Survey Data
Reg No
15700603
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Saint Patrick's Catholic Church
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1840 - 1850
Coordinates
308222, 163308
Date Recorded
27/09/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay double-height Catholic church, dated 1845, on a T-shaped plan comprising three-bay double-height nave opening into single-bay (single-bay deep) double-height transepts centred on chancel to crossing (north). Renovated, ----, with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roof on a T-shaped plan with clay ridge tiles, lichen-covered cut-granite coping to gables including lichen-covered cut-granite coping to gable to entrance (south) front with Celtic Cross-topped cut-granite gabled bellcote to apex, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Gritdashed roughcast walls on rendered plinth with rusticated rendered piers to corners supporting rendered band to eaves. Lancet window openings with cut-granite sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass roundels. Paired lancet window openings (transepts) with cut-granite sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on square leaded glazing bars. Pointed-arch door opening to entrance (south) front with cut-granite step threshold, and rendered "bas-relief" surround framing replacement timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled double doors. Paired lancet window openings (gable) with cut-granite sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on square leaded glazing bars. Interior including vestibule (south); square-headed door opening into nave with glazed timber panelled double doors having sidelights on panelled risers below overlight; full-height interior open into roof with "basket weave" central aisle between cruciform-detailed timber pews, timber stations between frosted glass windows, carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary to crossing (north) reordered, ----, with replacement timber altar table, and exposed strutted King post timber roof construction with wind braced ceiling. Set in landscaped grounds with cement rendered piers to perimeter having pyramidal capping supporting wrought iron double gates.
Appraisal
A church representing an integral component of the mid nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of north County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the traditional "T"-shaped 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 historic or original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior reordered (----) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where an exposed timber roof construction pinpoints the engineering or technical dexterity of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan setting.