St. Patricks R C Church, Gargarry Road, Castlewellan, Banbridge, Co Down, BT31 9RN

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church is a double-height Gothic-style church built in 1855 to the designs of William Joseph Barre (c.1826–1867), a Newry and Belfast-based architect best known for planning the Ulster Hall and who also designed St. Colman's Roman Catholic Church in Annaclone and the Church of St. Mary Immaculate in Lisnavaghrog. The church was designed to accommodate 600 people and is dedicated to St. Patrick. It stands on an elevated rural site on the south side of Gargarry Road, approximately half a mile east of the junction with Castlewellan Road, with panoramic views over the surrounding landscape.

HISTORY

The current church replaced an earlier chapel that stood on the same site, possibly as early as around 1760, which would predate the establishment of St. Mary's in the townland of Leitrim — the first formally recorded church in the Roman Catholic Parish of Upper Drumgooland, established in 1784 — by approximately twenty-five years. The original chapel appeared on the first edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1833, depicted as an oblong building captioned "R.C. Chapel" and positioned a number of yards south of the current building. The Townland Valuation of around 1830 valued it at a modest £3 12s., and the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 described it as "a plain building of unhewn stone, 63ft long and 25ft broad." The memoir writer did not know the year of its construction or its building cost, though he recorded that the parish priest in 1836 was the Reverend Patrick Morgan.

The original chapel was bound up in one of the worst sectarian incidents of 19th-century Ireland: the Dolly's Brae Affray of 12th July 1849. During the latter stages of the Great Famine, between 1,200 and 1,400 members of Orange Order lodges marched from Rathriland to Tollymore Park, their route passing through several predominantly Catholic townlands. On their return journey, marchers opened fire on the Catholics and Ribbonmen gathered at Dolly's Brae in protest. It was not established who fired the first shot, but the incident resulted in the deaths of around thirty local Catholics and the burning of many homes in the area. The chapel at Gargarry, being the closest Roman Catholic church to Dolly's Brae, was set on fire during the running gun battle. As a direct consequence of the affray, the government passed a ban on Orange marches. In the aftermath, the then parish priest, the Reverend Bernard Hughes, began preparations for a new church on the site.

Construction of the present Gothic church began in 1855. According to the Dublin Builder, the belfry and bell were cast by a Mr. Murphy, while the original altar and tabernacle were supplied by a Mr. Frederick Barff of Dublin. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1859 confirms the new building was erected to the north of the original chapel, of which no trace remained. By that time, the two-storey parochial house to the west had also been constructed, having been added between 1840 and 1845, predating the current church. Griffith's Valuation of around 1862 valued the church at £20.

Minor modifications were made in 1912. The first major internal alteration occurred in 1915 when the Reverend Edward McCartan installed a gallery, a mosaic floor in the chancel, and a new marble altar at a total cost of £1,600. Between 1920 and 1924, a number of altars dedicated to the Virgin Mary and a set of Stations of the Cross were gifted to the church by local parishioners. Electric lighting was installed in 1940–41, and a new vestry floor was fitted between 1958 and 1964. The church was listed in 1977, after which the roof was replaced in 1981. The most recent alteration took place in 1997, when the sanctuary and baptistry were renovated. The church has been recently renovated overall, and while its historic character and external appearance survive, the interior has been significantly altered, with changes involving much historic fabric that have affected its character.

EXTERIOR

The plan comprises a rectangular nave with a chancel and side altars. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with crested ridge tiles. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fixed to corbelled eaves supported on masonry brackets, and lead-covered coping runs throughout. The walls are of rubble masonry construction with granite ashlar dressings. Stained-glass and leaded windows are set into pointed-arched openings with chamfered long-and-short surrounds. The entrance door is a replacement timber sheeted door with a fixed light over, set into a pointed-arched opening with chamfered long-and-short surrounds.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged. A centrally positioned gabled single-storey porch is surmounted by an apex cross and flanked by two windows. Above the porch, the gable is dominated by two buttresses rising to form a pointed arch that embraces a gallery window, continuing upward to a large gabled bell cote with bell. Two-stage lateral buttresses flank either side of the gable.

The left (south) elevation is asymmetrical and four bays wide, separated by two-stage buttresses. The far right buttress is of double width. The two bays to the right each contain two uniformly arranged windows. The bay left of centre also has two windows but with a raised cill level to incorporate a small lean-to abutment below. The far left bay takes the form of a full-width gabled baptistery projection, with a large timber-framed Y-tracery stained-glass window centrally positioned on its gable and square-headed windows to the right and left cheeks.

The rear gable is asymmetrically arranged and is centrally abutted by the gabled chancel, which contains a large window with intersecting masonry tracery and a masonry finial; single windows are set into the right and left cheeks. To the right of the chancel is a single window. To the left, a window is significantly reduced in size to accommodate a lean-to abutment, which incorporates a small window to the west face and a door with a corbelled lintel to the south.

The right (north) elevation mirrors the left elevation, with the exception of the far right bay, where the projection incorporates a masonry chimney surmounted by a gableted cap, together with a further single-storey lean-to abutment to the left cheek, with a door to the east face.

SETTING

The church occupies an elevated rural site with panoramic views over the surrounding landscape. The east of the site is bounded by a masonry wall. The south boundary is defined by wrought-iron railings with decorative castings, with matching gates supported on cast-iron piers. A sweeping driveway leads to a car park at the rear, and burial grounds address the front of the church. To the west stands the parochial house: a two-storey, three-bay building with replacement casement windows, a 20th-century porch, a pitched slate roof, and long-and-short quoins; this building is of no significant architectural interest. The gates, railings, and front wall are included within the extent of the listing.