Survey Data
Reg No
41402011
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Garmoney's Grove Secession Church originally Grove Presbyterian Meeting House
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1790 - 1810
Coordinates
286346, 323032
Date Recorded
27/05/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding five-bay single-storey Presbyterian church, built c.1800, with lean-to extension to rear (south). Pitched slate roof having cast-iron rainwater goods. Whitewashed roughcast rendered walls. Round-headed window openings having painted stone sills and replacement windows. Round-headed door openings to north having replacement timber double-leaf doors. Smooth rendered walls to interior, having plain render cornice, marble memorial plaque to south-west elevation, and timber panelled dado. Smooth plastered ceiling with plaster medallions to light fittings, and mid-twentieth-century shades to lights. Canted timber pulpit to centre of south-west wall, approached by steps from north-west. Plain altar table in front of pulpit. Plain panelled timber boxed pews to nave. Round-headed windows to south-east, north-east and south-west, having moulded window surrounds and chamfered sills. Three square-headed door openings from south-east wall, with double-leaf replacement timber panelled doors surmounted by round-headed window opening. Church is set within graveyard having square-plan painted rendered gate piers, walls and metal gate to front boundary. Grave to front of church bounded by ornate cast-iron railings.
Appraisal
Garmoney's Grove Presbyterian Church was built c.1800. The congregation includes residents of both jurisdictions due to its close proximity with the border. The church is captioned 'Grove Presbyterian Meeting House' on the 1835 Ordnance Survey map, as 'Gorman's Grove Meeting House' on the Griffith Valuation map c.1858, and as 'Garmoney's Grove Secession Church' on the 1908 OS map. The building is a typical example of an early nineteenth-century Presbyterian church, having plain interior detailing, without excess ornament, in typical restrained Presbyterian style. The boxed timber pews are interesting and rare in Monaghan. The church is of significant social importance to the local Presbyterian community. The setting is a pleasant rural site, enhanced by the privacy that is provided by its surrounding mature trees and boundary walls.