Preserving Architectural Heritage
St. Peter & Pauls Church, Kilmallock is an elaborate, monumental church of architectural importance, which was one of the later churches designed by the well-known Gothic Revival architect, J.J. McCarthy.
There is rich internal carving and decoration, with ornate mosaics in the chancel, designed under the direction of George Ashlin, and stained glass by Mayer and Earley. McCarthy died in 1884 and Ashlin worked on the church between 1887-1893, his various work includes designing the tower and spire of the church to designing the benches, holy water stoup, hinges on outside doors and the communion gates.
The current conservation and repair works consist primarily of careful removal of cementitious pointing, which was introduced in mid-20th century (as with many churches of that era). This was assumed at the time to be a new method for damp proofing the external envelope of the church, this method of repointing was, in fact a failure and simply trapped moisture and did not allow the walls to “breathe”.
Pointing to the rear sanctuary wall, and part of the South wall is complete, also the West entrance wall all face the tall tower on the West face, has recently been cleaned and treated against fungal attack.
We will be sharing regular updates on the progress of this exciting conservation project across our website and social media platforms, so stay tuned.
