St. Mary's Church is a 19th-century

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

parish church in the town of

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

County Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

, Ireland. It is included in the

Record of Protected Structures Conservation in the Republic of Ireland is overseen by a number of statutory and non-governmental agencies, including those with responsibility for Historic preservation, conservation of the built environment and Environmental protection, conservat ...

maintained by

Westmeath County Council Westmeath County Council () is the local authority of County Westmeath, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planni ...

History

St. Mary's

church is situated on an elevated site within Athlone's former town walls. The boundary walls of the site, which has been occupied by a church since at least the 1620s, may contain fabric from the 17th-century town walls. The present church was constructed beside the belfry of an earlier church. Described in ''

A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland Samuel Lewis (c. 1782 – 1865) was the editor and publisher of topographical dictionaries and maps of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The aim of the texts was to give in 'a condensed form', a faithful and impartial description ...

'' (published by Samuel Lewis in 1837) as "a neat edifice, with a square embattled tower", its construction was funded by the

Board of First Fruits The Board of First Fruits () was an institution of the Church of Ireland that was established in 1711 by Anne, Queen of Great Britain to build and improve churches and glebe houses in Ireland. This was funded from taxes collected on clerical inco ...

and its design is attributed to Richard Richards of

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

. It was extended, , when

James Rawson Carroll James Rawson Carroll, FRIA (1830 – November 30, 1911) was an Irish people, Irish architect who was involved in many projects throughout Ireland during the Victorian Era. He was a founding partner of the Carroll & Batchelor architectural firm i ...

added a new

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

to the east.

References

{{Authority control Churches in County Westmeath Diocese of Meath and Kildare Churches completed in 1827 19th-century churches in the Republic of Ireland