Saint Joseph's Catholic Church

Detached six-bay double-height Catholic church, extant 1895, on a rectangular plan comprising five-bay double-height nave opening into single-bay double-height chancel (east); single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch (north-west). Renovated, ----, with sanctuary reordered. Reroofed, ----. Replacement pitched artificial slate roofs; replacement pitched (gabled) artificial slate roof (porch), clay ridge tiles with wrought iron Cross finials to apexes, concrete coping to gable (porch) on "Cavetto" kneelers with Celtic Cross finial to apex, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined walls. Lancet window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenges". Lancet "Trinity Window" (east) with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass panels. Paired lancet window openings to entrance (west) front with roundel (gable), concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing fixed-pane fittings having stained glass margins centred on leaded stained glass "lozenges". Full-height interior with carpeted central aisle between timber pews, paired Gothic-style timber stations between stained glass memorial windows (----), Tudor-vaulted ceiling, and pointed-arch chancel arch framing carpeted stepped dais to sanctuary (east) reordered, ----, with Connemara marble-detailed alabaster altar below stained glass memorial "Trinity Window" (----). Set in landscaped grounds with rendered piers to perimeter having shallow pyramidal capping supporting cast-iron double gates.

A church representing an integral component of the later nineteenth-century ecclesiastical heritage of County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the contemporary Saint Joseph's Catholic Church (1887), Bushfield (see 31306209), suggested by such attributes as the rectilinear plan form, aligned along a liturgically-correct axis; and the slender profile of the openings underpinning a stolid "medieval" Gothic theme with the chancel defined by an elegant "Trinity Window". Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the vaulted interior reordered (----) in accordance with the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-5) where the Morrisroe Memorial "Trinity Window" signed by Walter F. Clokey (c.1870-1930) of Belfast highlights the modest artistic potential of a church making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene.