Survey Data
Reg No
11900310
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1860 - 1865
Coordinates
265521, 239179
Date Recorded
03/10/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached six-bay double-height Gothic Revival Catholic church, built 1861-2, comprising five-bay double-height nave with single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch to south-west, single-bay double-height lower chancel to east having single-bay single-storey gabled sacristy projection to south-east, and single-bay three-stage tower to west on a square plan having spire. Gable-ended roofs with slate. Clay ridge tiles (crested to chancel). Cut-stone coping to gables with cross finials to apexes. Cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-stone eaves course. Cut-stone spire to tower. Iron cross finial to apex. Broken coursed cut-stone walls. Cut-stone dressings including quoins to corners and intermediary buttresses to north and to south. Cut-stone dressings to tower including buttresses (clasping) and stringcourses to each stage. Cut-stone piers to base of spire with stringcourse over. Trefoil-headed window openings to nave in cut-stone lancet-arch frames. Fixed-pane windows (some with stained glass panels). Traceried (three-light) window to chancel in pointed-arch frame having cut-stone block-and-start chamfered surround. Trefoil-headed openings with quatrefoil openings to arch in rose arrangement. Fixed-pane stained glass windows. Trefoil openings to top stage to tower. Cut-stone surrounds. Fixed-pane windows. Oculus windows to spire. Cut-stone gabled surrounds with cross finials to apexes. Fittings not discerned. Pointed-arch door opening with pointed-arch relieving arch over having cut-stone voussoirs. Cut-stone doorcase with hood moulding over. Timber panelled door. Full-height interior open into roof. Carved timber pews. Carved timber Gothic-style confessionals. Exposed timber roof construction. Lancet-arch chancel arch comprising moulded cut-stone recessed arches on clustered colonettes having moulded necking. Original carved marble altar furniture. Set back from road in own grounds. Tarmacadam grounds to site.
Appraisal
Saint Brigid’s Catholic Church is a fine and imposing building that appears to retain most of its original form and character. Composed on a simple plan, and with elevations of austere detailing, the church is an attractive example of the restrained use of the Gothic Revival style. The church is of social interest as the ecclesiastical centre for the Catholic population in the locality and, having been built through a system of voluntary contribution amongst the parish, the church can be considered an historic artefact, representing the emerging confidence of the Catholic population following Emancipation earlier in the century. The construction of the church in fine materials attests to this emerging confidence, and the stone work in particular represents the high quality of stone masonry traditionally practised in the locality. This is especially evident in the cut-stone detailing that has retained a crisp intricacy, for example the traceried window opening to the chancel to east incorporating trefoil and quatrefoil motifs in an attractive arrangement. The exterior of the church retains most of its original features and materials, including fittings to the openings, and slate roofs having cast-iron rainwater goods, while the interior is similarly preserved. The stained glass fittings to the interior are of some artistic merit, while the open construction to the roof is of technical or engineering interest. The church is attractively set in its own grounds, the flat quality of which serve to emphasise the monumentality of the design. Complementing the church is the gateway to south-west, the piers of which again attest to a high quality of stone masonry, while the gates are good examples of early surviving cast-iron work and are of considerable artistic value. Saint Brigid’s Catholic Church is an important component of the architectural heritage of Clogharinka, and can be considered one of a pair with Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Garrisker, its sister church – the church at Clogharinka is distinguished by the fine, soaring tower to west that serves to articulate the skyline, while identifying the building in the locality.