Reg No
15603098
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Enniscorthy Presbyterian Church
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1865 - 1870
Coordinates
297353, 139650
Date Recorded
15/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Detached four-bay double-height single-cell Presbyterian church, built 1866, on a rectangular plan with single-bay two- or three-stage turret (south-east) on an octagonal plan. "Repaired", ----. Pitched slate roof with roll moulded clay ridge tiles, lichen-spotted cut-granite coping to gables including lichen-spotted cut-granite coping to gable (west) with dwarf chimney stack to apex supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta tapered pot, and cast-iron rainwater goods on paired dentil consoles retaining cast-iron downpipes. Granite ashlar wall to entrance (east) front on cut-granite plinth with rusticated cut-granite pilasters to corners supporting "Cyma Recta" or "Cyma Reversa" open bed pediment; rendered, ruled and lined surface finish (remainder) on rendered chamfered plinth with cut-granite quoins to corners. Segmental-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement fixed-pane fittings. Segmental-headed door opening to entrance (east) front with cut-granite surround centred on "bas-relief" keystone framing timber panelled double doors having overpanel. Round-headed flanking window openings with cut-granite flush sills, and cut-granite flush keystones framing replacement fixed-pane fittings. Interior including vestibule (east); full-height interior open into roof with timber panelled gallery (east), timber pews, timber panelled pulpit (west), and exposed scissor truss timber roof construction on cut-granite ogee corbels with wind braced timber boarded ceiling on carved timber cornice. Set in landscaped grounds with spear head-detailed cast-iron railings to perimeter centred on spear head-detailed cast-iron double gates.
A church representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of Enniscorthy with the architectural value of the composition, one improving on make-shift accommodations in the nearby market house '[where] regular services have been kept up every Friday evening' (Knox 1840 in Irwin 1890, 240), confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the construction in a honey-coloured granite demonstrating good quality workmanship; the slender profile of the openings; and the polygonal spire-topped turret 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 restrained interior where an exposed roof construction pinpoints the engineering or technical dexterity of a church making a pleasing visual statement in Mill Park Road.