[Acrylic-bob]

I tried a bit of a comparison with income to give some vague idea of meaning.
We know that in 1878 Mr J.Lomax of Clayton Hall forked out £1,500 to provide the high altar at Sacred Heart. Which was designed by C.W.Pugin and carved by Easy and Powell of Dublin. In 1921 the Church secured an allowance of 15 shillings and ninepence for a widowed mother who lost her son in the war. This gives some idea of what was considered 'decent' at the time. So, for the sake of argument and ease of calculation, I will consider that the basic minimum wage in 1878 was 10 Shillings. There was no 'Basic Minimum Wage' at that time of course, but the concept provides a useful benchmark for comparison. Given a current basic minimum wage of £160., I calculate that Mr Lomax's gift would, today, cost him somewhere in the region of £480,000.

Of course, a simple comparison like this cannot reflect anything like the true value of such a gift, nor indeed what impact it would have had on the parishoners of the time. Given that the general population were a lot less worldy than they are today, and had next to no knowledge or experience of High Art and Architecture, I would hazard the guess that it's impact was substantial, if not sensational.
As I have said before, you can say what you like about the Church, but they do know how to put on a good show!