position, closer to the roadside, as suggested by the Ordnance Survey map of 1831.

Between 1926 and 1928 the church underwent extensive structural improvements overseen by architect William James Doherty of Londonderry. These works included repointing the stonework; replastering and repainting the internal walls; major works to the roof, which may have amounted to a virtual reconstruction; installation of a new beam to support the gallery and new stairs to it; and the installation of electricity, a new floor, pews, altar, confessionals, and Stations of the Cross. The altar was fitted by John McAfee of Coleraine at a cost of £900, and the Stations were acquired from Germany for £294. During construction, a temporary place of worship was established in a factory building in Draperstown, using the original pews and timber altar from the church itself. Further alterations took place in 1980, including the addition of a single-storey porch on the south elevation, the redesign and refurbishment of the sacristies, and the installation of a new marble ambo, marble chair, and confessional.

The church is built of squared and pitched natural stone with sandstone dressings, all set on a projecting plinth. The roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and raised stone verges, served by cast iron ogee guttering discharging to circular section downpipes. The rectangular plan is seven bays long on the north and south sides. Each of the four corners of the main building has a three-stage angled buttress rising to pinnacles. Windows throughout have stained or plain leaded glazing, and those in the main body of the church have had external storm glazing fitted over them.

The symmetrical principal elevation faces west and is three bays wide. A shallow central breakfront rises above roof level to form a three-stage tower, flanked on each side by a plain gable end. At ground level, the main entrance is formed by a Gothic-style sandstone arch with stone voussoirs, within which is recessed a pair of replacement mahogany six-panelled doors beneath a stained glass window fitted with storm glazing. A lantern-style light fitting is located at the apex of the arch. The second stage of the breakfront features a tall stepped triple lancet window with plain sandstone dressed cills and surrounds, sitting above a round-edged projecting stone string course. The central window of the three is wider and taller than the two flanking it, and the whole group sits within a Gothic-style arch formed by flush stone voussoirs. A further round-edged projecting stone string course above the windows marks the point at which the shallow breakfront becomes the exposed tower, visible on all four sides above the church roof. Each face of the exposed tower has a central lancet opening with a slightly projecting stone surround and cill and a louvered panel within. The tower is topped by a band of dentilled corbelling with square gablets and pinnacles at the four corners, and a shallow curved coping stone to each side of a central stone cross. All four elevations of the exposed tower are identical in design and detailing.

The north elevation is seven bays wide, with the square tower protruding from the pitched roof at the rightmost bay. Each of the seven windows is a tall lancet with a sandstone surround and cill, all fitted with external storm glazing. The south elevation mirrors the north, with the exception of a single-storey porch added in 1980 between the fifth and sixth windows from the left. The western side of this porch has a pair of replacement mahogany six-panelled doors. The porch gable wall is symmetrical with a centrally placed stained glass lancet window with sandstone surround and cill and stone voussoirs above, topped by a stone coping stone. The east side of the porch is blank.

The east gable elevation has a centrally placed small lancet opening at high level with a stone surround, cill, and louvered panel within. The apex of the gable is topped with a stone cross. A single-storey pitched roof return abuts the east gable wall of the church. This return has a blank gable end to the east with slightly projecting soldier quoins on each corner rising to stone kneeler stones with gablets. The stone coping to the verges runs continuously from slope to slope with a central horizontal section, above which sits a stone chimney with a stone coping stone and two hexagonal clay chimney pots. The north elevation of the return has a lancet leaded window with stone surround and cill on the left-hand side. To the right of this, the arched top of a window opening is visible above a flat-roofed single-storey coursed stonework extension of recent construction, which abuts the east gable of the main church building. The east elevation of this extension has two windows to the left of a flush timber door: the leftmost is a square opening with a chamfered stone surround and cill containing a leaded light, and the one to its right is a small timber casement window with a concrete cill and surround. A similar timber casement window is on the north elevation of the extension. The south side of the return has a lancet leaded window with stone surround and cill on the right-hand side. Abutting this elevation and the main church gable wall is a single-storey porch with a natural slate pitched roof. The east side of this porch has a door opening with a shallow Gothic-style arch; the four-panelled door has top panels shaped to match the arch above, and a wide concrete step sits in front. The opening is formed with stepped stone quoins and stone voussoirs, topped by a stone hood mould. The same stone quoins continue up the corner of the porch, rising to a kneeler stone and stone coping stone. The south elevation of the porch has a centrally placed leaded glass window with a shallow Gothic-style arch with stone surround, cill, and voussoirs, again topped by a stone hood moulding, with stone quoins rising to a kneeler stone and gablet at the corner.

Internally, the sanctuary retains an elaborately detailed marble reredos, main altar, and side altars. Behind these, on the east wall, is Gothic-style blind arcading. A continuous horizontal moulding resembling a line of tulips runs around the walls at window cill level, above which are lancet windows designed by W.F. Clokey. Despite the small flat-roofed extension to the east elevation, much historic fabric and detailing survives both internally and externally.

The site is entered from the north-west through a set of cast iron gates and an adjacent pedestrian gate, set between roughcast rendered pillars with distinctive stone onion-topped coping stones with chamfered edges. The gates and pillars are set back from the boundary wall, with a low stone wall on either side leading to the west entrance elevation of the church. A graveyard lies between the church and the main road to the north, bounded to the road by a low stone wall with a stone coping. A further, larger graveyard is located at the rear of the church on the south side. The stone boundary walls enclose the north, east, and west boundaries of the site. St Columba's Primary School is located immediately to the west of the church, and Dean McGlinchey Park GAA grounds lie to the east.

A random-rubble stone grotto is located at the southern end of the entrance elevation. It is built to a semi-circular plan and incorporates a stone statue of Mary set within a niche with a stone Gothic-style arched surround. A kneeling statue of St Bernadette is positioned on the ground to the right-hand side, and the grotto is enclosed by a low metal railing. On the east boundary wall there is a single-storey boiler house with a mono-pitched roof, pebble-dashed walls, and a natural slate roof, considered to be of little historic interest.

The church is of significant social importance to the surrounding community.