Keenagh Methodist Church

Detached single-cell Methodist church, built c. 1820, having three-bay nave elevation with single-bay gable-fronted porch to the east gable end and single-bay gable-fronted addition to west gable end. Now disused. Pitched roof with raised cut limestone verges to gables and with some remaining sections of cast-iron rainwater goods. Pantile roof to the south pitch of main body of building, corrugated-metal to the north pitch. Pitched slate roofs to porch and west gable-fronted addition, having cast-iron ridge crestings. Smooth rendered walls (over rubble stone construction) with cut limestone eaves course. Pointed arch window openings with chamfered limestone sills, chamfered rendered surround, rendered hoodmouldings and some leaded glass windows. No window openings to the north elevation of main body of building. Triangular openings to apex of gable ends, and porch gable-front, having chamfered rendered surround and leaded glass. Paired pointed arch window openings to the south face of addition to the west end. Pointed arch door opening to porch with chamfered rendered surround and timber battened door with decorative cast-iron hinges. Scissor-braced timber roof visible to interior. Set in own grounds recessed from road with rubble stone boundary walls. Located to the east of the centre of Keenagh.

Though now disused, this simple former Methodist church retains many attractive features and materials including unusual gable end windows, delicately cast hoodmouldings, a fine timber door with decorative cast-iron hinges, chamfered limestone sills and some leaded glass. Church architecture is often a reflection of local ecclesiastical and social history and the presence of a Methodist church in Keenagh may indicate that one of the more prominent landowning families in the area professed this faith, the church a visible expression of their involvement. Lewis (1837) describes this building as being a ‘Primitive Methodist chapel’. The Primitive Methodists were founded in 1810/11 following a split from the main Methodist movement. They were later amalgamated back into a main Methodist movement after the Methodist Union in 1932. Carefully restored, this building would make a major contribution to the historic feel and the streetscape of Keenagh.