Church of SS. Peter and Paul (RC), Athlone

Notes:

Built between 1932 and 1939 in a Baroque Revival style, the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Athlone was designed by architect Ralph Henry Byrne (b. Rathmines 1877, d. Ballsbridge 1946). Byrne was also responsible for the Cathedral of Christ the King (1931) in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, and the Church of the Four Masters in Donegal town, both of which celebrate Irish materials and craftsmanship.

The exterior is of Ballyknockan Granite ashlar on ground levels to a height of 30 feet and grey Mississippian limestone above. The columns in the Doric entrance portico, the entablature and moulded cornices are in Portland Stone. The steps leading to the entrance and the pavers outside the entrance are of Ballyknockan Granite also.

Connemara Marble shafts from Streamstown, near Clifden, of three to six drums tall, surmounting bases and pedestals of Galway Black Marble from Merlin Park dominate the interior. 12 tapering circular (cross section) columns line the nave while 4 square columns stand in the chancel. 120 tons of green marble in rough form was taken from the Streamstown quarry, which Whitehead and Sons were leasing from John William McKeever, and Stanhope Waithman, son of Capt. Wyndham Waithman, was managing. Columns were turned and polished by Whitehead and Sons at the Merlin Park Marble Works, which they were also leasing, along with the Doughiska Quarry, from Capt. Waithman. Each upper drum had an indented margin at its base that fitted into the recessed top of the lower drum, and a central hole that probably carried a tie. Fossiliferous Galway Black Marble from Merlin Park, containing large brachiopods and colonial corals, was used for skirting.

Perhaps there was an over reliance on the use of Connemara Marble in this church due to the unavailability of other Irish marbles in the 1930s; the disparate range of quarries supplying variecoloured native marbles in the 1800s had significantly decreased in number by the turn of the 20th century. Exotic Italian marbles were employed for the majority of elements in the chancel, including the main altar, the twisted columns, the chancel floor and the communion rail, which injected variations of colour. A side chapel dedicated to St Brigid has pilasters of Connemara Marble and replicas of round towers, also in Connemara Marble.