Survey Data
Reg No
12320003
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1825 - 1835
Coordinates
245670, 134626
Date Recorded
14/06/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay double-height single-cell Board of First Fruits Church of Ireland church, built 1830, on a rectangular plan with single-bay three-stage tower to entrance (west) front on a square plan. Renovated, ----. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, lichen-covered tooled cut-limestone coping to gables, and cast-iron rainwater goods on tooled cut-limestone eaves retaining fluted cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Replacement cement rendered walls on tooled cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on cement rendered base; replacement cement rendered surface finish (tower) on tooled cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on cement rendered base with "arrow loop"-detailed tooled cut-limestone piers to corners (bell stage) supporting diagonal obelisk pinnacles centred on battlemented parapet having lichen-covered tooled cut-limestone coping. Pointed-arch window openings with timber Y-mullions, and tooled cut-limestone surrounds having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane timber fittings having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Tudor-headed window opening (east) with interlocking timber Y-mullions, and tooled cut-limestone surround having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane timber fittings having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Pointed-arch window openings (tower) with timber Y-mullion, and tooled cut-limestone surrounds having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane timber fittings having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Pointed-arch openings (bell stage), tooled cut-limestone surrounds having chamfered reveals with hood mouldings framing louvered timber fittings. Set in landscaped grounds with rendered piers to perimeter having shallow pyramidal capping supporting wrought iron gate.
Appraisal
A church erected with financial support from the Board of First Fruits (fl. 1711-1833) representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of County Kilkenny with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the standardised nave-with-entrance tower plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; the "pointed" profile of the openings underpinning a contemporary Georgian Gothic theme with those openings showing pretty lattice glazing patterns; and the slender pinnacles embellishing the tower 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 interior where a pair of wall monuments commemorating 'George Reade [1660-1731] of Rossenara Esqr' and 'Richard Reade [1693-1742] of Rossenarra Esqr'; and a later pair commemorating 'WILLIAM MORRIS Esqre of Waterford and his Wife MARTHA' and 'WILLIAM MORRIS READE ESQre [1788-1847] of ROSSENARRA ROSSDUFF & OF MARCHINGTON GREAT BRITAIN', all highlight the artistic potential of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a rural village street scene.