Convent of the Sacred Heart

Detached nine-bay two-storey convent, built 1931-2; opened 1932, on a H-shaped plan with two-bay (four- or five-bay deep) full-height gabled advanced end bays centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to ground floor. Vacated, 1988. Renovated, ----, to accommodate continued alternative use. Pitched slate roof on a H-shaped plan with terracotta ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks centred on paired rendered chimney stacks having stringcourses below corbelled stepped capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta pots, concrete or rendered coping to gables with Cross finials to apexes, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered walls. Square-headed window openings with corbelled stepped sill courses, and concealed dressings framing replacement casement windows replacing two-over-two timber sash windows. Set back from road in landscaped grounds on an elevated site.

A convent erected for the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary representing an integral component of the early twentieth-century built heritage of Achill Island with the architectural value of the composition, one attributable to Ralph Henry Byrne (1877-1946) of Suffolk Street, Dublin, suggested by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking the Atlantic Ocean; the symmetrical or near-symmetrical footprint centred on an expressed porch; the very slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a feint graduated visual impression; and the high pitched gabled roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a convent making a pleasing visual statement at the foothills of Croaghaun.