OUR LADY'S R C CHURCH,

The Department's description

Historical information

The present church was designed by the celebrated Thomas Duff of Newry in 1848. Duff died in May of that year, just weeks after the foundation stone had been laid (24 April) and the subsequent building work was overseen by fellow architect Patrick Byrne of Dublin. The church was consecrated on 15 October 1854 by Dr. Cantwell, Bishop of Meath. The spire, including a bell cast by John Murphy of Dublin, was added in 1859.

The church is said to have undergone repairs in 1922, with new Stations of the Cross installed in 1925, redecoration in 1932 and the confessionals replaced in 1936. The exterior stonework was ‘sandblasted’ in c.1981 and in 1990 the sanctuary was extended, and a new altar fitted; four new stained glass was added to the existing windows to the rear of the sanctuary in 1994-95. A new tabernacle was

The church replaced one dating from 1774, a lower cruciform structure which is described in the 1836 OS Memoirs as ‘a plain building of stone…built in the form of a cross which stands east and west being 69 feet long and 49 and a half feet broad.’ Capable of accommodating up to ‘900 persons’, this previous building was constructed at a cost of £200 ‘raised by subscription’ with £230 spent on ‘repairs’ in 1806, and in c.1815 Rev. James Gilmore (‘last chaplain to the Irish Brigade under the Duke of Kent’) added a belfry, ‘and planted about it’. The valuation book of 1836 grades the church at this juncture as old but in good order and lists the dimensions of its component parts as 58ft x 28 x 12, 26 x 28 x 15½ and 11½ x 24 x 12. To the immediate north of the church at this time, (as shown on the 1834 OS map), was a ‘good slated’ schoolhouse. Built in 1829 the valuation book indicates that part of the upper storey was used by the parish priest. This was later replaced with the present convent school building, designed by William Joseph Barre of Newry in 1866-67.

References – primary sources
1 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834,
2 PRONI VAL1B/361 - 1835-36
3 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.33 - 1836
4 ‘Newry Telegraph’ – 17 October 1854, p.3
5 ‘Downpatrick Recorder’ - 21 October 1854, p.1
6 ‘Belfast Morning News’ – 29 July 1867, p.4

Secondary sources
7 Larmour, Paul, "That eminent and tasteful architect" in 'Perspective' vol.7 no.1 Sept / Oct 1988, p.61
8 Harron, Paul, ‘W.J. Barre 1830-1867: A Vigorous Mind (Architects of Ulster)’, (UAH, Belfast, 2021)

Online sources
9 http://lisburn.com/books/dromore-diocese/parish-kilbroney.html [accessed 26 Jan 2022]
10 https://www.rosdavies.com/PHOTOSwords/KilbroneyAll.htm#st [accessed 26 Jan 2022]