Survey Data
Reg No
15702401
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Saint Joachim's Catholic Church
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1885 - 1890
Coordinates
278639, 135472
Date Recorded
22/08/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, built 1888, on a rectangular plan; single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch (south). Renovated, 1988, with sanctuary reordered. Restored, 2004. Pitched slate roof with roll moulded clay ridge tiles, concrete coping to gables on cut-granite "Cavetto" kneelers including concrete coping to gable (south) on cut-granite "Cavetto" kneelers with rendered gabled bellcote to apex framing cast-iron bell, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on rendered eaves with cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined coursed rubble stone walls with concealed cut-granite flush quoins to corners. Lancet window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed red brick block-and-start surrounds framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass quatrefoils. Hexafoil-detailed pointed-arch window opening (north) with cut-granite mullions, and cut-granite block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals with hood moulding on monolithic label stops framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having margined lattice glazing bars. Lancet "Trinity Window" (south) with cut-granite block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having lattice glazing bars. Interior including vestibule (south); pointed-arch door opening into nave with timber boarded double doors having overlight; full-height interior open into roof restored, 2004, with tiled central aisle between Maltese Cross-detailed timber pews, paired Gothic-style timber stations between stained glass memorial windows (----), cut-veined white marble stepped dais to sanctuary (north) reordered, 1988, with arcaded communion railings centred on inlaid cut-veined white marble panelled altar below stained glass "North Window" (----), and exposed braced scissor truss timber roof construction on cut-granite beaded corbels with wind braced rafters to ceiling. Set in landscaped grounds with roughcast-panelled rendered piers to perimeter having cut-granite shallow pyramidal capping supporting spear head-detailed cast-iron double gates.
Appraisal
A church erected under the aegis of Reverend James Walsh PP (d. 1895) representing an integral component of the later nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one attributed to an obscure architect or builder named only as 'Murphy of Wexford' (de Vál 2004, 122), suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear "barn" plan form; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a streamlined "medieval" Gothic theme with the chancel defined by a hexafoil-detailed "North Window"; and the simple bellcote embellishing the roof as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior reordered (1988) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where contemporary joinery; and restrained stained glass, all highlight the modest 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 in a rural street scene. NOTE: A photograph taken at the turn of the twentieth century illustrates the church before "improvements" were made by an unknown hand and, in addition to the construction in a multi-toned fieldstone with silver-grey granite dressings, a trio are pictured beside the direct entry door.