St Patricks RC Church, Chapel Hill Road, Mayobridge, Newry, Co Down, BT34 2EL

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Mayobridge, County Down

St Patrick's is a large mid-19th century Gothic Revival basilica-plan church, built in a severe early Gothic style using local materials. Its foundation stone was blessed by Dr Leahy, Coadjutor of the diocese, on 15 August 1859, and the church was dedicated by Bishop Leahy on 12 October 1862. It was erected under the direction of Fr John Brennan, who died on 17 December 1868 aged 50. The building is shown on the 1860 Ordnance Survey map, replacing an earlier structure recorded as 'RC chapel' on the 1834 first edition map, which stood where the present church hall now stands. The interior has been radically altered. The church sits in an elevated graveyard on the east side of Chapel Hill Road, aligned west to east, within an attractive tree-lined churchyard containing numerous 19th century memorials.

Exterior

The nave has a steeply pitched natural slate roof with Celtic cross finials, slightly raised skews, and kneelers to the gables. An ogee-moulded masonry eaves course supports modern metal box gutters. The lean-to roofs of the side aisles are similarly detailed but less steeply pitched. Walls are of dressed granite in irregular blocks with a finely dressed chamfer to the rubble base course. All openings are trimmed with stepped, finely dressed sandstone.

West (Principal) Elevation

The main entrance faces west and is approached by three dressed granite steps. A pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted doors with decorative strap hinges is set within a Gothic-headed doorway with a chamfered two-order reveal and a hood mould with plain stops. Modern tubular metal handrails are affixed to the wall on either side of the entrance. Set in the right reveal of the doorway is a small brass plaque reading: "St Patrick's Church Mayobridge / Erected by / Fr John Brennan / who died on 17.12.1868 / aged 50yrs / foundation stone / blessed by Dr Leahy Coadjutor of the / diocese / on 15th August 1859 / The church was / dedicated by / Bishop Leahy / on 12th October 1862". A modern stone plaque with an identical inscription is set into the wall near the right corner.

Filling the front gable above the entrance is a large Gothic-arched sandstone panel containing a plate tracery window. This consists of three tall lancet windows — the central one taller than the outer two — all stained and leaded, with chamfered reveals and splayed cills. Above the lancets are three roundels with similar reveals, inset with cusped leaded lights, all under a common hood mould matching that of the door below. In the gable apex is a small cusped vent. Flanking the front gable, set back slightly, are the west ends of each side aisle, each containing a plate tracery window comprising a pair of lancets with a roundel in their common spandrel, in the same style as the west gable lancets.

North Elevation

The north elevation of the nave is almost completely abutted at ground floor by the side aisle, leaving only a narrow portion of wall exposed at the east end. This exposed section has a two-staged stepped buttress at its left and a single lancet window at ground floor level. At clerestory level, just below the eaves, are five roughly square cusped windows containing modern leaded lights.

The north-facing wall of the north side aisle has a base course that steps up towards the east end. It is divided into five bays, each with a pair of leaded lancet windows, except for the fourth bay, which contains a gabled porch. The porch has a steeply pitched natural slate roof with a stone ridge, and is partially tied into the aisle roof. Its end gable contains a doorway identical in design to the main west entrance but slightly smaller, with a modern concrete wheelchair ramp leading up to it. Both side elevations of the porch are identical, each having three small cusped windows matching those at clerestory level, with modern glazing. The west end of the north side aisle matches its east end, which was described above in relation to the west gable.

East (Rear) Gable

The east gable of the nave has three tall lancet windows at its centre — the central one taller — matching those of the west front but without a hood mould. The wall tapers at the bottom where north and south buttresses abut.

South Elevation

The south elevation of the main block is similar in all details to the north elevation. The south side aisle differs in several respects: the first (leftmost) bay is abutted by a porch identical to that on the north elevation; the second, third, and fourth bays have pairs of lancet windows as on the north side; and the fifth bay is abutted by a sacristy.

Sacristy

The sacristy has a steeply pitched roof tying into the top of the side aisle roof, though with a lower eaves level, and is detailed to match the main block. Its south end gable is blank except for a slightly advanced chimney breast, which steps inward in two stages and rises to a square-section chimney with chamfered corners and a moulded coping. The west elevation of the sacristy has three granite steps leading to a tongue-and-groove sheeted door with strap hinges, set within an opening with a shouldered arch head and chamfered reveals. To the right of this door is a single lancet window with leaded, coloured glazing. Below it, a flight of steps — enclosed by modern railings and a trap door — leads to a basement boiler room. The east elevation of the sacristy has two lancets detailed in the same manner as the one on the west elevation. A modern oil tank stands adjacent.

Interior

The interior has been radically altered. It is noted that the side altar of Christ after the Crucifixion was formerly the centrepiece of the main altar at St Mary's Church, Burren.

Setting and Graveyard

To the rear left of the church the site rises, and a grotto is built into the bank in quarry-faced rubble granite. It has a central niche containing a statue of Mary with St Bernadette at her feet. A finely dressed granite plaque in the right corner reads: "Erected to Our Lady of Lourdes / by the parishioners of Mayobridge / in honour of the Marian Year 1987-88".

On the slope behind the grotto, a bronze bell is supported on a welded steel skeletal frame set on a granite ashlar plinth. The bell is engraved: "Sheridan Eagle Foundry. In honorom beati pitritii cum funera / aut beatam Mariam invoco vigil at orate / com sabbato plango audite / et ad sacaficium miss ae congreat 1866", and bears the maker's mark "J O'Byrne Foundry, Dublin". A wheel pulley operates the bell. A bell with the same maker's mark is found at St Colman's Roman Catholic Church, Longstone Road, Rathfriland.

The graveyard fills the north and south of the churchyard and has been further enlarged to the south. It is bounded to the east and south by large mature beech trees. To the north is a plain 20th century hall aligned north to south, considered of no architectural interest.

The memorials range from 19th century slate and dressed granite gravestones to modern polished examples. Three are of particular note:

1. A large Celtic cross on the west side of the north churchyard, dedicated to Rose Loughran (died 1892). It stands on an inscribed, chamfered three-stage plinth, and all faces are decorated with carved early Christian repeat patterns with cable mouldings to the arris.

2. The Bradley memorial (1868), on the east side of the south churchyard. This is a tall, finely dressed circular granite pillar with a conical coping and a projecting chamfered base, with a raised inscribed crest on the east side.

3. The Moore memorial, on the east side of the north churchyard. This is a roughly dressed stone with an incised cross and very irregular text reading: "P C A K A / Moore / Buley, RIP".