placenamesSandholes
Clais an Ghainimh
The Presbyterian church’s building records preserve successive phases of Sandholes community life.
The name
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
- Barony
- Dungannon Upper
- Civil parish
- Desertcreat
- Coordinates
- 54.59001, -6.77779 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 135111 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Sandholes. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Sandholes Presbyterian Church — HB09/05/014, survey 9 February 2008 · Department for Communities, Northern Ireland
- History of Sandholes Presbyterian Church · Sandholes Presbyterian Church
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-19. How this page was prepared.