Survey Data

Reg No

31203001


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical


Original Use

Church/chapel


In Use As

Church/chapel


Date

1925 - 1935


Coordinates

120353, 330205


Date Recorded

13/12/2010


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached six-bay double-height Catholic church, rebuilt 1928-9; dated 1930; dedicated 1930, on a cruciform plan comprising four-bay double-height nave opening into single-bay (single-bay deep) double-height transepts centred on single-bay double-height shallow chancel to crossing (east). Renovated, 1997, with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roof on a cruciform plan with clay ridge tiles, concrete coping to gables on "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed thumbnail beaded corbel kneelers including concrete coping to gable to entrance (west) front on "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed thumbnail beaded corbel kneelers with rendered buttressed gabled bellcote to apex framing embossed cast-bronze bell, and cast-iron rainwater goods on "Cavetto" consoles on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes . Rendered, ruled and line walls on rendered chamfered plinth with rusticated rendered quoins to corners. Lancet window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings with hood mouldings on "Cavetto" label stops framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panels. Lancet "Trinity Windows" (transepts) with concrete sills, and concealed dressings with hood mouldings on "Cavetto" label stops framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panels. Lancet "Trinity Window" (east) with concrete sills, and concealed dressings with hood mouldings on "Cavetto" label stops framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panels. Lancet "Trinity Window" to entrance (west) front with concrete sills, and concealed dressings with hood mouldings on "Cavetto" label stops framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass roundels. Interior including vestibule (west); square-headed door opening into nave with replacement glazed timber double doors having overlight; full-height interior open into roof with quatrefoil-detailed timber panelled choir gallery (west) below stained glass "Trinity Window" (----), encaustic tiled central aisle between timber pews, Gothic-style timber stations between stained glass memorial windows (----) with Gothic-style timber stations to transepts below stained glass memorial "Trinity Windows" (----), exposed pointed-arch braced collared timber roof construction on beaded "Bowtell" corbels with wind braced ceiling in carved timber frame on carved timber cornice on perforated frieze, and pointed-arch chancel arch framing carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary to crossing (east) reordered, 1997, with replacement timber altar table below stained glass memorial "Trinity Window" (----). Set in landscaped grounds.

Appraisal

A church erected to a design by Ralph Henry Byrne (1877-1946) of Suffolk Street, Dublin (Catholic Directory 1931, 617), representing an integral component of the ecclesiastical heritage of north County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition, one potentially repurposing 'a neat slated edifice [1823]' displaying an abbreviated footprint on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey (surveyed 1838; published 1839), suggested by such attributes as the cruciform plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a stolid "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 quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior reordered (1997) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where encaustic tile work; and some 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 making a pleasing visual statement in the shadow of the early Christian Killala Round Tower [SMR MA022-017001-].