Survey Data
Reg No
14942017
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Church/chapel
Date
1810 - 1850
Coordinates
209272, 195507
Date Recorded
23/08/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached Board of First Fruits Church of Ireland church, built in 1831, with four-bay nave and two-stage tower. Extended to south-east to accommodate new chancel. No longer in use. No roof. Roughcast rendered walls with limestone eaves course, limestone coping and decorative saddlestone over gable. Castellated parapet to tower with pinnacles to corners and limestone string course. Lancet windows to nave with chamfered limestone surrounds. Triple lancet to chancel. Pointed-arched louvered openings to belfry with chamfered limestone surrounds. Pointed-arched door opening to tower with chamfered limestone surround. Graveyard to site with variety of grave markers. Site enclosed behind rendered rubble wall and accessed through wrought-iron double gates. Members of the Lloyd family from Gloster House are buried here.
Appraisal
The prayer table, pulpit and stained glass windows from this church have been brought to Aghancon Church. Although no longer in use, Saint Mark's Church (Ettagh) remains a notable example of early nineteenth-church ecclesiastical architecture. The two-stage tower complete with castellated parapet and pinnacles, the unusual chamfered limestone window and door reveals, all contribute to its architectural interest and make it a valuable addition to the built heritage of County Offaly. Members of the Lloyd family from nearby Gloster House are buried in the yew planted graveyard. Lewis records that the church ' is a small plain edifice' and was built with a loan from the Board of First Fruits in 1831.