‘May we blamelessly, nay laudably, cherish so precious an architectural gem as St Doulagh’s Chapel’ – (Archbishop Reeves 1859)
In our United Parishes we are privileged to have such a historic building as St Doulagh’s Church to worship within.
This privilege however includes the costly burden of its maintenance which because of the churches unique National Heritage status requires that any proposed conservation works comply with all the associated building regulations and in addition have official government approval.
The ‘St Doulagh’s 2020 Conservation Plan’ drawn up by Select Vestry sets out the proposal of works deemed necessary for the maintenance and development of the church within the next decade.
The reports immediate priorities are that of eliminating leaks and repairing the water damaged fabric of the stone roofed medieval structure along with repairing the slated roof of the modern 1864 church.
Permission to carry out the proposed repairs has already been applied for and granted by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Whilst the Select Vestry have been raising funds for the proposed urgent repairs, we are pleased to report that our ‘2020 Conservation Plan’ and a commissioned Engineer’s Conservation Report have recently been submitted to Fingal County Council with a view to obtaining heritage grants towards the envisaged works.
In general conservation grants for such works, if made, are for finite amounts and must also be matched by equal sums from our own church funds thus leaving substantial balances to still be raised within the parish.
Currently we are in consultations with our appointed engineers and will be seeking tenders for the initial phase of the conservation with the expectation of commencing work in June 2018 provided grant aid and finance are in place.