St Patrick’s

History

Following its deconsecration, St Patrick's Church was converted to a youth club in 1978. Emergency repairs were carried out to the roof and windows, but other problems that had led to the abandonment of the church were initially left unattended: wrongly bedded stones continued to deteriorate, faulty gutters leaked into the masonry and plaster, dry rot developed in the structural timbers and a lack of ventilation under the floor caused the floor timbers to rot away.

A survey confirmed that the building could be satisfactorily restored. The reconstruction was carried out by the main contractor, McCann Brothers of Omagh, helped by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the church was returned to use after a lapse of nearly 20 years.

The building

The church is of stone construction, including the spire. In the reconstruction hundreds of individual stones were replaced with matching stone from Scraghey quarry, and the roof was completed in blue Penryn slates to match the original, with cast iron rainwater goods replaced in stove-enamelled cast aluminium. A new sacristy block and porch were built at the west end, faced in rock with dressed sandstone to match the original, and the former sacristy on the street frontage was given over to a reconciliation room and a small working sacristy.

Inside, the timber floor was removed and insulated concrete floors laid, finished in timber boarding under fixed seating. Patterned encaustic tiling, styled on 1880s models, was laid in the aisles and porches. A gallery providing an additional 100 seats was built, reusing the frontal of the original gallery in its construction.

Notable features

The Convent of Mercy in Strabane made available stained glass and a "Hogan" altarpiece. The remainder of the sanctuary furnishings were sourced from marble salvaged from church restorations elsewhere in Ireland.