St Patrick's R.C Church

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A mid 19thC basilica church with a three stage tower, all in granite with limestone dressings, set in a churchyard and aligned roughly E-W on the W side of New Line.

Pitched natural slate roof with concrete verges. There is a granite cross, raised on a plinth block, to each gable; that to W is cloverleaf, that to E is Celtic. There are two equally spaced octagonal metal vents to centre of ridge - that to W is missing except for its base. Modern metal rainwater goods supported on granite brackets. Side aisle roofs are monopitched natural slate.

Walls are roughly dressed granite randomly laid. All buttresses and quoins are quarry-faced limestone to E end, but granite otherwise. All openings have stepped and chamfered finely dressed limestone reveals with a voussoir granite course over their heads (unless otherwise stated).

Principal E gable:
E gable has a chamfered limestone base course, two limestone cill courses, and contains the main entrance. At junction of gable and side aisles, a two-stage buttresses with stepped offsets rise to roof level of side aisles. To end of each aisle gable a buttress rises to cill course level. Above all buttresses are stepped quoins. The entrance consists of a pair of Gothic-headed timber doors set in a deep moulded limestone reveal with hood mould. To either side is a single lancet window. Above entrance is a polished granite datestone inscribed ‘S. Patricio / Dedicatum / 1869’. Above is three tall lancet windows (that to centre is taller). At apex is a trefoil niche with limestone dressing. Each side aisle has a pair of lancets with cill course as before. Beneath window to the S side aisle is a large polished stone memorial dedicated to Andrew McDonald d1875.

S elevation:
S elevation is seven openings wide. Those to clerestory level are paired lancets (diminished in height). Those to side aisle are similar with the exception of the second opening from right, which consists of a pair of Gothic-headed timber doors in a moulded limestone reveal. Abutting left end of side aisle is a modern single-storey sacristy (see later).

W gable:
W gable has three lancets and trefoil niche, as E gable. It is abutted to right corner by the sacristy (above which is an exposed section of the original buttress) and to the left-end by the tower (see later). The modern sacristy is square in plan with a narrow link to the main church on its E face. It has a pitched natural slate roof with plastic rainwater goods. Walls are constructed of granite and sandstone with strap cement pointing. The W face has three narrow windows, all top-hung timber casements with flush concrete cills. N and S faces are blank. The S face of the link block has a modern t+g door to its S face.

N elevation:
N elevation is detailed as S elevation of nave, but is only six openings wide. The right end is abutted by the tower and therefore has no buttress.

Tower:
The tower is three-staged and detailed as church. It has four-stage buttresses to each corner. The N face of the first stage contains an entrance door detailed as those to each aisle. The W face has a pair of lancets and E face abuts the right side aisle. The second stage has a single tall lancet window to all exposed faces. The third stage rises above roof level of the church and has a crenellated parapet. Each face has a pair of louvred lancet openings with a central louvred ventilation roundel above. The buttress offsets form a cill course. Below parapet is a moulded granite cornice. Parapet has finely dressed square-in-section pinnacles to each corner, with lancet-headed recessed panels to all exposed faces.

Setting

Church is set within a churchyard on a V-junction between Finegans Road and New Line. It is enclosed to each road by a wall – that to Finegans Road is random rubble and the other is cement rendered with concrete copings. Church is accessed by a flight of steps, which rise steeply to the sacristy to the SW corner and by modern threshold with bollards to the principal E elevation. Churchyard contains a number of 19thC and 20thC memorials; all face E.

Historical information

A Roman Catholic chapel is cited here on the 1835 OS map, but the datestone on the present building attests to a rebuild in 1869.

Primary sources:
1. OS 6” map, 1st edition, Co Armagh, sheet 32 (PRONI OS 6/2/32/1).
2. Datestone.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A substantial granite Basilica church with tower, set within a churchyard on an elevated site which can be seen throughout the Slieve Gullion AONB.