Old Runis | Clive Jennings Photography

Taken 02nd of March in Ballinrobe Co Mayo of old ruins

Church ruin on Chapel Road/Castlebar Road

This ruin of a Church was originally a large, slated building erected in 1815 by subscription, with Lord Tyrawley (Cuff) donating land and £50. It is a free standing cruciform-plan rubble stone ruin with this design being called a “Latin Cross ground plan”.
In a descriptions of Ballinrobe from “A Topographic Dictionary of Ireland ” by Samuel Lewis, in 1837 he states that “the R.C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church; the chapel, a large slated building with a lofty square tower, was erected in 1815 by subscription, toward which the late Lord Tyrawley (Cuff Family)gave £50 and one acre of land.
The original slated roof and timber joists were removed and relocated to the boy’s secondary school behind the current Parish Hall (formally Charter School) on Cornmarket(No 3). The original design of the roof timbers result in the steep pitch on this school roof.
There is a very tall tower located on site with numerous crosses on it battlements. There was no doubt that the Church of Ireland had the better location within the town and on higher ground. This is often cited as the reason a new Church, St Mary’s RC, was built in the heart of the town only a few years later with its foundation stone being laid in c 1851.
There is a doubt that the tower was built at the same time as the Church and may have been a later addition c 1827.
A lease for the new Church, St. Mary’s, now located on Main Street was first obtained by Rev. Peter Conway c 1849. The actual building took many years, due to a lack of funding through the famine times, with its dedication on Pentecost Sunday 1863.

http://www.everytrail.com/guide/ballinrobe-co-mayo-town-heritage-walk