Survey Data
Reg No
31302701
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1950 - 1955
Coordinates
93935, 321582
Date Recorded
20/01/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, dated 1952. Renovated, 1971[?], with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles terminating in rendered gabled bellcote to apex to entrance (west) front framing cast-bronze bell, slightly sproketed eaves, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on rendered thumbnail beaded consoles. Rendered walls on rendered plinth with rusticated rendered quoins to corners. Round-headed window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenges". Round-headed "Trinity Window" to chancel (east) with concealed dressings framing fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenges". Round-headed door opening to entrance (west) front with concrete threshold, and rusticated rendered block-and-start surround having moulded reveals framing replacement glazed timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled double doors. Round-headed window opening to gable with concealed dressings framing fixed-pane fitting having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenge". Interior including vestibule (west); square-headed door opening into nave with glazed timber panelled double doors; full-height interior open into roof with arcaded choir gallery (west) below stained glass memorial "West Window" (undated), tessellated "quarry tile" central aisle between timber pews, Gothic-style timber stations between stained glass memorial windows (undated), stepped dais to sanctuary (east) reordered, 1971[?], with Classical-style timber altar below stained glass memorial "Trinity Window" (undated), and exposed pointed-arch braced Hammerbeam timber roof construction on thumbnail beaded corbels with wind braced ceiling. Set in landscaped grounds with rendered piers to perimeter having stepped capping supporting replacement mild steel double gates.
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 the Sacred Heart (1946-7), Bangor (see 31302604), confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear "barn" plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a streamlined Romanesque theme with the chancel defined by an elegant "Trinity Window"; and the simple 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 substantial 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 contemporary joinery; and some vibrant stained glass, 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 street scene.