Survey Data
Reg No
15402214
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1820 - 1825
Coordinates
207151, 249680
Date Recorded
03/11/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding Church of Ireland church, built in 1822, comprising two-bay hall with attached three-stage tower on square-plan to the northwest with a raised parapet with English-style crenellations and corner pinnacles. Shallow chancel attached to the southeast end. Pitched natural slate roof with raised limestone verges to gable ends and cast-iron rainwater goods. Constructed of rubble limestone with roughcast render over to hall. Cut stone plinth to base and cut stone detailing to tower including projecting string courses. Pointed-arched window openings to west elevation and to chancel gable with cut stone surrounds, cut stone sills and replacement timber casement windows. Blind pointed-arch recesses with cut stone surrounds to east elevation. Pointed-arched openings to belfry with cut stone surrounds and timber louvred vents. Pointed arched doorcase to tower. Set back from road in extensive mature grounds and surrounded by a graveyard having early cast-iron and carved stone grave markers. Cast-iron railings to a number of the graves. Rubble limestone boundary wall to the east with main entrance to the southeast end of boundary wall having rubble limestone gate piers on square-plan supporting wrought-iron double gates. Located to the northwest of Glassan.
Appraisal
An attractive early nineteenth-century Church of Ireland church, built in a subdued Gothic Revival-style, which retains its early form, character and fabric. Its layout is typical of the standard hall and tower church, which were built in great numbers, particularly between 1808-1830, using loans and grants from the Board of First Fruits (1722-1833). These small, simple, but well-built churches have become almost iconographic features of the rural Irish countryside. Lewis (1837) records that this church was erected in 1822, using a gift of £600 from the late Board of First Fruits in 1818. The surrounding graveyard, which has a number of finely carved stone grave markers and cast-iron railings, completes the setting of this fine and appealing structure. It remains a building of architectural importance, adding incident to the landscape to the northwest of Glassan. Forms a good pair of related structures with the rectory to the north (15402217).