Survey Data

Reg No

22106007


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Social


Original Use

Church/chapel


In Use As

Church/chapel


Date

1965 - 1970


Coordinates

233810, 140204


Date Recorded

13/05/2005


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached cruciform-plan gable-fronted Catholic church, dated 1969, on site of earlier Catholic church. Comprises nave, transepts, flat-roofed single-storey sacristy to south, flat-roofed glazed timber entrance porches to north sides of transepts and west side of nave. Walkway connects porches to west and free-standing belfry. Low-pitched copper roof. Pebble-dashed and unpainted rendered walls. Ribbon window at clerestorey level to all sides except south, altar end of nave, some full-height windows to nave, with some partially-glazed sides to projections and transepts, with some stained glass, and glazed timber doors. Belfry comprises pitched roof canopy over square-plan tower with pebble-dashed walls elevated on pilotis above covered walkway. Timber-boarded ceiling to vaulted roof. Graveyard to site. Concrete block boundary walls with cast-iron gates.

Appraisal

This candidly modern structure has a strip of clerestory windows on three sides of the church, giving the roof the appearance of floating, and providing a light and airy interior. The attempt of Gothic cathedrals to provide much light from large windows has reached its ultimate conclusion here in modern materials. The use of steel to support the belfry roof echoes the conceit of the floating roof. The church replaced an earlier structure dating from 1839. Visible from a considerable distance, it is a rare example of frankly twentieth-century architecture in County Tipperary.