Survey Data
Reg No
15609006
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1855 - 1860
Coordinates
306785, 152934
Date Recorded
08/03/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached six-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, dedicated 1858, on a rectangular plan with single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch to entrance (south) front. Renovated, 1906, with interior "improved". Renovated, 1969, with sanctuary reordered. "Restored", 1988. Pitched slate roofs including pitched (gabled) slate roof to porch with clay ridge tiles, cut-granite "slated" coping to gables on cut-granite "Cavetto" kneelers including cut-granite "slated" coping to gable to entrance (south) front on finial-topped cut-granite gabled corbel kneelers with granite ashlar buttressed gabled bellcote to apex framing cast-iron bell, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined walls with rusticated cut-granite quoins to corners. Lancet window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panels. Paired lancet window openings to chancel (north) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having leaded stained glass panels. Pointed-arch door opening to porch with concealed dressings having chamfered reveals framing timber boarded double doors. Pointed-arch window openings to "cheeks" with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings. Interior including vestibule (south) with pair of polished brass wall monuments (ob. 1890; 1919); pointed-arch door opening into nave with replacement glazed timber double doors retaining overlight; full-height interior with herring bone-pattern timber parquet central aisle between timber pews, Gothic-style timber stations between stained glass memorial windows (1955), carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (north) reordered, 1969, with replacement altar table below stained glass memorial "North Window" (1916), and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on "Acanthus"-detailed plasterwork ceiling roses. Set in landscaped grounds on a slightly elevated site with rendered, ruled and lined piers to perimeter having concrete capping supporting wrought iron double gates.
Appraisal
A church representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the Thomas Willis (c.1782-1864)-designed Saint Ibar's Catholic Church (1855), Castlebridge (see 15614008), confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear "barn" plan form, aligned along a liturgically-incorrect axis; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a "medieval" Gothic theme; and the handsome bellcote embellishing the roofline as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior reordered (1969) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where restrained wall monuments commemorating Reverend Edward Brennan CC (1836-90) and Reverend Owen Kehoe CC (1873-1919); contemporary joinery; Celtic Art Deco-like stained glass supplied (1955) by A.W. Lyons and Company of Westland Row, Dublin (cf. 15704246); the Kenny Memorial "North Window" (1916) attributable to Joshua Clarke and Sons (opened 1892) of North Frederick Street, Dublin; and decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a rural village street scene.