Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Amateur architect and priest.   According to his 1911 census return, Matthew Columb was born in Co. Longford in 1839 or 1840.  , While he was parish priest at Ballynahown, Co. Offaly, he is said to have designed St Mary's Catholic church at Pullough (or Pullock), Co. Offaly, which built between 1906 and 1910. 'It is said he had the assistance of an engineer, but there was no architect. Archdeacon Columb spent some years as a young priest in the Pyrenees for reasons of health, and it is surmised that he got this quaint idea from churches he saw in that country. However, peculiar as it is, it is a beautiful edifice.'(1) 




References



(1) Catholic Year Book and Souvenir: Parish of Ballinahowen (1939), 25.


1 work entries listed in chronological order for COLUMB, MATTHEW (REV.)


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Building: CO. OFFALY, PULLOUGH (BALLINAHOWN), CHURCH OF ST MARY (RC)
Date: 1906-1910
Nature: New auxiliary church, said in Catholic Year Book to have been designed by MC, parish priest of Ballinahown, with the assistance of an engineer.
Refs: Catholic Year Book and Souvenir: Parish of Ballinahowen (1939), 20(illus.), 25 (photocopy in IAA, RP.D.300.4);  J. MacNamee, History of the Diocese of Ardagh (1954), 671.