church/chapel

Detached Roman Catholic single cell hall-type church, built c.1837, comprising three-bay nave. Pitched slate roof with cut stone coping to either end (east and west) having cast-iron decorative cross finials over. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Ruled-and-line rendered walls over cut stone plinth. Pointed-arch window openings having leaded glass, cut limestone surrounds and simple dressed limestone tracery. Oculus window with cut limestone cross motif and stained glass to western gable over entrance. Pointed-arch door opening with moulded (shouldered) limestone surround having limestone panel over with carved cross motif. Square-headed timber sheeted door with cast-iron hinges. Plaque over door with inscription "Pray for Eleanor Martin, Donor of this Church 1837". Church is set back from road edge with two rendered flanking walls curving out to north and south towards road edge. Cast-iron gates adjacent to south side of church to give access to grotto of ‘Our Lady’. Located in quiet rural location to the west of Mullingar Town.

A simple small-scale early-to-mid nineteenth-century Roman Catholic Church, which retains its early form and character. Most early churches of this modest form were replaced by larger Roman Catholic edifices or extended and altered during the late nineteenth-century, making this early chapel quite a rare survival. The absence of an attached belfry is a typical feature of early churches of this nature, probably on account of the relative lack of resources available to the Catholic Church at the time. The high quality stonework to the openings is an interesting feature of artistic merit and may have been added later.