Survey Data
Reg No
30813025
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social, Technical
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1870 - 1880
Coordinates
193804, 299652
Date Recorded
16/07/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached gable-fronted Gothic Revival Roman Catholic church, built in 1879. Central nave with side aisles. Four-stage tower to north-west end of elevation with pinnacles, pointed lancets and windows and statue to front face. Fourth stage of tower added in the 1920s. Pitched slate roof with stone cross finials. Random coursed limestone and rock-faced walls with ashlar limestone dressings. Recessed sculpted sandstone tympanum above pointed-arched central double entrance of two orders. Doors separated and flanked by marble colonettes, central supporting statue. Hood moulding and decorative shields over doorway. Doors to tower and east end of façade. Pointed-arched windows with carved stone heads and sills and with yellow brick sides. Four-light traceried window over entrance door with carved stone hood moulding. Three-light traceried window to chancel end. Baptistry to north-west corner with conical roof and with ogee-headed windows. Set on a height over Main Street with limestone steps and limestone and sandstone paving. Churchyard bounded by low ashlar wall with cast-iron railings. Ashlar piers with stone cross finials and cast-iron gates. Bronze sculpture of Madonna and Child, erected in 2000 to side of building, by Manorhamilton artist Jackie McKenna.
Appraisal
This Roman Catholic church, designed by William Hague in 1879 and completed by his pupil T.F. McNamara fifty years later, is of both architectural and artistic merit. The high relief carving of the tympanum and elaborate detail of the masked stops to the hood mouldings and foliate capitals in conjunction with the stained glass windows make an important contribution to its artistic value. Overall the design of this structure heightens the architectural tone of the Main Street. The life-like bronze Madonna and Child, erected in celebration of the new millennium, enhance the front site.