Church of the Ascension

Freestanding Church of Ireland church, built c. 1961, comprising three-bay hall with projecting single-bay gable-fronted entrance porch to the north-west gable end, bellcote over gable apex to south-east gable end, and with projecting single-bay shed attached to the south-east gable end. Modern boiler room attached to the south-east gable. Pitched concrete tiled roofs with wrought-iron\metal cross finial to north-west gable apex, and with gable-fronted rock-faced\split concrete bellcote to south-east gable apex having round-headed opening with bell-metal bell, and with moulded cement render hoodmoulding over. Rock-faced\split concrete block walls over smooth centre rendered or concrete plinth course. Round-headed window openings with raised smooth rendered block-and-start surrounds, leaded plate glass diamond pane windows, and with cement rendered hoodmouldings over. Round-headed doorway to the north-east face of porch having raised smooth rendered block-and-start surrounds, battened timber door, and with cement rendered hoodmouldings over. Interior with moulded plaster arched panel to chancel, carved limestone font. Set well back from road in isolated wooded upland location to the south-west of Ballybofey. Site bounded by post-and-wire fence. Gateway to the north-west comprising a pair of rock-faced\split concrete gate piers (on square-plan) having pyramidal coping over, and with modern mild steel gates. Graveyard to the south-east of church with collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century gravemarkers associated with earlier church to site (now demolished).

Occupying an idyllic woodland setting in an isolated upland location to the south-west of Ballybofey, this secluded diminutive mid twentieth-church is a rare example of a recently constructed Church of Ireland church. The round-headed openings create an unusual modern interpretation of the Romanesque architectural form, and a distinctive and appealing if unassuming visual statement. It is built using rock-faced or split concrete blockwork for the walling that mimics the rock-faced masonry found on earlier churches, while its simple form is enlivened by the decorative smooth rendered detailing to the openings and the bellcote. The present church replaced an earlier church to site, which was a large Gothic Revival Church of Ireland chapel of ease that was built c. 1858 and extended in 1867 with the addition of a transept to the north and an addition to the east; these works were designed by the eminent architects Welland and Gillespie (William Joseph Welland and William Gillespie), (William Joseph Welland and William Gillespie), who were appointed joint architects to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in May 1860, a post they held until the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland on 31st December 1870. The original construction of the church, and probably of the later extension, was funded by Lord Henry the Fourth of Lifford (later Lord Viscount Lifford) who built and resided at nearby Meenglass Castle s short distance to the south-west. Meenglass Castle was a large and complex Tudor Gothic house, built c. 1840, that was sadly demolished c. 1930. The gravemarkers to the south-east of the church date to the late nineteenth and early-twentieth century, and commemorate servants and staff of Lord Lifford. The earlier church was demolished c. 1960; it was described just prior to its demolition as a ‘very large and dilapidated building’. This simple mid twentieth-century church is an unusual and interesting addition to the desolate local landscape, and is an addition the built heritage and social history of the local area.