Survey Data
Reg No
15603183
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Convent/nunnery
Date
1855 - 1890
Coordinates
297717, 139808
Date Recorded
13/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
"Mission House" complex, extant 1886, including (west): Attached nine-bay two-storey convent on a H-shaped plan with two-bay two-storey gabled projecting end bays centred on single-bay single-storey projecting porch to ground floor. Renovated, ----, to accommodate alternative use. Replacement pitched artificial slate roof on a H-shaped plan with ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks having concrete capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta tapered pots, cut-granite coping to gables on cut-granite "Cavetto" kneelers with Cross finials to apexes, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined walls with rusticated cut-granite quoins to corners. Central door opening into convent. Shallow triangular headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing two-over-two timber sash windows; shallow triangular-headed window openings to rear (north) elevation centred on round-headed window opening (half-landing) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing two-over-two timber sash windows centred on four-over-four timber sash window having stained glass margins; (east): Attached five-bay two-storey convent on an E-shaped plan with single-bay two-storey gabled advanced end bays centred on singe-bay two-storey gabled projecting breakfront. Renovated, ----, to accommodate alternative use. Replacement pitched artificial slate roof on an E-shaped plan centred on pitched (gabled) artificial slate roof (breakfront), paired rendered central chimney stacks on rendered bases having concrete capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta pots, cut-granite coping to gables on cut-granite "Cavetto" kneelers with Cross finials to apexes, and uPVC rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined walls with rusticated cut-granite quoins to corners. Paired lancet window openings (breakfront) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement fixed-pane uPVC fittings replacing one-over-one timber sash windows. Shallow triangular-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing two-over-two timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds with rear (north) elevations fronting on to road.
Appraisal
A "Mission House" complex representing an important component of the later nineteenth-century built heritage of Enniscorthy with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the contemporary Convent of Saint John of God (1875-81) in Wexford (see 15502056), confirmed by such attributes as the symmetrical footprint centred on a much modified porch; the "pointed" profile of the openings underpinning a streamlined Gothic theme; and the high pitched gabled roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a "Mission House" complex forming part of a self-contained group alongside an adjacent convent (see 15603182) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement overlooking the River Slaney..