1836 – St Patrick’s Church of Ireland, Monaghan, Co. Monaghan

Architect: William Farrell

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Next to the Courthouse is St Patrick’s Church of Ireland – a fine building with a needle spire, tall lancet windows and pinnacles along its length. According to reports of the time, it cost £5330 and was designed by William Farrell. Protected from the street by a low wall with iron railings, the Church provides a fine focal point for Church Square and a vertical foil to the horizontal nature of the other buildings and a balance to the obelisk of the Dawson Memorial at the opposite end of the square. St. Patrick’s has a very ornate interior which survives intact.

The interior of St Patricks has none of the stark harshness of the exterior. The very ornate interior is galleried along three sides supported by octuple columns. These columns also support the vaulted ceiling. Original pews have survived at the front of the church containing seating for the local Baronet and Bishop. The interior has an excellent collection of memorial tablets to local families like the Rossmores and the Lloyds, as well as a Telford organ with an ornate carved case with the Rossmore arms. The carved memorial tablet pictured here is a memorial to Mary Anne Rossmore by Thomas Kirke entitled ‘The parting glance’. The east window is filled with the heraldic arms of the Rossmores executed in stained glass.