Born again church sale

THE couple behind the conversion of a former Church of Ireland church at Kilgallan, near Westport in Co Mayo — the only Irish building project to feature on Channel 4’s Grand Designs — have put the finished project on the market.

The 1835-built limestone Church of Ireland building at Clew Bay by the village of Kilmeena, had its belltower hit by lightning in 1902 and was left gutted and open to the skies for the next 101 years before a brave and professional restoration job converted it into a family home.

The painstaking and craftsman-led restoration project found an acolyte in TV presenter Kevin McCloud.