Survey Data
Reg No
15702108
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1830 - 1835
Coordinates
307616, 142426
Date Recorded
14/08/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay double-height single-cell Board of First Fruits Church of Ireland church, rebuilt 1831, on a rectangular plan with pair of single-bay single-storey lean-to vestries centred on single-bay three-stage tower to entrance (west) front on a square plan. Pitched slate roof with moss-covered clay ridge tiles, cut-granite "saddleback" coping to gables on rendered kneelers, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slate or stone flagged eaves retaining cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Fine roughcast battered walls with slate hung surface finish (south); fine roughcast surface finish to tower with cut-granite "Cavetto" stringcourse (bell stage) supporting cut-granite octagonal pinnacles centred on battlemented parapets having cut-granite "saddleback" coping. Pointed-arch window openings with cut-granite sills, carved timber Y-mullions, and cut-granite surrounds having chamfered reveals framing one-over-one timber sash windows without horns having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Tudor-headed window opening to chancel (east) with cut-granite sill, carved timber mullions, and cut-granite surround having chamfered reveals framing fixed-pane fittings having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Tudor-headed door opening to tower with cut-granite surround having chamfered reveals framing replacement timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled double doors having overpanel. Square-headed blind opening (second stage) with cut-granite surround having chamfered reveals framing rendered infill. Pointed-arch opening (bell stage) with cut-granite sill, and cut-granite surround having chamfered reveals framing louvered timber fitting. Square-headed window openings (vestries) with cut-granite surrounds having chamfered reveals framing timber casement windows having cast-iron lattice glazing bars. Tudor-headed door openings with cut-granite step thresholds, and cut-granite surrounds having chamfered reveals framing timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled doors having overpanels. Set in landscaped grounds on a slightly elevated site with rendered diagonal piers to perimeter having capping supporting iron double gates.
Appraisal
A church erected with financial support from the Board of First Fruits (fl. 1711-1833) representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one retaining the basis of 'a neat structure…built in 1766' (Lewis 1837 II, 72), confirmed by such attributes as the standardised nave-with-entrance tower plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; the "pointed" profile of the openings underpinning a contemporary Georgian Gothic theme with the chancel defined by an elegant "East Window"; and the slender pinnacles embellishing the tower as a picturesque eye-catcher in the landscape. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including a partial slate hung surface finish widely regarded as an increasingly endangered hallmark of the architectural heritage of County Wexford.