1966 – Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Newcastle, Co. Down

Our Lady of the Assumption Church was first opened on 12th June 1966 replacing an earlier church on Main Street. With its architectural echoes of the Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool, the church is now a listed building as “an example of sixties’ architecture”. The building consists of a large ground level drum surmounted by a smaller clerestorey drum with an undulating reinforced concrete folded slab roof. The stained glass was designed by Jack Calderwood. The cupola at the top of the pleated roof was originally glazed but this proved unsatisfactory and it is now copper sheeted. It was intended to refurbish the church for its fortieth anniversary in June 2006 but this was brought forward by a fire in the church on 15th May 2003, which badly damaged one section of the church and smoke damaged the entire building. The refurbishment was carried out by O’Hagan & Associates of Newry.