Survey Data
Reg No
31302604
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1945 - 1950
Coordinates
86230, 322947
Date Recorded
20/01/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached five-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, dated 1946; opened 1947, on a rectangular plan. Renovated, 1971, with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, concrete coping to gables on "Cavetto"-detailed kneelers including concrete coping to gable to entrance (north) front on "Cavetto"-detailed kneelers with rendered gabled bellcote to apex, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on eaves boards on consoles retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered walls bellcast over rendered plinth with rusticated rendered quoins to corners. Lancet window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having leaded stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass quatrefoils. Lancet "Trinity Window" (south) with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having leaded stained glass panels. Round-headed door opening to entrance (north) front with concrete threshold, and rusticated rendered block-and-start surround having moulded reveals framing replacement timber boarded double doors. Pointed-arch window opening (gable) with concrete sill, Y-mullion, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having leaded stained glass panels. Interior including vestibule (north); round-headed door opening into nave with glazed timber boarded double doors having sidelights on panelled risers; full-height interior open into roof with stained glass memorial "North Window" (1895), vinyl central aisle between cruciform-perforated timber pews, paired stations between stained glass memorial windows (----), carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (south) reordered, 1971, with replacement altar table below stained glass memorial "Trinity Window" (----), and exposed pointed-arch braced Hammerbeam timber roof construction on beaded corbels with wind braced diagonal timber boarded ceiling on cruciform-perforated frieze. Set in landscaped grounds.
Appraisal
A church erected under the aegis of Reverend Michael O'Donnell PP (----) representing an integral component of the mid twentieth-century ecclesiastical heritage of County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the near-contemporary Catholic Church of Our Lady (1952) in Ballymonnelly (see 31302701), suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear "barn" plan form, aligned along a liturgically-incorrect axis; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a streamlined "medieval" Gothic theme with the chancel defined by an elegant "Trinity Window"; and the bellcote embellishing the roofline as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape. 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 reordered (1971) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where the reclaimed Durcan Memorial Window (1895); and the vibrant Gaughan Memorial "Trinity Window" (----), all highlight the artistic potential of the composition: meanwhile, a "medieval" Hammerbeam roof construction pinpoints the engineering or technical dexterity of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a rural village street scene.