Survey Data
Reg No
11901706
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
Date
1825 - 1830
Coordinates
272794, 220884
Date Recorded
16/10/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached five-bay double-height single-cell Board of First Fruits Church of Ireland church, built 1829, on a rectangular plan with single-bay two-stage engaged tower (west) on a square plan supporting octagonal spire. Closed, ----. Now disused. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, lichen-spotted cut-limestone coping to gables including lichen-spotted cut-limestone "slated" coping to gable to entrance (west) front, and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Tuck pointed snecked limestone walls on lichen-spotted cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on limestone ashlar base with polygonal finial-topped drag edged tooled limestone ashlar panelled piers to corners centred on drag edged tooled limestone ashlar gabled piers having cut-limestone "slated" coping; lime rendered surface finish to entrance (west) front on lichen-spotted cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on limestone ashlar base. Lancet window openings, drag edged tooled cut- or hammered limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane fittings having cast-iron square glazing bars. Pointed-arch window opening (east) with timber Y-mullions, and drag edged tooled cut- or hammered limestone block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals framing remains of timber fitting having square glazing bars. Lancet door opening to entrance (west) front approached by flight of three cut-limestone steps, drag edged tooled cut-limestone surround having chamfered rebated reveals with hood moulding on engaged octagonal label stops framing timber boarded door. Lancet openings (belfry) with Y-mullions, drag edged tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals with ogee hood mouldings on engaged octagonal label stops framing remains of louvered timber fittings. Interior including vestibule (west); pair of pointed-arch door openings into nave with remains of timber doors having overpanels; full-height interior open into roof with remains of central aisle, and quatrefoil-perforated pointed-arch braced timber roof construction on beaded "Cavetto" corbels with wind braced rafters to ceiling. Set in overgrown grounds with piers to perimeter having cut-limestone shallow pyramidal capping supporting flat iron "farm gate".
Appraisal
A church erected to designs by John Semple (1801-82) of Dublin (Craig 1990, 146-7) representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century built heritage of County Kildare with the architectural value of the composition, 'a small but handsome structure' recalling the Semple-designed Saint Tiernan's Church (Kilternan) (1824-6) and Whitechurch Church (Whitechurch) (1825-7) in County Dublin, confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; the construction in a rough cut limestone offset by sheer dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a "medieval" Georgian Gothic theme with the chancel defined by a cusped "East Window"; and the polygonal spire embellishing the roofline as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape. A prolonged period of neglect notwithstanding, the form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the deconsecrated interior where an exposed timber roof construction pinpoints the engineering or technical dexterity of a church making a picturesque, if increasingly forlorn visual statement in a rural street scene.