The restoration of one of the few surviving school chapels in Ireland is to be undertaken as a millennium project at Wilson's Hospital School, Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath.
Work on the building began in 1759 and was completed two years later. For the past 238 years it has been a place of worship in the midlands.
The building was designed by architect John Pentland to seat 220 people, with Doric columns supporting a gallery on three sides.
The man charged with restoring the chapel to its former glory is Mullingar-based architect Pat Coughlan, who is confident that the work will be completed before the end of the year.
"It is a very important building and is known to thousands of people all over this country.
"We will restore it to its original splendour," he said.
"The stained glass windows are badly in need of repair and we will do those and we will re-create the original colours used in the chapel," he said.
The work would involve uncovering the alabaster in the chancel area and restoring the chancel window. Woodworm damage would have to be dealt with.
"We are taking out the flooring but we will not be replacing it. We will reverse the wood and treat it and lay it back where it was before," he said.
Mr Coughlan, who has also been involved in restoring the rest of the school, said it was a very exciting project which would cost about £200,000.
He said major changes had been made to the church in the 1890s and recently a new organ was installed and two brass memorials were dedicated to the 200 past pupils who served in the two World Wars.
An appeal for funding for the project was launched recently at the Church of Ireland College of Education, Rathmines, Dublin by Dr Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.
There too were the Most Rev Walton Empey, Archbishop of Dublin; the Most Rev Richard Clarke, Bishop of Meath and Kildare; the Right Rev Michael Mayes, Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh; and the Right Rev Richard Henderson, Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, the trustees. The Primate said that about £200,000 would be needed for the work on the building which had been a place of worship for almost two-and-a-half centuries and was spiritually and ethically at the centre of the school.
Wilson's Hospital School was founded in 1761 from funds provided by the will of Andrew Wilson.
It has been a centre of education since then, with a short break during 1798 when it was occupied by the United Irishmen.
Andrew Wilson specified that a hospital should be founded at Multyfarnham and it should care for "aged men being Protestants and decaying housekeepers, not exceeding the number of 40".
The will also specified that these should be cared for together with "a number of Protestant male children, not exceeding 150". The hospital function ceased but the school remains.
In 1969, the school became coeducational and currently has 330 pupils, two-thirds of them boarders. It has an excellent academic record.
Pupils come from all parts of Ireland, North and South and 12 of the students currently studying at the school are from overseas countries.
Mr Coughlan has also been involved in the extensive renovations which have taken place at the school over the past number of years which have been necessary to protect the ancient building.