In the shadow of Mount Leinster lies a church on a hilltop with a sorrowful tale to tell.

In 1887, British girl Constance Duguid came to Myshall to visit her sister Madelene who had married a local curate there. During her stay, Constance fell in love with Rupert George Inglis Brady, heir to the Cornwall-Brady family who lived nearby at Myshall Lodge.

However, one day the 25-year-old had an accident while horse-riding and she died three days later, wishing to be buried in the place where she would have lived. Her father John Duguid, a wine importer from Dover, commissioned a memorial statue made from Sicilian marble to mark Constance’s grave. When Constance’s mother Adelaide died 16 years later, she was buried beside her daughter. John noticed the marble statue over Constance’s grave was being damaged by weather, so he decided to build a church in his wife’s memory and to enclose their graves within its walls. Four months before the Adelaide Memorial Church was completed, John died and his cremated remains can be found in the church’s mortuary, beside the tombs of his wife and daughter.

If John Duguid’s love is to be measured by the thought and detail that went into his very ornate church, then he really, really loved his wife and daughter – or he was a very stylish man.

The design of the church is Gothic in its nature, which reflects architect George Coppinger Ashlin’s preference for the French Gothic style. There’s a fresco of the last supper behind the altar and at the church entrance there’s a semi-circular baptismal font made from alabaster.

The church is lit by glowing oil lamps now converted to electricity, and there is mosaic tiling on the floor. There are carvings of roses and thistles in pillars made from bath stone (roses and thistles are a theme throughout the church, acknowledging that John was English and Adelaide Scottish) and the steps up to the altar are made from black Galway marble, while Connemara marble and polished granite from Scotland can be found in other parts of the church – and that’s not even mentioning the windows.

Suffice it to say, it’s well worth a visit. You can get a guided tour from vicar church warden John Kelly (the tour also takes in Myshall village) for a fee of just €3.

There are 23 families who come to this church, nearly all of whom are farmers or have links to agriculture. While it may be a Protestant church, the entire community claims ownership of it, not least Bridie Daly who’s been opening it for 40 years.

The church welcomes wedding from all denominations (Irish Country Living cannot stress enough what a beautiful location this is for a wedding) and can be hired as a venue for suitable events.

Any funds received in this manner will be used for very badly-needed repairs to the church – namely leaking gullies which are causing water to travel down the church’s internal walls. These repairs are made more expensive by the fact the building is now listed.

If you want to help support the church with more immediate effect, pop along to an auction of agricultural goods taking place at 12pm on Saturday 28 March in Myshall Community Centre, where straw, freezer-ready lambs, pallets, and a new bale trailer and vacuum tank, among other items, will be up for sale.

It’s obvious from Irish Country Living’s visit that there are enough people (under the guidance of rector Lester Scott) who care enough about this church to ensure it won’t meet its demise – but they need all the help they can get to preserve this very unique piece of local history.