Survey Data
Reg No
11903601
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1855 - 1870
Coordinates
280275, 197189
Date Recorded
04/11/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached nine-bay single- and two-storey Hiberno Romanesque-style Catholic church, built 1860-7, comprising nine-bay double-height nave with nine-bay single-storey lean-to side aisles to east and to west, single-bay single-storey sacristy projection to south-west, single-bay full-height bowed apse to south and rose window over entrance bay to north having single-bay three-stage engaged corner turret to north-west on a square plan. Gable-ended roof with slate (behind parapet walls to gables; lean-to to side aisles; half-conical to apse; pyramidal to turret). Clay ridge tiles. Cut-stone coping to gables with cross finials. Cast-iron rainwater goods on moulded granite eaves band. Rubble stone walls. Granite dressings including quoins to corners, corner piers and buttresses. Rendered to apse. Unpainted. Round-headed window openings. Cut-stone surrounds (including block-and-start surrounds to apse having hood mouldings over). Fixed-pane windows. Rose window to gable to north. Cut-stone surround. Square-headed openings to turret. Cut-stone architraves. Fixed-pane windows. Round-headed openings to top stage. Louvered timber panels. Round-headed door opening. Cut-stone Hiberno Romanesque-style doorcase with colonettes. Tongue-and-groove timber panelled door with wrought iron hinges. Set back from road in own grounds. Tarmacadam grounds to site.
Appraisal
The Catholic Church of Saint Mary and Saint Laurence is a fine and imposing building in the Hiberno Romanesque style that dominates the small village of Crookstown - the building is of social interest as the religious centre of the surrounding locality. The church is a good example of the reserved use of the style in question and is typified by solid, almost blank, wall masses pierced by small window openings. The north front, facing onto the road, is severe in its external expression and is relieved only through the use of a round-headed door opening and delicate rose window over - the slender quality of the engaged corner turret also serves to off-set the austere appearance, whilst also acting as an identifying feature in the landscape and skyline. The construction of the church is of considerable merit and reveals a high quality of stone masonry where the crisp joints have retained their crisp appearance. The church has remained relatively unaltered since the time of construction and retains important early salient features, including fenestration and a slate roof - the retention of an early external aspect suggests that a noteworthy interior may remain intact within. Emphasising the monumentality of the church are the sparse, low-lying immediate grounds, off which the attendant grave yard contains a variety of markers of various periods and artistic importance. The gateway to the north is also of interest and is a fine example of early surviving cast-iron work.