Survey Data
Reg No
12310024
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1875 - 1885
Coordinates
262618, 153386
Date Recorded
17/05/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached six-bay double-height Catholic church, dedicated 1881, on a rectangular plan comprising four-bay double-height nave opening into five-bay single-storey lean-to side aisles centred on single-bay double-height chancel (east). Renovated, ----, with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roofs; lean-to slate roofs (side aisles), roll moulded clay ridge tiles, cut-granite coping to gables on drag edged tooled cut-limestone "Cavetto" kneelers with Cross finials to apexes including cut-granite coping to gable to entrance (west) front on drag edged tooled cut-limestone "Cavetto" kneelers with buttressed gabled bellcote to apex, and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber eaves boards retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Tuck pointed snecked limestone walls on rock faced limestone ashlar battered base with drag edged tooled cut- or hammered limestone flush quoins to corners. Quatrefoil window openings (clerestorey) with cut-granite surrounds having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings. Lancet window openings (side aisles) with cut-granite block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having leaded stained glass panels. Pointed-arch door openings (west) with cut-granite thresholds, and cut-granite block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals with hood mouldings on monolithic label stops framing timber boarded double doors having overpanels. Lancet "Trinity Window" to chancel (east) with cut-granite block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having leaded stained glass panels. Pointed-arch door opening to entrance (west) front approached by flight of four cut-granite steps, cut-granite block-and-start surround having chamfered rebated reveals with hood moulding on monolithic label stops framing timber boarded double doors. Pair of lancet window openings with pointed quatrefoil window opening to gable, cut-granite block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having leaded stained glass panels. Interior including vestibule (west); square-headed door opening into nave with glazed timber panelled double doors having quatrefoil-detailed overpanel; full-height interior open into roof with timber panelled organ gallery (west) supporting timber panelled pipe organ centred on "West Window", carpeted central aisle between cruciform-detailed timber pews, pointed-arch arcades on granite ashlar clustered colonette pillars, exposed scissor truss timber roof construction on cut-granite beaded corbels with wind braced timber boarded ceiling, pointed-arch chancel arch framing carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (east) reordered, ----, with Gothic-style altar below stained glass memorial "Trinity Window" (----) in mosaic tiled surround, arcaded railings to side altars centred on Gothic-style altars below stained glass memorial windows (----) in mosaic tiled surrounds, Gothic-style timber panelled confessional boxes to side aisles below stained glass memorial windows (----), and exposed timber roof construction with wind braced timber boarded ceiling. Set in landscaped grounds with granite ashlar chamfered piers to perimeter having domed pyramidal capping supporting cast-iron double gates.
Appraisal
A church erected to a design by John Walker (1837-1901), 'Architect and Builder', representing an important component of the later nineteenth-century built heritage of County Kilkenny with the architectural value of the composition, one succeeding an adjacent 'neat modern edifice to which a school-room [has] been added' (Lewis 1837 I, 668), confirmed by such attributes as the rectilinear plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; the construction in a deep grey limestone offset by silver-grey granite dressings not only demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also compounding a sober two-tone palette; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a "medieval" Gothic theme with the chancel defined by an elegant "Trinity Window"; and the handsome bellcote embellishing the roofline as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior reordered (----) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where contemporary joinery; a much modified altar; gilded mosaic work; and vibrant stained glass; all highlight the artistic potential of the composition: meanwhile, an exposed timber roof construction pinpoints the engineering or technical dexterity of a church forming part of a self-contained group alongside an adjacent parochial house (see 12310026) with the resulting ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a rural village street scene.