Survey Data
Reg No
20868050
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1825 - 1830
Coordinates
171167, 71483
Date Recorded
18/05/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding cruciform-plan Church of Ireland church, built 1827, with four-bay nave, three-stage entrance tower to west with spire, single-bay transepts and single-storey lean-sacristy to east. Pitched slate roof with crested ridge tiles, pinnacles to east gables, corbelled eaves courses to transepts and cast-iron rainwater goods. Castellated parapet with corner pinnacles and ashlar limestone octagonal spire to tower. Ashlar stringcourses to first, second and third stages of tower with corner pinnacles. Squared coursed limestone walls with ashlar plinth and dressed limestone string courses to tower. Group of five staggered pointed arch openings to east elevation with hood mouldings, ashlar surrounds and stained glass windows. Pointed arch window openings with limestone hood mouldings having label stops, chamfered limestone reveals and timber traceried diamond-paned windows. Stone traceried windows to side elevations of transepts. Some openings with lattice windows. Pointed arch opening to third stage of tower with timber louvers. Square-headed door opening to west with limestone label moulding, ashlar reveals, limestone step and double-leaf timber doors with ogee arch carvings. Open-plan interior with wainscoting to the nave walls, encaustic tiles to the sanctuary area and various memorial plaques to the walls. Bounded by random rubble stone wall with graveyard to all sides having various upright and recumbent gravemarkers. Entrance to west comprising smooth rendered quadrant walls to square-profile limestone gate piers having wrought-iron pedestrian and vehicular gates.
Appraisal
This Church of Ireland church, designed by the Pain Brothers, was built in 1827 at a cost of £2,100 of which £900 was donated by the Board of First Fruits. It was originally built as a chapel of ease to St Fin Barre's Cathedral and bears a resemblance to many of the other churches designed by the Pain Brothers and sponsored by the Board of First Fruits at this time. William Hill was involved in its repair following a lightning strike in January 1836. The church is in excellent condition and the interior records much of the history of the Blackrock and Mahon area with monuments devoted to the people including George Boole and the Beamish Family. John Hogan sculpted the memorial to William Beamish (1760-1828) in 1844 at a cost of £650. The graveyard is also a repository of funerary sculpture from the nineteenth century, with many interesting examples.