St Mary's Church
St Mary's was built in 1831, in the first years after Catholic Emancipation, and that is most of its interest: a substantially intact pre-Famine Catholic chapel, modest rather than showy. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage rates it of regional importance and flags architectural, artistic, historical, social and technical interest.
It is cruciform, with a two-bay nave opening into single-bay transepts and a shallow chancel, under a pitched slate roof carrying a bellcote finished with a Celtic Cross. The rendered walls are battered, sloping inward as they rise, which is a plain and robust West Kerry treatment, with cut limestone coping and surrounds. The windows are pointed-arch with timber sashes, six over six in the nave and fourteen over fourteen in the transepts, an unusually large pattern that fills the transepts with light.
Two things to look for: the lancet Trinity Window on the south side, with leaded stained glass behind concealed dressings, and the stained glass panel in the pointed-arch gable window.
The facts
- Built
- 1831, repaired 1939
- Where
- Main Street, Martramane, Castlegregory
- Sunday Mass
- 11.30am
- Vigil
- 6.15pm Saturday, alternating with St Brendan's, Cloghane. Check before travelling.
- Parish
- The Presbytery, Castlegregory. 066 713 9145
- Website
- Diocese of Kerry
Good to know
The Saturday vigil rotates between the two churches in the parish, and weekday Masses are announced in the weekly newsletter rather than published, so ring if you are travelling for a particular service.
The stained glass here is not by Harry Clarke, and no maker is recorded. The Clarke windows on this peninsula are at An Díseart in Dingle, six double-lancet panels installed in 1924, over the Conor Pass and well worth the drive.
We could not establish whether the church is open to visitors outside service times.
How we checked. Architectural description and dates from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, record 21303603. Mass times from the Diocese of Kerry parish page. Opening hours and prices on this coast change without notice, so ring before you travel. If anything here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.