Survey Data
Reg No
31300401
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Stella Maris Catholic Church
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Church/chapel
Date
1910 - 1915
Coordinates
85175, 339391
Date Recorded
17/01/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached five-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, built 1912-3; extant 1916, on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch. Renovated, ----, with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roofs on a T-shaped plan centred on pitched (gabled) slate roof with roll moulded clay ridge tiles, concrete coping to gables on rusticated rendered "Cavetto" kneelers including concrete coping to gable (east) on rusticated rendered "Cavetto" kneelers with rendered buttressed bellcote to apex, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on rendered "Cavetto" eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined walls on rendered battered plinth with rusticated rendered quoins to corners. Round-headed central door opening with step threshold, and concealed dressings having chamfered reveals framing timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled door. Round-headed window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings having chamfered reveals framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass quatrefoils with some having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panels (west). Round-headed "Trinity Windows" to gables with concrete sills, and concealed dressings having chamfered reveals with hood mouldings over framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass quatrefoils. Interior including vestibule; round-headed door opening into nave with timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled double doors; full-height interior open into roof with central aisle between timber pews, Gothic-style timber stations between stained glass windows (undated) with pair of stained glass windows (west), carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (west) reordered, ----, with Connemara marble-detailed alabaster altar below stained glass "Trinity Window" (undated), and exposed strutted collared timber roof construction on "Cavetto" corbels with wind braced rafters to ceiling on carved timber cornice. Set in own grounds with rendered panelled piers to perimeter having shallow pyramidal capping supporting iron double gates.
Appraisal
A church erected to a design signed (1913) by William Henry Byrne and Son (formed 1902) of Suffolk Street, Dublin (Irish Builder 1912, 286; IAA), representing an integral component of the early twentieth-century ecclesiastical heritage of Contae Mhaigh Eo [north County Mayo] with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the contemporary Catholic Church of the Holy Souls (1916), Keenagh (see 31303702), confirmed by such attributes as the rectilinear "barn" plan form centred on an expressed porch; the slender profile of the openings underpinning a streamlined Romanesque theme with the chancel defined by an elegant "Trinity Window"; 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 substantial quantities of the 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 contemporary joinery; some vibrant stained glass; and a florid altar demonstrating exemplary craftsmanship, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition: meanwhile, an exposed timber roof construction pinpoints the engineering or technical dexterity of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a coastal village setting.