St Mary Hall Kilkenny

©Christian Richters

St Mary’s Hall, formerly St Mary’s Church, is a cruciform 13th century stone structure with a later tower at its Western end; it sits in a substantial walled graveyard to the rear of High Street, Kilkenny. The project intention was to restore the church as a museum, retaining some of the 20th century interventions, and to honour its medieval spatial complexity by re-constructing the North aisle and chancel to the original plan. The chancel room overlooks the town, re-establishing its dominant form in the urban landscape; the space beneath it becomes a tomb-filled undercroft. Both of the new gabled elements are finished in lead, with rooflights directed to levels of archaeology below.

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Gabled extension with rooflights and medieval tombstone. St Mary Hall Kilkenny, Kilkenny, Ireland. Architect: McCullough Mulvin Architects, 2016.

 

Lead cladding of added volume. St Mary Hall Kilkenny, Kilkenny, Ireland. Architect: McCullough Mulvin Architects, 2016.

 

View across graveyard towards church with new extension. St Mary Hall Kilkenny, Kilkenny, Ireland. Architect: McCullough Mulvin Architects, 2016.

 

Refurbished nave volume with exposed timber ceiling structure. St Mary Hall Kilkenny, Kilkenny, Ireland. Architect: McCullough Mulvin Architects, 2016.

 

View across graveyard towards church with new extension. St Mary Hall Kilkenny, Kilkenny, Ireland. Architect: McCullough Mulvin Architects, 2016.

 

Original window with view to exhibtion space below. St Mary Hall Kilkenny, Kilkenny, Ireland. Architect: McCullough Mulvin Architects, 2016.

 

Gabled extension with rooflights and original masonry. St Mary Hall Kilkenny, Kilkenny, Ireland. Architect: McCullough Mulvin Architects, 2016.