Church of the Sacred Heart (RC), Adj. to 134 Dublin Road, Newry

Church of the Sacred Heart

An important 20th century basilica plan church in Hiberno-Romanesque style, designed by Dublin architects Ashlin and Coleman and built by Newry builders Neary and O'Hare. The foundation stone was laid by Cardinal Logue on 11th June 1911, and the church was dedicated on 23rd April 1916 (Easter Sunday), then consecrated on 6th September 1930 by Cardinal McRory. It stands as an architectural landmark on a prominent elevated site at Drumalane.

The church is constructed from coursed rock-faced granite with finely dressed detailing. It sits on a hillside, approached by a sweeping driveway and flight of granite steps flanked by decorative cast iron lamp standards. The building aligns east-west and comprises a rectangular nave, side aisles, and sanctuary, with a projecting sacristy to the rear right and a square-based tower abutting the right side of the west façade. The roofs are stone-coped gables over the nave and mono-pitched to the side aisles, all finished in natural green slate in diminishing courses with alternating crested ridge tiles. Moulded granite brackets support cast iron cyma recta gutters and rainwater goods with decorated hopper heads. All windows are leaded.

The main west façade comprises a fenestrated gable with a lean-to gable (aisle) abutting to the left and the tower abutting to the right. Both the central gable and left aisle gable have buttresses rising to mock machicolations along wall heads. The central doorway, accessed by three steps, is set in a deeply recessed Romanesque arch with a pair of colonettes in stepped jambs on either side. A pair of timber doors with mullet panels, large metal handles, and other external furniture leads into the vestibule. Directly above the doorway in the centre of the gable is a label-moulded rose window consisting of a multi-foil centre window ringed by eight smaller cinquefoil windows. Below the window, within its finely dressed surround, is a small decorative arcade of nine blind semicircular-headed arches.

To the left of the main gable, the lean-to aisle roof features a gable containing a tripartite window with three semicircular-headed openings, the central one taller, all within a larger semicircular arched surround with hood mould extending at either side as a string course.

The square-planned tower to the right of the main gable comprises three stages delineated by stringcourses. The first stage (ground floor) features a tripartite window matching that on the left gable, with a statue of the Sacred Heart (Christ) above it under a crocketted and pinnacled granite canopy. Stepped buttresses rise up the edges of the tower to the eaves level of the nave. The second stage, which rises above eaves level, contains a recessed wall panel with a blind arcade of three elongated semicircular-headed arched openings, topped by a mock-machicolated stringcourse. The third stage features an arcade of three semicircular-headed arches supported by Romanesque colonnettes and capitals, with a balustrade of seven semicircular-headed blind panels below the cill. A mock-machicolated eaves course runs above the windows. The roof is a squared onion cupola with fish-scale copper tiles, crocketted ridges and base, a pinnacle and cross finial, and small projecting copper ogee-headed blind lucarnes at three-quarter height.

The tower's right elevation is accessed by two granite steps leading to a mullet-panelled double-leafed timber door with similar furniture to the main doors, set within a semicircular-headed, hood-moulded surround with bead-moulded jamb. A semicircular stair tower with slit windows abuts to the right, finishing just above the side aisle eaves in a conical stone roof.

The left elevation features five pairs of semicircular-headed windows with Celtic motifs in stained glass along the side aisle. A slightly projecting gable between the second and third pair of aisle windows contains a confessional with a cinquefoil window and stone cross finial. The clerestory of the nave has six sets of three semicircular-headed stained glass windows, and three cinquefoil rose windows light the sanctuary. A side chapel projects as a gable with stone cross finial at ground floor level below the rose windows at the extreme left; its gable end contains two central semicircular-headed stained glass windows with a stained glass oeil de boeuf above. The rear gable of the sanctuary has three semicircular-headed stained glass windows at clerestory level, with the central window taller than the others. The side aisle terminates on the left with a second chapel and sacristy beyond. The end gable of the side aisle contains two semicircular-headed stained glass windows. The sacristy has a coped and gabled natural slate roof with a chimney near one end and two semicircular-headed windows on each side elevation; its end gable has two semicircular-headed stained glass windows with a slit louvred window above.

The right elevation features four pairs of semicircular-headed stained glass windows along the aisle wall between the tower and sacristy at ground floor level. A projecting gable (confessional) is situated between the second and third pair of aisle windows, matching those on the left elevation. The clerestory has five groups of three semicircular-headed windows, with three cinquefoil rose windows to the sanctuary to the right.

The church retains high quality contemporary interior detailing and remains relatively unaltered. Related structures on the site include a parochial house and front gates and walling, also listed.