Survey Data
Reg No
32404006
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Scientific, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1845 - 1855
Coordinates
177735, 311041
Date Recorded
24/08/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay double-height Ecclesiastical Commissioners' Church of Ireland church, designed 1850; built 1850-3; dedicated 1853, on a rectangular plan originally three-bay double-height comprising three-bay double-height nave opening into single-bay double-height chancel (south); single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch (east). "Enlarged", 1859, producing present composition. Pitched slate roofs, roll moulded clay ridge tiles, dragged cut-limestone coping to gables on "Cavetto"-detailed beaded kneelers including lichen-spotted dragged cut-limestone coping to gable to entrance (north) front on "Cavetto"-detailed beaded kneelers with buttressed gabled bellcote to apex framing cast-iron bell, and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves retaining cast-iron hoppers and downpipes; pitched (gabled) slate roof (porch) with roll moulded clay ridge tiles, dragged cut-limestone coping to gables on "Cavetto"-detailed beaded kneelers, and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves retaining cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Part repointed coursed or snecked rubble limestone walls on drag edged tooled cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on plinth with buttresses to corners including benchmark-inscribed diagonal buttresses to corners to entrance (north) front having drag edged tooled cut-limestone "slated" coping. Pointed-arch window openings with cut-limestone mullions, and drag edged tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane fittings having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Pointed-arch window opening (south) with dragged cut-limestone mullions, and drag edged tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane fittings having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Cusped lancet window openings ("cheeks") with drag edged tooled hammered limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane fittings having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Pointed-arch window opening to entrance (north) front with dragged cut-limestone mullion, and drag edged tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane fittings having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Pointed-arch door opening (porch) with two cut-limestone steps, and drag edged tooled hammered limestone block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals framing nailed timber boarded door. Set in landscaped grounds with drag edged tooled limestone ashlar chamfered piers to perimeter having lichen-spotted shallow pyramidal capping supporting cast-iron double gates.
Appraisal
A church erected to designs signed (24th December 1850) by Joseph Welland (1798-1860), Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (appointed 1843), representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of County Sligo with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the rectilinear plan form; the "sparrow pecked" deep grey limestone dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a "medieval" Gothic theme with the chancel defined by a cusped "South Window"; and the bellcote embellishing the roof as picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape: meanwhile, aspects of the composition illustrate the "enlargement" of the church to undated designs signed by Welland (Dublin Builder 1st May 1859, 60). Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where an exposed timber roof construction pinpoints the engineering or technical dexterity of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene.