Survey Data

Reg No

12305001


Rating

National


Categories of Special Interest

Archaeological, Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical


Original Use

Church/chapel


In Use As

Church/chapel


Date

1725 - 1735


Coordinates

240731, 164752


Date Recorded

19/05/2004


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached three-bay double-height Church of Ireland church, built 1730, on a corner site incorporating fabric of medieval abbey, c.750, with two-bay double-height lower chancel to east, and single-bay single-storey gabled advanced open porch/doorcase, 1133, to west. Undergoing renovation, 2004. Pitched slate roofs with clay ridge tiles, cut-stone coping to gables having gabled bellcote to apex to west (with shouldered square-headed aperture having chamfered reveals, cast-iron bell, trefoil piercing over, and cut-stone coping to gable), and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-stone consoles. Random rubble stone walls with buttress piers to west, cut-sandstone walls to porch/doorcase having paired colonettes supporting stringcourse, frieze, archivolt, and cut-stone coping to steeply-pitched gable having raised detail to gable. Pointed-arch window openings with red brick or cut-sandstone block-and-start surrounds, cut-stone Y-mullions and tracery (forming bipartite profile-headed arrangement to nave having decorative pseudo-quatrefoil overlight to arch; tripartite pointed-arch arrangement to chancel having decorative pseudo-quatrefoil overlights to arch), and fixed-pane fittings having diamond-leaded panels with some having leaded stained glass panels. Oculus window to gable to west with cut-sandstone surround having saw-tooth detailing, and fixed-pane fitting. Round-headed door opening in open porch/doorcase with cut-sandstone stepped reveals, and tongue-and-groove timber panelled door having decorative wrought iron hinges. Full-height interior open into roof undergoing renovation, 2004, with balustraded timber gallery to first floor to east on timber posts, exposed timber roof construction on cut-stone corbels, and pointed-arch chancel arch incorporating cut-stone surround having chamfered reveals. Set back from line of road in own grounds on a corner site with sections of wrought iron railings to front, random rubble stone boundary wall to perimeter of site having rubble stone coping, and pair of squared rubble stone piers with cut-stone coping having wrought iron double gates. (ii) Graveyard to site with various cut-stone markers, c.1600-c.1950.

Appraisal

A building of national importance occupying a prominent corner position in the centre of Freshford, thereby contributing positively to the aesthetic value of the townscape. Continuing a long-standing ecclesiastical presence on the site the church presents a number of attributes indicating origins dating back to an abbey or monastery founded by Saint Lachtain (d. 622) in the sixth century: the principal evidence of an early ecclesiastical complex survives in the form of the Romanesque doorcase displaying attractive stone masonry re-used in the present composition. Having been well maintained the original character of the church prevails with the essential attributes surviving in place together with most of the historic fabric, thereby contributing significantly to the character of the locality: meanwhile, an early interior scheme retains fittings of artistic significance including carved timber fittings, stained glass panels, and so on while an exposed roof construction identifies some technical or engineering importance in the site. An attendant graveyard enhancing the group and setting qualities of the complex includes a range of cut-stone markers exhibiting good quality traditional craftsmanship with some dating to the seventeenth century further identifying the archaeological significance of the site.