shrine/oratory/grotto

Freestanding memorial shrine, built c.1950, containing plaster statue of the Pieta, re-erected from unknown location. Gable-fronted rectangular-plan concrete housing with pitched concrete roof having carved stone cross to apex. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls with concrete-rendered corner piers to east elevation having tooled stone crenellations. Pointed-arch door opening with chamfered surround and replacement uPVC door. Stylised diamond-shaped window openings to north and south elevations, having stained glass with flower motif tracery. Plaster statue on plinth of the Pieta, with Mary holding Christ after the Crucifixion. Guarded by timber gate of pointed arches and crucifixes to interior.

In 1953, Pope Pius XII proclaimed that 1954 would be a Marian Year, the first in Catholic church history, to commemorate the centenary of the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception. In Ireland hundreds of shrines to Mary were built throughout the country and the Pope blessed the banner of Knock. This shrine may have been built in the Marian Year to house the statue donated by Peter Murphy who died in 1904. The site is well maintained, despite having a replacement uPVC door, and it retains a strong sense of its mid-twentieth-century date through the overall architectural style. The stylised diamond-shaped windows enliven the side elevations while the castellated piers to the front elevation add to the overall dramatic effect. It is located prominently to the west of the former Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, now in use as the Patrick Kavanagh Rural and Literary Resource Centre, against the perimeter of the graveyard.