Survey Data
Reg No
30408411
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Previous Name
Esker Dominican Friary
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1840 - 1845
Coordinates
154570, 225924
Date Recorded
17/09/2009
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding Roman Catholic chapel, built 1844, having four-bay nave elevation, single-bay chancel and three-stage crenellated tower to west gable with crenellations and pinnacles. Cruciform-plan two-storey sacristy to rear of chancel. Pitched slate roof having clay ridge tiles and limestone copings with stone cross finial to east gable and cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted pebbledashed walls having render plinth course, and with render string courses to tower. Buttresses flank one bay of north elevation. Carved limestone plaque above door. Pointed arch window openings to nave and chancel having limestone surrounds and stained-glass windows, Y-tracery to chancel window. Square- and segmental-headed window openings to sacristy having one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows. Pointed arched louvred openings to second and top stages of tower and oculi to second stage with clock faces. Pointed arch door openings to tower, having cut limestone surround and timber battened door to first floor, approached by ornamental wrought-iron external spiral staircase, timber sheeted door with overlight to ground floor north elevation, doorway to west having carved limestone block-and-start surround, and doorway to south having moulded render surround, latter two having timber battened doors and overlights with Y-tracery. Segmental-headed window opening to west having timber battened door. Interior of church having painted rendered walls with stained-glass windows, carved timber and stained-glass doors and recent timber and plastered ceiling, and carved marble reredos and altar, segmental-headed doorways flanking below paintings. Set within the grounds of Saint Patricks Redemptorist Monastery.
Appraisal
This well maintained nineteenth-century church, built after Catholic Emancipation and dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, stands in the grounds of Saint Patrick's Redemptorist Monastery. The church retains its early character and much of its original fabric. It has well finished limestone surrounds to its windows and doors and internally has notable plasterwork, stained-glass windows, finely carved timber and stained-glass doors and a good marble reredos and altar.