The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Derry / Londonderry (now)
Church
A long, rectangular church separated into nave and chancel by a broken cross-wall, extant only at ground level on the S side. This marks the foundations of the E wall of an earlier church.
Church (ruin)
Nave and chancel church. The nave (length 10.65 m x width 6 m) appears to be of 12thc. date. It is rubble built and raised on a plinth. The plinth, W door and S window are of local dressed sandstone. The chancel (length 6.07m x width c.4.5m) is a later addition, probably of the first quarter of the 13thc. Externally the walls rise from a chamfered plinth and are faced with squared coursed sandstone. Internally the wall facing is of coursed rubble. A sacristy was added to the east end of the church, probably during the 15thc., by the insertion of a cross-wall running the width of the chancel. In the graveyard, close to the church is a tomb or 'mortuary house'. This appears to be contemporary with the chancel, and may have been constructed to accommodate the movement of the founder's tomb from the E end of the original single cell church following its enlargement.
The original E window was demolished when a sacristy was added to the E end in the 15thc. Historical accounts and fragments recovered through excavation suggest a triple pointed lancet arrangement (see Waterman, 1976, 33).
Repairs to the fabric of the church were made in 1883, 1926 and 1972–3 when archaeological investigations were carried out.
Augustinian house, former
A nave and chancel church demonstrating a number of different building phases. The nave, constructed from well-cut ashlar, appears to represent the earliest, 12thc., phase of building. A vaulted chancel was added to the E end in the 13thc. Changes made in the 15thc., included the revaulting of the chancel, possibly due to the insertion of an elaborate tomb in the S wall. The W end of the nave was also extended, and a fortified dwelling incorporated into the W wall. In the 18thc. Captain (later Sir) Edward Doddington remodelled the church for use as a place of protestant worship until a new church was built in the village in 1711–6. He was also responsible for the construction of a large house and bawn (defensive wall) to the W of the church. The site is now in the care of the Department of the Environment Northern Ireland (DOENI). 12thc. features comprise what appears to be blind arcading on the E wall of the nave, antae on NE and SE angles, a moulded S window, and a carved fragment, now lost.