Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart

Detached four-bay double-height single-cell Catholic church, dated 1839, with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to entrance (east) front. Reconstructed, 1951, producing present composition. Renovated, ----, with sanctuary reordered. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles terminating in wrought iron Cross finials to apexes, and cast-iron rainwater goods on roughcast cut-limestone eaves retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Roughcast battered walls on rendered plinth. Round-headed window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having chevron- or saw tooth-detailed stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenges". Round-headed "Trinity Windows" (west) with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having chevron- or saw tooth-detailed stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenges". Round-headed "Trinity Window" to entrance (east) front with concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having chevron- or saw tooth-detailed stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenges". Segmental-headed door opening approached by flight of six concrete steps with concealed dressings framing replacement timber panelled double doors having overlight. Round-headed flanking window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing storm glazing over fixed-pane fittings having chevron- or saw tooth-detailed stained glass margins centred on square leaded glazing bars. Interior including vestibule (east); full-height interior with stained glass memorial "Trinity Window" (undated), carpeted central aisle between timber pews, timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled wainscoting supporting timber dado rail, paired Gothic-style timber stations between stained glass memorial windows (undated), and round-headed chancel arch framing carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (west) reordered, ----, with rosette-detailed cut-white marble Classical-style high altar. Set in landscaped grounds.

A church erected under the aegis of Reverend Peter Ward PP (1790-1856) representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of south County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition, one succeeding a nearby thatched chapel 'inadequate to the accommodation of [its] congregation' (Lewis 1837 I, 92), suggested by such attributes as the rectilinear "barn" plan form, aligned along an inverted liturgically-correct axis; and the slender profile of the openings underpinning a streamlined Romanesque theme with the sanctuary defined by elegant "Trinity Windows": meanwhile, aspects of the composition clearly illustrate the near-total reconstruction of the church to a design (1951) by Edward Raphael Ryan (fl. 1933-64) of Galway (Irish Builder 1951, 516; cf. 31308809). Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the historic or 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 memorial windows; and a much-modified high altar, all highlight the modest artistic potential of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a rural setting.