St. Louis Convent, Middletown, Co Armagh

St. Louis Convent, Middletown, Co. Armagh

Building Type, Date and Context

This is a former convent and attached chapel, built between 1876 and approximately 1907, incorporating an earlier house of around 1840 known as Shantally Lodge, whose outbuildings survive to the rear. The convent was designed by the Roman Catholic architect William Hague (1836–1899), who specialised in religious buildings and whose distinctive style is clearly evident throughout. Following Hague's death in 1899, his managing assistant Thomas Francis McNamara continued the practice until 1907–08, overseeing completion of the chapel and its decoration.

Historical Background

The site has a longer history. The earlier farmhouse on the site, named Fee Farm on the 1830s Ordnance Survey map, was associated with St John's Church of Ireland and its glebe house, both located a short distance to the west. By the 1860s, if not before, the subsequently built Shantally Lodge had become the parochial house of the Roman Catholic parish priest for Middletown. Canon William Quinn sought during the 1860s to bring the Sisters of St. Louis to the village. He died in 1869 without achieving this, but left his residence to be used as a convent. His successor, Canon John Quinn, continued to press for a foundation, which was granted in 1875.

The Sisters of St. Louis had originally come to Ireland at the request of the Bishop of Clogher to open a reformatory in Monaghan in 1859, caring for deprived and delinquent children. The foundress was Mother Genevieve Beale, a member of a distinguished London Quaker family who had settled in County Cork, having been converted through contact with a Mrs Woodlock, herself a member of the newly founded French Sisterhood of St. Louis based at Juilly. The Middletown Convent was established in 1875 with just three nuns, led by Mother Elizabeth O'Donovan, initially living in Shantally Lodge. The community quickly grew to include a day school for girls (later a National School), an Orphanage and Industrial School, a small boarding school, and a novitiate.

Building work on the main convent began in 1876, with local villagers supplying materials including stone, brick, sand and gravel. The Orphanage and Industrial School, together with the original Primary School, were housed in a large red brick block a short distance from the main convent, built with grants from the Office of Public Works and officially opened in 1881. The main convent was built in three phases, the first two finished by 1886, and the third — the Chapel of the Sacred Heart — constructed between 1902 and 1904, with internal decoration added between 1904 and 1907.

Hague's connection with nearby St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, is significant in understanding the convent's interior. He designed the cathedral's sacristy and synod hall (1894–97), vestry (1891), grand entrance, gates and sacristan's lodge (1884–86), and at the time of his death was engaged on the great rood screen behind the high altar, with Professor Pietro Lazzarine of Carrara as executant. The tradition carried down by the nuns — that the artists who decorated the Sacred Heart Chapel were also involved at St Patrick's Cathedral — has more than a grain of credibility, and the parallels between the original rood screen at Middletown (visible in old photographs) and that at Armagh Cathedral are close, suggesting the involvement of the same craftsmen, some of them Italian.

The chapel's construction was made possible by a donation of £1,000 from the will of a returned American émigré, Mr J. McQuaid of Middletown, who died in 1894. Plans may have been prepared by Hague shortly afterwards, but the available evidence suggests building work did not begin until 1902. The chapel was structurally complete by 1904, when it was used to celebrate a requiem mass for the foundress, Mother Elizabeth O'Donovan, who died in January 1904. Decorative work continued until at least 1907, a date revealed during restoration work carried out by H. Largey, an Armagh artist and teacher, in 1975. The chapel was formally dedicated by Cardinal Logue on the Feast of the Sacred Heart in 1919.

The finest item in the chapel is undoubtedly the marble altar, said to have been executed in Italy. It was erected by a builder named Henry Pearce and his son Willie, who was the brother of Patrick Pearse, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising in Dublin. A small bronze plaque on the altar commemorates this in Irish. Following the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council, the original altar was partly dismantled to allow a second altar to be built further forward, enabling the priest to face the congregation during Mass. The carved central panel was removed from the original altar for use in this new one, and the original rood screen was dismantled at the same time.

The boarding school closed in 1942. After the war, the sisters were asked to bring the industrial and orphanage school into line with new thinking on child care, and on accepting an invitation from the Ministry of Home Affairs, St Joseph's Training School was established in 1952. In 1970 a new St Louis Primary School opened in the convent grounds, and the old primary school became part of the training school complex. House units opened in October 1972, and a modernised school building followed the next year. In the 1990s the former training school building became a centre for the study of autism.

Architectural Character and Style

Hague's characteristic style is clearly evident throughout the building in the treatment of the dormers, bargeboards, windows, and especially in the exposed roof trusses. Two of his other convents survive nearby: St Clare's Convent in Keady (1877) and the Convent of Poor Clares at Ballyjamesduff (1881–83). The overall composition is a well-proportioned and well-detailed multi-gabled late Victorian and Edwardian building in red brick with sandstone trim, featuring steep roofs, gables, dormers, decorative bargeboards, and brick chimney stacks throughout.

Exterior — Front Façade

The main block faces east-north-east and comprises a three-and-a-half-storey, three-bay gabled block with a two-bay, three-storey projecting gable extension. A lower two-storey, two-bay range links this extension with the chapel to the south. The front façade has long rectangular windows, all grouped in pairs except the dormers. Each window has a relieving arch in matching brickwork, except the ground floor windows of the projecting gable, which have relieving arches in a lighter yellow brick. All windows formerly had sliding one-over-one sash frames; these have all now been replaced with uPVC one-over-one top-opening frames.

The entire front façade, including the canted east end of the chapel chancel, is articulated by narrow horizontal sandstone plat-bands — six in number on the main block — running level with the window sills and just below the ashlar window lintels. Just above the ashlar lintels of each floor there are projecting moulded string courses in a darker sandstone, while a large moulded cornice, also in darker sandstone, runs beneath the eaves. At the north-west end of the façade is an early gothic-style two-tier brick buttress. Iron gutters beneath the eaves connect to four cast iron downpipes, all painted red.

The three-bay gabled block has three dormered roof windows or lucarnes, all with decorated wooden bargeboards and dropped pendants that match the bargeboards and dropped pendant of the large gabled projection on the south-east side. The steeply pitched roof of natural slate above is crowned at the gable ends of the three-bay block by substantial plain brick chimney stacks; a smaller brick chimney stack crowns the gable of the lower gabled extension to the south.

Centrally placed in the three-bay main block is a projecting brick porch with sandstone quoins, all flush with the brickwork, and a Tudor-arched, ashlar moulded door opening. A hood moulding over this door continues around the sides of the porch and over each of the long rectangular window openings in the porch side walls. The porch has an ashlar projecting plinth and is surmounted by a sandstone crenellated parapet with a centrally positioned mini-gabled centrepiece supporting a stone carved cross. On the two-storey extension there is a second projecting porch, also of brick with a projecting plinth and ashlar carved parapet. This has a straight-headed door with a moulded ashlar surround on one side, flanked by a long rectangular window with a plain ashlar surround on the other. The door is reached by a small flight of five stone steps flanked by a low brick balustrade with stone coping.

Exterior — North Gable End

The north end gable of the main block has decorated bargeboards matching those of the front elevation. The attic wall is of exposed brick; the wall below is rendered. There is one window each on the first and second floors, both at the west end, fitted with uPVC one-over-one hopper frames. A 1960s lean-to wooden extension on the west end of the ground floor accommodates a door and short passage entrance to the kitchen area.

Exterior — Rear or West Elevation

With the exception of the chapel and the adjacent two-storey extension, which retain brick walling, the remaining sections of the rear façade are cement rendered, including the two-storey kitchen wing. Windows have uPVC one-over-one top-opening frames throughout, except for one ground floor window of the kitchen wing, which retains an original six-over-six sliding sash frame — a surviving relic of the early Victorian house incorporated into the building. The roof of the main block has three dormers matching those on the front, except that these have plain wooden bargeboards, as does the large gable of the south extension. There are also three small roof lights on the main block and a projecting fire escape down the north side of the wall. The kitchen wing has a double-hipped roof and a tall brick chimney stack. A lean-to arcade, added to provide access to the chapel at the time of its construction around 1902–04, has a pitched roof of natural slate, continuous glazed walling of casement windows, and centrally placed double doors opening to the gardens.

The Chapel — Exterior

The Chapel of the Sacred Heart has brick walls articulated, like the front façade, by sandstone plat-bands. The chancel or sanctuary at the east end has a canted apse with a hipped slated roof and three gothic window openings, all with ashlar surrounds featuring cusped trefoil mouldings, and hood mouldings terminating in decorative carved ball-flower bosses. The iron gutters of the cornice are supported by decorative stone brackets or modillions, which are also continued along the long side of the chapel. There are five regularly spaced lancet windows along the long south side of the chapel; these have no cusped mouldings but all have ashlar surrounds and hood mouldings with decorative ball-flower terminals. The chapel has a projecting plinth with ashlar coping and four early gothic-style buttresses.

The west gable end of the chapel has a large mid-gothic style reticulated stone tracery window — referred to hereafter as the Great Window — incorporating surmounting circular openings and no cusping. At ground floor level below the Great Window are two rectangular openings, each with a stone mullion and ashlar surround. The projecting gables of the chapel roof have stone coping and decorative ashlar kneelers. The roof is covered in natural stone slates with decorative tile ridge cresting, and the west gable is crowned by a pedimented brick bell-cote surmounted by a small stone crucifix.

The north side of the chapel has a two-storey lean-to brick extension with a slated roof, accommodating the gallery staircase and entrance porch. This has a large doorway with stone surround at the west end, a Tudor-arched window above it, and two pairs of long rectangular windows on the north side, one pair on each floor.

The Chapel — Interior

The chapel interior is remarkable, representing a unique example within Northern Ireland of highly decorated painted walls. The decoration, added between 1904 and 1907, includes painted walls, Stations of the Cross, and a panelled and painted ceiling. The chapel also contains a gallery with a cusped gothic balustrade, and a chancel fitted out to a very high standard, with quality fittings and mosaic flooring. These features were possibly undertaken by craftsmen — some of them Italian — who were working at Armagh Cathedral at the same time.

Outbuildings — Rear Range

Immediately behind the convent block and running parallel to it is a long two-storey early Victorian gabled rendered range. It contains two coach houses facing the convent, one with a segmental arch and original ledged and braced double doors, as well as former stables, accommodation for a former groom (the chimney has been removed), and former grain storage areas on the first floor. At right angles to the rear of this range on the south side is a three-bay, two-storey building with a steep slated roof and whitened brick walls, containing a coach house and grain storage above. It has no chimney.

Outbuildings — Corrugated Iron Shed

A small but striking single-storey gabled shed is located upslope from the former coach house range. It is clad in red painted corrugated iron and was probably built in the 1920s.

Gates and Gate Piers

The gardens to the rear of the convent are accessed through a decorative iron gate of good quality, flanked by ashlar piers with cusped gothic panels on each face and distinctive ogee-shaped cap stones. Unusually, the piers are set diagonally to the gate. The piers are linked on each side to a low wall with simple iron railings.

Gardens and Cemetery

The sloping ground behind the convent is occupied by a simple garden with lawns, miniature trees, shrubs and concrete paths. The base wall of a former rectangular glasshouse lies on the north edge of the garden. At the top of the garden is a small grass cemetery plot enclosed by low walling and entered from the south side by a simple but attractive iron gate.

Annex Building — Former Industrial School and Orphanage

Located a short distance north-east of the convent on an east–west axis, the former industrial school and orphanage was opened in 1881. It is built in the same red brick style as the convent, with ashlar plat-bands and decorated bargeboards, though in a much simpler manner overall. At the west end it comprises a two-storey, four-bay gabled range with a steep slated roof, a full-height canted bay at the east end of the front elevation, three dormers at the front and four at the rear. A low narrow two-storey range, with an adjoining pair of tall stone-cut Tudor arches serving as the building's entrance, links the west range to a double-pile, three-bay, multi-gabled two-storey range with steep roofs at the east end. A lower two-storey gabled range with dormers is attached to the north-east of this building. All windows throughout this complex have been replaced with uPVC top-opening frames, and all original interior features have been removed and the interiors modernised.