Survey Data
Reg No
14818019
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1840 - 1845
Coordinates
253344, 212498
Date Recorded
19/08/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached Roman Catholic church, built in 1842 and added to in 1915, comprising seven-bay nave with chancel, flat-roofed side chapel and sacristy to north. Four-stage castellated tower with pinnacles and stone cross to west with castellated single-bay single-storey projections to sides. Pitched slate roof with limestone coping, finials and cast-iron rainwater goods. Snecked limestone walls with ashlar to plinth and lowest stage of tower. Cut limestone eaves course to nave and string course to tower. Clock and louvered windows to tower with lucarnes to spire. Pointed-arched window openings with hoodmouldings to nave with chamfered limestone surrounds and timber Y-tracery windows. Cross-shaped window openings to south and stained glass traceried window to chancel. Segmental-headed door openings with timber battened doors and moulded surrounds. Stone plaques to entrance read 'A.M.D.G. Ecclesia Sancti Michaelis Erected by the Very Rev. T. O'Connell P.P. V.F. AD 1842.' and 'In 1915 this church was lengthened by 20 feet and the chancel, chapels, nuns' choir, sacristies and baptistery were added by V. Rev. E. O'Leary P.P. V.F.', respectively. A further plaque to the east reads 'The Christian Brothers served this parish of Portarlington and surrounding area from 1863-1995 buíochas le dia as ucht a saothair'. Vaulted ceiling to nave with Tudor chancel arch. Gallery to rear. Set within churchyard containing collection of statues. Bounded by ashlar gate piers with cast-iron gates and railings.
Appraisal
Part of a religious group of structures with the adjacent convent and school,Saint Michael's, with its imposing tower, is an important social building in the town of Portarlington. Its finely executed stonework articulates its Gothic Revival form while decorative features such as its illuminating windows enliven an otherwise austere exterior.