Church of the Immaculate Conception 21 Lissummon Road Serse Newry Co Down BT35 6NA

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Parish of Lower Killeavy

This Roman Catholic church was built between 1934 and 1936 to designs by Dublin architect Ralph Henry Byrne, replacing an earlier pre-emancipation chapel on the opposite side of Lissummon Road. It stands in the townland of Serse at Lissummon, approximately 5.5 miles north-west of Newry, County Down, on a bend of Lissummon Road at its junction with Lissummon Church Road. It is an unusually ornate and accomplished example of a mid-1930s rural church, and carries both local and social significance.

Background and History

The church replaced St Patrick's, a pre-emancipation chapel constructed in 1828 — shortly before the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 — which appeared on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1835 as an R.C. Chapel. The earlier building was a T-shaped rubble masonry structure with a slate roof, recorded in valuation notebooks until 1933 and described as "in danger of collapse" in April 1934. Some contemporary newspaper reports gave its construction date as 1820, recording it as 114 years old in 1934. The old church bore a sundial dated 1828, designed by Thomas McCreash, a Poyntzpass schoolmaster and noted maker of sundials in the 1810s and 1820s who carved four sundials for County Armagh churches during this period. This sundial survives and was relocated to an exterior wall of the new church. Portions of the walls of the old building were preserved in the churchyard, where a shrine and holy water font also commemorate the earlier structure. The old building was dismantled in 1939, its timbers reused in local outbuildings. Photographs of the earlier church appear in the commemorative history of the parish.

Plans for a new church had been discussed for some years after 1900, when the old building began falling into disrepair. The site opposite the former chapel was acquired from the Misses Sara and Selina Bell, one of whom was a teacher at Lissummon school. A new schoolhouse (since demolished) and a teacher's residence were built on the acquired site in 1912, but the new church was not constructed until more than two decades later.

The contractors were Murtagh Lavery and Sons of Newry, whose estimate was £3,942 0s 2d. The foundation stone was laid on 15th July 1934, and the church was dedicated on 27th September 1936. Byrne's original designs are held in the Irish Architectural Archive in Dublin within the W.H. Byrne and Son drawings collection.

Ralph Henry Byrne was the son of William Henry Byrne, and the two practised together under the name W.H. Byrne and Son. Kevin Mulligan, in the Pevsner Architectural Guide to South Ulster, describes the firm as dominating Catholic building in the 20th century and as one of the most prolific and memorable church builders in South Ulster. He credits Ralph Henry Byrne with a mastery of composition and an extraordinary command of historic exemplars, and describes this church as "an arresting diminutive-looking church in an Italian Romanesque idiom, successfully expressed in the unusual combination of brown machined brick and reconstituted stone."

Exterior

The church is built in the Lombardic-Romanesque style with a rectangular plan. The walls are constructed in dark red machined Dungannon brick laid in English garden wall bond, with reconstituted fire-cast stone dressings manufactured to resemble Newry granite. A tall stone plinth runs to all sides, with brick above. The main roof is pitched and covered in natural slate. A square-plan sacristy with a flat roof is attached to the north-west side, and projecting confessionals with pitched leaded roofs appear on each side. Rainwater goods are cast iron, with a PVC soil pipe on the north-west side. All windows are stained glass leaded lights with stone sills, and all window and door surrounds are of reconstituted fire-cast stone, unless otherwise noted.

The front (north-east) elevation is a gabled symmetrical façade. At its centre is a square-headed door opening with a decorative stone surround, original panelled painted timber bolection-moulded double-leaf doors, and a leaded stained glass overlight. Small window openings flank the door on each side. Above, at high level, is a central rose stained glass window. Both the door opening and the rose window are set within a tall blind arch with a carved diamond-shaped moulded surround. Stone soldiered quoins finish each edge of the façade. A corbelled arcade with diminutive stepped blind arches runs to eaves level. At the apex is a belfry with a pitched lead roof and a small cross; the bell and its associated apparatus are extant.

The north-west side elevation is largely symmetrical, with the flat-roofed sacristy to the right. Toothed stone quoins finish each edge, and a concave stone eaves detail runs along the top. A projecting confessional, constructed in stone, occupies the centre of the elevation. It has the same decorative eaves detail as the front elevation, a small pitched leaded roof, a diminutive rectangular window to its centre, and a small cast iron cross at its apex. A small circular window is aligned directly above the confessional. The confessional is flanked on each side by three tall semi-circular headed window openings with brick arched heads and applied polycarbonate storm glazing. The sacristy has an original panelled painted timber door with a decorative surround on its north-east face, a stone band below the coping, and a flat roof (not visible at the time of survey). Two 1-over-1 timber sliding sash windows with coloured leaded glazing face the north-west.

The rear (south-west) elevation is also a symmetrical gabled façade, with three tall window openings; the central window is taller than the two flanking it. The same soldiered quoins and decorative eaves detail appear here as on the front. A carved metal date stone inscribed "1933" is set at low level within the plinth. A carved stone cross sits at the apex. At high level on the rear façade of the sacristy, to the left, is the relocated slate sundial dated 1828 and designed by Thomas McCreash. The sacristy's rear wall has no openings.

The south-east side elevation is a mirror image of the north-west, with identical detailing throughout.

Interior

The interior retains much original historic fabric. The church was built with a high altar, two side altars, a porch, baptistry, and a stairway to the gallery at the entrance, with a priest's sacristy opening off the sanctuary. Woodwork, including the seating and confessionals, was made in the workshops of the contractor, Lavery and Sons of Newry. The roof is of exposed pitched pine trusses, panelled with "Tentest" boarding, a Canadian import with insulating properties.

Charles W. Harrison and Son of Dublin — art workers in stone, metal and wood, active 1860 to 1972 — were responsible for the high altar, side altars, and altar rail. The high altar incorporates Sienna brocatelle and second statuary (a type of Carrara) marble with inlaid gold mosaic. The side altars are of second statuary marble with aurora rose panels and inlaid gold mosaic. Messrs Smyth and Son of Dublin — art metalwork specialists, active 1840 to 1946 — supplied the altar tabernacles, candlesticks, and gates. The window openings were filled at construction with stained glass of a specially designed pattern in straw, buff and green. The rear sanctuary wall is of particular note, carrying a richly coloured mosaic depicting religious symbolism.

Setting

The church faces north-east and sits behind a low brick wall with a plain stone coping and plinth. Square-plan piers with pyramidal capping stones support cast iron gates and railings of simple design; the gates on the church side have decorative curled stays, while the main gates feature organic-shaped details. The church frontage is laid in concrete with 20th-century steps and a ramp.

A 20th-century dwelling stands to the south side, the former teacher's residence lies to the west at the rear, and a graveyard occupies the east side of Lissummon Road opposite the church. Within the graveyard is a memorial marking the site of the pre-emancipation church, along with a surviving granite stoup.