Survey Data
Reg No
15603181
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Scientific, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1865 - 1870
Coordinates
297643, 139887
Date Recorded
13/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached five-bay double-height Catholic chapel, built 1866, on an L-shaped plan originally five-bay double-height single-cell on a rectangular plan. Renovated, 1890. Renovated, 1911. Extended, 1979, producing present composition. Reroofed, ----. Replacement pitched artificial slate roof with ridge tiles, cut-granite coping to gables with cast-iron Cross finials to apexes, and cast-iron rainwater goods on exposed timber rafters retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined walls on rendered chamfered dwarf plinth with benchmark-inscribed rusticated cut-granite quoins to corners. Lancet window openings with cut-granite block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on stained glass panels. Lancet "Trinity Window" to chancel (west) with cut-granite block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panels. Lancet "Trinity Window" to entrance (east) front with cut-granite block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on stained glass panels. Pointed-arch opposing door openings (east) with block-and-start surrounds framing rendered, ruled and lined infill (south) or glazed timber double doors (north). Full-height interior open into roof with trefoil-detailed arcaded choir gallery (east) supporting timber panelled pipe organ, carpeted central aisle between cruciform-detailed timber pews, timber boarded wainscoting supporting timber dado rail, grouped timber stations, bowed stepped dais to sanctuary (west) reordered, 1979, with replacement altar table below stained glass "Trinity Window" (----), and exposed timber roof construction with wind braced ceiling. Set in relandscaped grounds.
Appraisal
A chapel erected by financial support from Richard Joseph Devereux (1829-83) of Wexford representing an integral component of the mid nineteenth-century built heritage of Enniscorthy with the architectural value of the composition, one originally intended for exclusive use by the Order of the Sisters of Mercy, suggested by such attributes as the rectilinear "barn" plan form, aligned along an inverted liturgically-correct axis; and the slender profile of the openings underpinning a "medieval" Gothic theme with the chancel defined by an elegant "Trinity Window": meanwhile, aspects of the composition clearly illustrate the partial reconstruction of the church for use as a chapel-of-ease to Saint Aidan's Catholic Cathedral (see 15603011). 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 (1979) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where contemporary joinery; and a vibrant "Trinity Window", 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 overlooking the River Slaney.