The majestic mid 19th century church, St John's Church, located in Tralee town centre, is the tallest structure here in Tralee.

Construction of the church begun in 1854 when the foundation stone was laid at the site of a chapel taht faced in the east-west direction dating back to the 1780s. Some artifacts of the 1780 chapel have survived - the Holy Water font (Mortuary Chapel), Our Lady of the Wayside statue (near front porch on the outside),  and the gables of the 18th century building, which are contained in the transepts of the present church. The building was completed, to the design of J.J. McCarthy, in 1861 with the erection of the Great Sanctuary window. In 1870 the tower and spire were added. The height of the spire is 200 feet.

You can see that the corners of the church are built from limestone, whereas the main facade is built from Old Red Sandstone.

Sedimentary Rocks

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock, meaning that it is made from fragments of minerals cemented together over a long period of time. Another famous type of sedimentary rock is limestone. 

Formation of sedimentary rocks (eschooltoday.com)

Sandstone in itself is a clastic rock, meaning it is made from existing rock materials and cemented together, such as breccia, conglomerate and siltstone. The feature that defines sandstone is it's medium-sized grains. Breccia and conglomerate are large-grained and siltstones are very-fine grained.

Old Red Sandstone

Old red sandstone describes a suite of sedimentary rocks deposited in a variety of environments during the Devonian but extending back into the late Silurian and on into the earliest part of the Carboniferous The body of rock, or facies, is dominated by alluvial sediments and conglomerates at its base, and progresses to a combination of dunes, lakes or river sediments. The iconic red colour stems from the presence of iron oxide.

Despite the name, not all Old Red Sandstone is red or sandstone (it is old, though!). The term Old Red Sandstone is a supergroup, a set of two or more associated groups and/or formations that share certain lithological characteristics. the sequence also includes conglomerates, mudstones, siltstones and thin limestones and colours can range from grey and green through to red and purple.

In Ireland, Old Red Sandstone is commonly found throughout the Munster region. 

Questions

Send the answers to the following via my profile. Log once answers are sent. I will get back to you if there are any unsatisfactory answers.

1. What colour is the ORS of the church?
2. Are the ORS of different shades or are they all the same? What can you infer from this?
3. Look at the grains of the ORS. Define the size.
4. Based on your answer in Q3, is the old red sandstone used here a true "sandstone"?
5. What is giving the ORS it's distinct colour?
6. Control Question: What is erected behind the church?