Survey Data
Reg No
15701128
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
In Use As
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
Date
1800 - 1840
Coordinates
310825, 152811
Date Recorded
12/11/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey parochial house, extant 1840, on a rectangular plan. Hipped slate roof with lichen-covered clay ridge tiles, paired rendered central chimney stacks having stringcourses below stepped capping supporting yellow terracotta tapered pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slightly overhanging rendered eaves with cast-iron downpipes. Part creeper- or ivy-covered rendered, ruled and lined walls with rusticated rendered quoins to corners. Round-headed central door opening, timber doorcase with fluted pilasters on step threshold supporting ogee-detailed cornice on fluted consoles, and concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having sidelights on panelled risers below fanlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six (ground floor) or three-over-six (first floor) timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (side elevations) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing two-over-two (ground floor) or three-over-six (first floor) timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling, cantilevered staircase on a dog leg plan with turned timber "spindle" balusters supporting carved timber banister terminating in volute, carved timber surrounds to door openings to landing framing timber panelled doors centred on carved timber surround to window opening framing timber panelled shutters, and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; drawing room (west) retaining carved timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled door with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers, Classical-style chimneypiece, and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; dining room (east) retaining carved timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled door with carved timber surround to window opening framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers, and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters. Set in landscaped grounds with rendered chamfered piers to perimeter having corbelled stepped stringcourses below pyramidal capping supporting cast-iron double gates.
Appraisal
A parochial house representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase showing a banded radial fanlight; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the modest artistic potential of a parochial house forming part of a self-contained group alongside the adjacent Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart (see 15701127) with the resulting ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene. NOTE: Occupied (1901) by Reverend Patrick Doyle (1847-1909), 'Roman Catholic Parish Priest late of Ballyoughter [sic] Ballycanew Gorey County Wexford' (NA 1901; Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1909, 150); and (1911) by Reverend Nicholas Mernagh (1860-1937), 'Parish Priest' (NA 1911).