Survey Data

Reg No

15701428


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social


Original Use

Church/chapel


In Use As

Church/chapel


Date

1835 - 1845


Coordinates

294556, 148853


Date Recorded

28/09/2007


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached five-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, built 1840, on a rectangular plan. Renovated, 1978-9, with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roof behind parapet with lichen-covered clay ridge tiles, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slate or stone flagged eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Gritdashed roughcast walls on rendered chamfered plinth with rusticated rendered quoins to corners; gritdashed roughcast surface finish to entrance (west) front on rendered chamfered plinth with rusticated rendered quoins to corners supporting cut-granite stepped coping to parapet centred on cut-granite bellcote framing cast-bronze bell. Lancet window openings in pointed arch recessed with cut-granite sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having lattice glazing bars. Remodelled square-headed door opening to entrance (west) front with concrete threshold, and rendered "bas-relief" surround framing timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled double doors having sidelights below overlight. Lancet window opening in tripartite arrangement to gable, rendered "bas-relief" surrounds with hood moulding over on nail head-detailed fluted consoles framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having lattice glazing bars. Lancet flanking window openings, rendered "bas-relief" surrounds with hood mouldings over on label stops framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having lattice glazing bars. Interior including vestibule (west); square-headed door opening into nave with glazed timber panelled double doors having sidelights on panelled risers below overlight; full-height interior with carpeted aisles between timber pews, paired Gothic-style timber stations between frosted glass windows, carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (east) reordered, 1978-9, with reclaimed cut-veined grey marble panelled altar, and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling. Set in landscaped grounds on a corner site.

Appraisal

A church erected to a design attributed to Richard Pierce (1801-54) of Tenacre (Murphy 1984, 23; de Vál 2004, 100; O'Leary 2005, 78-9) representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century built heritage of north County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the Pierce-designed Saint Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church (1825-6; demolished 1970), Bunclody (see 15602077); and Saint Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church (1831), Kilmyshall (see 15700905), suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear "barn" plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a "medieval" Georgian Gothic theme; and the "pointed" bellcote embellishing the parapeted roofline as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the historic or original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior reordered (1978-9) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where contemporary joinery; a much modified high altar reclaimed from Bunclody; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of a church forming part of a neat self-contained group alongside a later parochial house (see 15701429) with the resulting ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a rural village setting.