Church of Ireland Parish Churches

I can offer a bit more info for this church, also in Wexford; St.Paul’s, Balloughton, Parish of Bannow, just outside Carrick on Bannow.

It does look quite peculiar from the outside;

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It was built in 1822 replacing an older church, at a cost of £587 of which £461 came from the Board of First Fruits. In 1871, Captain Boyse R.N.D.L. of Bannow House, had a new vestry built and in 1874 funded a re-roofing, a new transept, a removal of an older gallery and the installation of a new east window. The Boyse family also provided the church with several furnishings.

There’s some good glass in the transept windows too, some fine monuments and beautiful tiling in the chancel.
And, in stark contrast to the catholic churches, common sense is employed in the decoration.

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All Saints, Killesk Parish, just outside Duncannon, south Wexford. I think this may qualify as a hidden gem.

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The name of the architect has slipped my mind, if anyone can supply it…

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There’s been alot of work done on it just recently, most of that if not all on the west end.

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The church boasts an extraordinary wealth of stained glass, some of it in hard to find little niches that you would miss like the above cherub. Most of it is by Mayers and some by Clayton and Bell, there’s also one modern addition.

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The east window is by Mayers;

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not sure about the west rose;

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ake: stunning stuff and great pictures; I hope this thread really takes off, but obviously my ability to offer any advice is severely limited. I have just come back from a trip to Marseille of all places and noticed that some of the churches I saw there were both well-maintained and decently decorated (Notre Dame de la Garde has been magnificently restored). Maybe the tide has turned.
The C of I ‘less is more’ approach is to be valued and some of these country churches are real gems.

Ake,

The church in your first set of photographs (excellent, by the way) is the new Killegney Church (Killegney parish), built on the Castleboro estate in 1825-7 as the successor to the earlier Killegney Church (in ruins 1841) in a nearby Killegney townland. The church has been attributed to Martin Day (d. 1860), who collaborated with Daniel Robertson (d. 1849) on Castleboro House, and was put in place as a combined estate-cum-parish church. It was ‘improved’ in 1839, when the tower was added with financial assistance from Sir Robert Shapland Carew (1787-1856), 1st Baron Carew, and was extended in 1906, when the chancel was added, presumably with financial assistance from Robert Shapland George Julian Carew DL (1860-1923), third Baron Carew. The tapestries (1912?) in the chancel, known as the W. Hill Memorial Tapestries, are the work of Lady Julia Mary Carew (née Lethbridge) (d. 1922),

There is some history on the church here: http://killanne.ferns.anglican.org/Killegney%20page1.html

The church in your third set of photographs, All Saints Church (Saint James’ or Dunbrody parish), was completed in 1878 and is the work of James Franklin Fuller (1835-1924). It was sponsored in part by Lord Templemore of the nearby Dunbrody estate.

I look forward to seeing more of your photographs!

Diem

@johnglas wrote:

ake: stunning stuff and great pictures; I hope this thread really takes off, but obviously my ability to offer any advice is severely limited. I have just come back from a trip to Marseille of all places and noticed that some of the churches I saw there were both well-maintained and decently decorated (Notre Dame de la Garde has been magnificently restored). Maybe the tide has turned.
The C of I ‘less is more’ approach is to be valued and some of these country churches are real gems.

Any pictures of the French expedition?

@johnglas wrote:

ake: stunning stuff and great pictures; I hope this thread really takes off, but obviously my ability to offer any advice is severely limited. I have just come back from a trip to Marseille of all places and noticed that some of the churches I saw there were both well-maintained and decently decorated (Notre Dame de la Garde has been magnificently restored). Maybe the tide has turned.
The C of I ‘less is more’ approach is to be valued and some of these country churches are real gems.

yes I agree in fact they usually make a refreshing comparison to the other churches, especially from a conservation pov.

@Diem wrote:

Ake,

There is some history on the church here: http://killanne.ferns.anglican.org/Killegney%20page1.html

Diem

brilliant thanks for that Diem.

They two tapestries hanging on the sidewalls of the chancel are extraordinary indeed. Unfortunately when I was inside, the way the light was, with the tapestries both beside and opposite the glaring chancel side windows on a dull day, I failed to get decent photographs of them. Maybe the next time I’m around there I’ll be luckier.

Regarding Fuller, I could be completely mistaken, but I think I may faintly recall his name being mentioned in relation to the Carrick on Bannow church east of All Saints by a few km. He may, may have been linked to the later additions to it. That could be quite wrong however, the buildings obviously being somewhat disparate in quality!

Another County Wexford beauty is St.James’s in Horetown, a parish in south central wexford, set in idyllic countryside, the surrounding leafy townlands remarkably beautiful, with an outstanding number of surviving old landscaped estates, mostly (relatively) unscathed. A stunning prospect in autumn especially.

The church is a small nave and chancel, no aisles, the exterior now a lovely mature wexford sanstone rubble, the interior simple enough, pleasantly (properly) plastered in white with a molded chancel arch, which looks like Dundry.

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It is an ancient parish, the townland being named after William Le Hore a norman debutant. the present church dates from the 1860’s but unfortunately I haven’t been able to unearth any more info on it. Anybody have anything?

A bit further away is St.Patrick’s down in Kenmare, not dissimilar in style, but with an aisle

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such beautiful unity and purpose with simple means. but why haven’t they painted it pink?:confused:

This shot is from a few years back. I wonder if the plaster has been repaired.

would be very grateful for any info or more pictures of this one.

Next is St.Mary’s, Inistioge, Kilkenny a rebuilt medieval priory church.

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There’s are lots of medieval remains in Inistioge including of the priory, but the most astonishing is without doubt this 13thc portrait grave slab of the first prior, Alured, set in the ground in the porch.

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The rebuilt church is quite a lovely interior, with very nice glass in the east window;

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who would this glass be by I wonder?

Ake,

Saint James’s Church (Horetown) was built in 1859-62 to designs attributed to Joseph Welland (1798-1860), then solely responsible for the output of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Although a date stone, which I have not seen, reputedly bears the inscription “1856”, the drawings in the RCB are dated 1862. The church was built as the successor to a Board of First Fruits church occupying the same position on the 1841 six-inch OS map sheet: according to Samuel Lewis (1837), the earlier church was constructed reusing stone salvaged from a Carmelite monastery.

Due to the proximity to Horetown House, it is widely accepted that Strangman Goff-Davis (1810-83) financed much of the building work. This theory is supported by a collection of contemporary (1861-2) photographs from the Goff collection, copies in the IAA, illustrating each stage of the building of the church from wall construction to roof construction, and final completion.

Thomas Lacy in Sights and Scenes in Our Fatherland (1863) states: “Passing on from this place [neighbouring Taghmon], several handsome seats present themselves to the traveller’s notice, including Horetown, the rich and beautiful residence of Strangman Davis Goff, Esq., upon the lawn of which has lately been erected a very handsome Protestant church…” (p.507).

More information on Saint James’s Church, which forms part of the present Wexford Union of Parishes, can be found here: http://www.wexford.ferns.anglican.org/horetown.html

Diem

great diem thanks for that.

I see http://www.dia.ie has an index of Welland’s works. what a fantastic new resource.

@ake wrote:

A bit further away is St.Patrick’s down in Kenmare, not dissimilar in style, but with an aisle

such beautiful unity and purpose with simple means. but why haven’t they painted it pink?:confused:

This shot is from a few years back. I wonder if the plaster has been repaired.

would be very grateful for any info or more pictures of this one.

Well thanks to dia.ie we can say this too is by Welland!

Looking at Welland’s many works in his index on the above mentioned site, I see that he did some work in that Georgian gem, St.Werburgh’s, Dublin; ‘repewing’.

I was under the false impression that almost alone among Georgian churches, St.Werburgh’s had been left practically untouched by the Victorians, and that in particular, the pews of St.Werburgh’s were the definite example of that lost feature in Ireland. But apparently not. I wonder how much the seating arrangments were changed by Welland? Here are some pictures of the pews;

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So what did the repewing consist of can anyone say? what’s there looks contemporary with the gallery so…

Also, is there a church in England perhaps with the Georgian arrangements still intact?

St.Mary’s, Enniscorthy; also by Welland.

some more info on this later.

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Some superb little chuches there ake, modest but very tasteful interiors. Also some beautiful stained glass windows, wood carvings and timberwork! A bit of a contrast in style to the thread on Catholic Churches given the theological differences, etc…but equally highly important to the religious architecture and religious life of Ireland!

@ake wrote:

St.Mary’s, Enniscorthy; also by Welland.

some more info on this later.

According to dia.ie this is also by Welland.

It was built in the 1840’s and cost around £4000. In 1850 the tower and spire were added costing £1000.

At around this time also there was some modification of the chancel.

The church had lost it’s old organ in 1798 (which had been in the old church). In 1864 the present organ was acquired from the Chapel Royal in Dublin where it had been erected by Telford in 1815. (it’s first playing was at a thanksgiving service for waterloo). In 1885 it was enlarged and altered and then moved out of the west gallery to the south of the chancel. There was some more work done on it in 2005 the time of the re-roofing.

When in 1994 it was decided to partially restore Pugin’s wrecked Cathedral of St.Aidan’s, St.Mary’s was made available to the RCC for sunday masses and weddings and funerals.

The East window is by William Morris and co, Westminster.

Incidentally, in the post above on St.Werburgh’s you can see another piece of furniture originally from the Chapel Royal- the pulpit – designed by Francis Johnston.

ake: keep up the good work. Particularly interested in the majestic (or viceregal) interior of St W’s, apart from those awful heaters. However, it does need some serious tlc; I’ve never found it open – any idea when it is (apart from services)?
In the nature of a great fantasy: what would a modern (or contemporary) completion of the facade look like?
My own most abiding memories of a CoI church are of the bells of St Comgall’s Bangor booming out over the town; change-ringing and evensong are two of Anglicanism’s great contibutions to world culture (imo, of course).

Re. All Saints Church, Killesk, Duncannon.
The West rose window is by Daniels from the Clayton & Bell Studio. With two exceptions the windows are all by Clayton & Bell, the exceptions being The E. window depicting the last Supper is by Myers, and a more recent window is by Meg Lawerence.
Appox 120k€ has been spent on the Church over the past few years, between re roofing, wiring, West Wall, Windows etc.
The Church was built by public subscription, in 1878 at a cost of £1,500 the list of subscribers is retained.
Ivan R. Ward, Churchwarden.

@johnglas wrote:

ake: keep up the good work. Particularly interested in the majestic (or viceregal) interior of St W’s, apart from those awful heaters. However, it does need some serious tlc; I’ve never found it open – any idea when it is (apart from services)?
In the nature of a great fantasy: what would a modern (or contemporary) completion of the facade look like?
My own most abiding memories of a CoI church are of the bells of St Comgall’s Bangor booming out over the town; change-ringing and evensong are two of Anglicanism’s great contibutions to world culture (imo, of course).

Yes those heaters are hard to credit! As far as I know, it’s not generally open, (which may be a mixed blessing). I gained access thanks to a local keyholder. I think it was through the people in Christchurch Cathedral I got the number.

It’s well worth the effort.

As for the facade, it was actually completed, but the top part and tower were taken down apparently for security reasons or so I’ve heard it claimed, because it was so close to Dublin Castle. All the info is here;

http://www.rsai.ie/index.cfm?action=obj.display&obj_id=99

ake: thanks for that; yes, I’ve been aware of the story, but it seems a tall tale to me, or an early urban myth. I suspect a weak underlying structure was the real reason – a sad loss though.

I think this is the best place for this; though it’s not about a parish church but a cathedral, I would really like to make this known;

The History, Architecture, and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of St. Canice, Kilkenny
By James Graves
Published by Hodges, Smith, & co., 1857

This whole book, including illustrations is available free on Google Books;

http://books.google.com/books?id=Z_IDAAAAYAAJ

It’s an extremely fine, detailed, readable account of the architecture, building materials, historic furnishings, and most of all tomb monuments of the cathedral. It’s exactly the type of thing you would want for every such ancient church in ireland (and which often exists for a given church but is hopelessly difficult to acquire). It goes through in detail each aspect of the architecture, and then the monuments including engravings of the medieval tomb inscriptions and their translations and then the history of the personages that are known from records etc. It also details some fragments of the famous medieval stained glass that existed in the chancel, which were discovered around the 1850’s. the scholarship doesn’t seem at all as out of date as you might expect, with one or two exceptions (e.g. -the round tower!). Also, it was written before some significant works were done later in the century (by Deane) but most of the content actually describes features untouched, and when it does not, well is of more interest ipso facto really. The engravings are also top class.

Since most of the stained glass was added later it doesn’t deal with this, however, one of the most complete entries in the new Dictionary of Irish Architects http://www.dia.ie is on none other than St.Canice’s, and it details the authors and dates of most if not all of the stained glass windows, as well as the other modern furnishings.

If anyone is aware of other such books for other Irish churches available online please post the info here

@ake wrote:

St.Mary’s, Enniscorthy; also by Welland.

some more info on this later.

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Hi
The internal pictures of St mary’s Of Enniscorthy are great do you have any external photographs
Regards
James Keenan

You’ll find some (not best quality) photographs of the exterior and interior of Saint Mary’s Church, Enniscorthy, here: http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=images&county=WX&regno=15603085

Any new churches to add to this thread?

Diem

@ake wrote:

According to dia.ie this is also by Welland.

It was built in the 1840’s and cost around £4000. In 1850 the tower and spire were added costing £1000.

At around this time also there was some modification of the chancel.

The church had lost it’s old organ in 1798 (which had been in the old church). In 1864 the present organ was acquired from the Chapel Royal in Dublin where it had been erected by Telford in 1815. (it’s first playing was at a thanksgiving service for waterloo). In 1885 it was enlarged and altered and then moved out of the west gallery to the south of the chancel. There was some more work done on it in 2005 the time of the re-roofing.

When in 1994 it was decided to partially restore Pugin’s wrecked Cathedral of St.Aidan’s, St.Mary’s was made available to the RCC for sunday masses and weddings and funerals.

The East window is by William Morris and co, Westminster.

Incidentally, in the post above on St.Werburgh’s you can see another piece of furniture originally from the Chapel Royal- the pulpit – designed by Francis Johnston.

I am currently researching the musical history of the Chapel Royal, and I find this very interesting. Do you have any sources for your information on the Telford organ?