Old Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Symmetrical six-window-wide double-height vernacular Roman Catholic church with later Gothic Revival detailing, built 1821, aligned east-west, located to north of Staffordstown Road.

T-plan, the rectangular nave is abutted to north by a central sacristy with bellcote. Three gabled brick porches are to east and west gables and to centre first floor-level south elevation (vaulted over sunken channel with a segmental arch and accessing galleries).

Roof is pitched natural slate, moulded corbelled stone verges on moulded kneeler blocks having gablets with embossed Maltese crosses; ogee-moulded cast-iron gutters with square downpipes fixed with quatrefoil clasps to nave, half-round cast-iron gutters with round downpipes to remainder. Walling is roughcast with smooth-rendered strip corner banding over chamfered plinth. (Nave and north projection constructed in rubble stone, porches in brick.) Windows are gothic with painted timber tracery and painted architraves and stone sills. Porches have pointed-arched sheeted painted timber double-leaf doors with wrought-iron strap hinges, stop-ended torus-moulded masonry architraves, single step to threshold.

North elevation is six windows wide with central two windows abutted by gabled sanctuary/sacristy. Windows have painted timber Y-tracery with intersecting glazing above, fixed casement mid-section, with four-centred arch-headed 6-light sliding sash to base. Sacristy has diagonal stepped buttresses and is surmounted by a gabled bellcote with stepped base, a pointed-arched bellcote opening (no bell) supported on stop-ended chamfered pillarettes with recessed panels. Bellcote surmounted by masonry Cross of St. James. Sacristy has two windows with stringcourse continuous at hood mould-level. Projection left cheek is blank, right cheek has a square-headed varnished vertically sheeted door with a stop-ended label mould.

East gable is centrally abutted by single-height gabled porch. Exposed gable has central round-headed diamond-glazed leaded casements set to painted timber pointed-arched tripartite tracery with stop-ended hood mould. Left side of gable abutted to internal angle with porch by flat-roofed utility block. East gable of porch has central pointed-arched window with similar tracery. Left cheek of porch abutted by block, right has central door.

South elevation centrally abutted to gallery level by south porch, flanked by a single window to ground and gallery level to each side. Porch vaulted over sunken area with segmental arch. South gable is surmounted by a masonry Latin Cross. Porch has a central door, cheeks each have a diamond-glazed leaded lancet casement.

West gable is a handed version of the east gable.

Setting

Set in hillside graveyard. Terraced site has masonry sunken passage and retaining wall to non-north elevations. Retaining wall surmounted by elaborate mid-nineteenth-century cast-iron railing with orb-capped barley-twisted posts. Passage opens onto a tarmac forecourt to north with central drive through graveyard accessing Staffordstown Road and a dwarf rendered boundary wall. Replacement church (c.1990) is located to a higher hillside to southeast. Graveyard contains several fine wrought-iron enclosed family plots and numerous fine nineteenth-century gravestones. Of note to north is the substantial spired shaft-supported crucifix memorial dedicated to Rev. S Young (c.1803-1862) and Rev. J. McGlennon (c.1817-1869). The earliest grave visible is the gravestone to Michael McLarnon (c.1782-1844), located to northwest.

Walling: Roughcast over chamfered smooth-rendered plinth
Roof: Pitched slate, blue/black clay roll-top ridge tile
Rainwater goods: Painted ogee-moulded cast-iron
Windows: Gothic-arched painted timber Y-tracery, diamond glazed sashes
Door: Varnished timber sheeted double-leaf door with wrought-iron strap hinges

Historical information

The 1836 OS Memoirs record the structure at 54 by 22 feet with accommodation for 500 people. Further, the church was built in 1821 by Rev. John MacMullan and dedicated in 1829. The 1837 memoir states that the church was built around thirteen years (therefore c.1824) before with earthen ground floor and a gallery. One round-arched door to each ground floor end and a door to the rear (south elevation) accessing the gallery (All three porches still access the nave through round-arched openings). There were six Gothic windows to the front (north) facade. The church was constructed with the financial support of Lord O'Neill, who gave ten guineas. In addition, General O'Neill gave another five guineas to the building of the chapel. Before the church was constructed, the previous mass-house on the site was timber, and its form no doubt influenced the masonry successor.

The OS map of 1833 records the church as rectangular in plan. The bellcoted projection first appears on the 1858 OS map, creating the current T-plan. The three side porches abutting nave gables appear on the 1921 OS map but all three round-arched entrances these enclose had been previously recorded in 1837 (perhaps the south entrance was accessed with a temporary bridge). A 1973 photograph shows lost external items including a brass bell to bellcote and a wrought-iron Cross of St. James to both east and west nave gables.

The sacristy was added after 1837 but before 1858, reusing two nave windows that were recorded in 1837. Windows, entrances, and gallery mentioned in 1837 indicate that the altar was originally remains in its original north wall location. A south transept was not possible because of the steep hillside. The north projection is unlikely to have been designed as a sanctuary because that would require the wall-abutting altar moved farther back and the ends of the nave would have had an obstructed view during the Mass. Thus Although the altar and most unfixed furnishings were removed following redundancy, the modern multi-step dais indicates the church was re-ordered following Vatican II.

The church was made redundant c.1991 after a decision was made not to restore the old church but replace it with the new one of the same name, which is located to the site of the old parish house.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

This symmetrical early-nineteenth-century vernacular Roman Catholic church with Gothic Revival detailing occupies a prominent roadside location off Staffordstown Road. The early dedication of 1829, a year before full Catholic Emancipation but some time after several Roman Catholic Relief Acts, testifies to the significance of its foundation. Despite its condition, it is an important survival and of an unusual form that retains a significant proportion of its original character.