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Population centre

Sandholes

Clais an Ghainimh

The Presbyterian church’s building records preserve successive phases of Sandholes community life.

Watercolour and fine ink illustration of Sandholes Presbyterian Church, County Tyrone, as photographed in August 2002.
Illustration, Sandholes Presbyterian Church, County Tyrone, as photographed in August 2002
Recorded locationSandholes54.59001° N · 6.77779° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Approximate recorded location · Logainm.ie

The name

claistrench, ravine

These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.

An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.

Recorded forms

  • Clais an Ghainimh · Irish · main form · validated name
  • Sandholes · English · main form

Place & story

From rectangle to T-plan

Sandholes Presbyterian Church began as a rectangular meeting house in the 1790s; a surviving datestone records 1794. A nineteenth-century front projection created the present T-shaped plan. The historic buildings survey describes a slate-roofed church set back from the road, with rendered window surrounds and iron gates between octagonal stone posts. [2]

Reused furnishings and new halls

Renovation in 1931 brought pews and a pulpit from Cookstown’s former Second Presbyterian Church. Sandholes later replaced its roof in 1978. Its own history records union with Pomeroy on 1 January 1992 and a new hall in 2016, replacing the hall built in 1962. These changes extended the church complex’s role beyond the original meeting house. [2] [3]

Geographic information

Place type
Population centre
County
Tyrone
Civil parish
Desertcreat
Coordinates
54.59001, -6.77779 (approximate)
Logainm ID
135111 ↗

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Sandholes. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Sandholes Presbyterian Church — HB09/05/014, survey 9 February 2008 · Department for Communities, Northern Ireland
  3. History of Sandholes Presbyterian Church · Sandholes Presbyterian Church
  4. Sandholes Presbyterian Church, County Tyrone, as photographed in August 2002 illustration: based on a Sandholes Presbyterian Church by Linda Bailey. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-19. How this page was prepared.