Dromore Cathedral
Dromore Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer stands on Church Street, Dromore, County Down. It is one of two diocesan cathedrals for the Church of Ireland Diocese of Down and Dromore, and also serves as the parish church of Dromore. Northern Ireland listings are not entered as Historic England or Cadw URLs.
- Location
- Dromore, County Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- County
- County Down
- City / town
- Dromore
- Address
- Church Street, Dromore, County Down, BT25 1AA
- Postcode
- BT25 1AA
- Built
- 1661 by Bishop Jeremy Taylor; Percy aisle 1811; sanctuary, organ aisle and baptistery 1870; Harding aisle 1899
- Architect
- Thomas Drew (sanctuary and related work 1869–71)
- Denomination
- Church of Ireland
- Dedication
- Christ
- Diocese
- Down and Dromore
- Parish
- Dromore
- Grade
- B1
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- Materials
- Uncoursed rubble; basalt with greywacke and limestone dressings
- Opening hours
- Open 9am to 2pm daily.
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Level access throughout. Level access to the main areas
Overview
The cathedral site has been used for worship since St Colman of Dromore established a church beside the River Lagan around 510. A later building was made a cathedral by letters patent of James I in 1609 and destroyed in 1641. Bishop Jeremy Taylor built the present core in 1661: a narrow structure about twenty feet wide and one hundred feet long that forms the base of the current tower aisle. Bishop Thomas Percy added the Percy aisle in 1811. Sir Thomas Drew designed a semi-circular sanctuary in memory of Jeremy Taylor in 1870, with an organ aisle and baptistery, creating an L-shaped plan. The Harding aisle, added in 1899, made the building rectangular. The Dictionary of Irish Architects records Drew's 1869–71 work, built by Walter Doolin.
The Northern Ireland Buildings Database lists the cathedral as HB17/15/022 A (listed 1976); Wikidata records the grade as B1. Stone Database NI describes uncoursed rubble of basalt with greywacke and limestone. The organ was installed by Conacher of Huddersfield in 1871. Charles Brett called it one of the smallest and most modest of Irish cathedrals.