Catholic Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Freestanding cast-iron bell stand, erected c.1920, to south of church. Comprising four fluted round-plan cast-iron columns with relief anthemion ornamentation. Cast-iron bell. Elaborate bracket system with decorative crosses. Now electronically controlled. Fabricated by M. Byrne, Dublin, with maker's marks. Column bases are set in a raised planting bed with rubble stone wall surround.

The bell stand has an elegant form and decoration, located close to the church entrance such that it has an iconic presence in the local landscape. It is a twentieth-century addition to the grounds of the early nineteenth-century Catholic church of Saints Peter and Paul. The absence of a belfry from the church was a common feature of early nineteenth-century Catholic churches built before Catholic Emancipation (1829). Its addition serves as an interesting reminder of Penal restrictions when Roman Catholic churches were preventing from having a bell to announce times of worship. A very similar bell stand, also fabricated by M. Byrne, can be seen at Saint Mary's Church of Lisdoonan and further afield in Beragh County Tyrone, Banteer County Cork, Ballynacarrigy County Westmeath and Holy Trinity Church in Newscastle-under-Lyme. M. Byrne stands for Matthew Byrne of the Fountain Head Bell Foundry Dublin.