Survey Data
Reg No
31305402
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1950 - 1959
Coordinates
66017, 305303
Date Recorded
11/01/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, ----, on a rectangular plan with single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch to entrance (west) front. Renovated, ----, with sanctuary reordered. Reroofed, ----. Replacement pitched slate roofs including pitched (gabled) slate roof (porch), ridge tiles with Cross finials to apexes, and uPVC rainwater goods on eaves boards on rendered eaves. Roughcast walls bellcast over rendered plinth with rendered strips to corners supporting rendered band to eaves. Round-headed window openings in bipartite arrangement with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on square glazing bars. Round-headed "Trinity Window" (east) with concrete sill, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panels. "Rose Window" to gable to entrance (west) front with concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fitting having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panel. Round-headed window opening in bipartite arrangement (porch) with concrete sill, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on square glazing bars. Segmental-headed opposing door openings ("cheeks") with concealed dressings framing timber boarded double doors having overlights. Interior including vestibule (west); round-headed door opening into nave with glazed timber panelled double doors having overlight; full-height interior with choir gallery (west) below stained glass "Rose Window" (----), carpeted central aisle between timber pews, timber stations between stained glass memorial windows (----), and carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (east) reordered, ----, with cut-veined white marble Gothic-style high altar below stained glass memorial "Trinity Window" (----). Set in own grounds.
Appraisal
A church representing an integral component of the ecclesiastical heritage of Achill Island with the architectural value of the composition, one potentially repurposing the shell of a nineteenth-century chapel (1850), suggested by such attributes as the rectilinear "barn" plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; and the slender profile of the coupled openings underpinning a streamlined Romanesque theme with the chancel defined by an elegant "Trinity Window". 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 (----) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where the Toolis-Calvey Memorial "Trinity Window" (----) highlights the modest artistic potential of a church making a pleasing visual statement at the foot of Slievemore.