St. Aidan's Cathedral, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford

Upon reaching the town of Enniscorthy, travelers are met with signs tempting them to visit 'Pugin's Irish gem'. And in many ways the town's cathedral is undoubtedly one of Pugin's best-known works in Ireland. Pugin's most sizable work in Ireland, this Catholic cathedral dates from the 1840s. Upon the Reformation in Ireland, the newly formed Church of Ireland took possession of the ancient cathedral at Ferns, and from the sixteenth century the Catholic diocese was left without a mother church. Concrete plans for a new cathedral were first proposed in the 1840s, with the town of Enniscorthy, located conveniently at the heart of the diocese, chosen as the site. 

The driving force for the new cathedral was Bishop James Keating. Keating had chosen Augustus Welby Pugin to design the building. Pugin by this stage had already an impressive repertoire behind him, and was highly sought after. Pugin had connections with Ferns through his great patron, John Talbot, the sixteenth earl of Shrewsbury, whose wife was a native of Blackwater, Co. Wexford. This Gothic Revival church was reputedly modeled on the medieval Tintern Abbey in Wales. The church was a ten bay cruciform structure, with a tower and spire sitting over the central crossing. 

The ornate stenciling, seen here on the bay arches, was used extensively by Pugin throughout the cathedral. The use of color had been a common site in the medieval Gothic churches of Europe, and was adopted by Pugin in an attempt to recreate an authentic medieval church. 

View towards the chancel and south aisle

St. Audeon's, High Street, Dublin

This small church dedicated to St. Audeon (St. Ouen in French)  is situated within the Dublin's old city walls, and is the city's only surviving medieval parish church. The oldest part of the church, its nave, dates to the 1190s, when a group of English settlers, believed to have come from Bristol, erected a new church on a site which was previously dedicated to the Irish saint, Columba. Significant additions were made in the fourteenth and fifteenth and creating a very substantial church. With the arrival of the Reformation in Dublin the church became a Protestant place of worship. Having laid in a state of semi-dereliction for many years, the church underwent substantial repairs since the 1980s and is once again a working parish church and heritage centre. In 1841 work began on a Catholic church, also dedicated to St. Audeon, directly to the rear of the nave and chancel. 

Medieval Dublin was an intricate patchwork of crowded lanes and streets. The area within the city walls was home to an estimated 10,000 people by the end of the fourteenth century, some four parish chapels, a cathedral, and two chapels belonging to the friars. The above image, probably dating from the early twentieth century, barely resembles today's vista. The lanes and houses adjoining the church have all been removed, making way for a new road and small park. The church itself underwent numerous renovations over the years to tie in with the changing surrounds. The spire, which appears to be medieval, dates only from the seventeenth century, but contains three of Dublin's oldest bells. St. Audeon's was the church of the Lord Mayor and Corporation of Dublin, but also had strong commercial ties, with Tanners and Bakers Guilds gathering there. 

Although the number of people living within the parish boundaries was high, most were Catholics. By the eighteenth century its Protestant population had fallen significantly, with many of its more wealthier parishioners moving to newly erected squares and streets in the east of the city. With the building proving too large for the needs of the parish, it was decided that the Portlester Chapel (seen here on the left) and the chancel (to the right) would be unroofed. In 1820 St Anne's chapel (in line with the tower) was also unroofed, leaving only the nave intact. 

The church contains a number of fine tombs and monuments. The late fifteenth century memorial to the right commemorates Rowland FitzEustace, first baron Portlester, and his wife, Margaret. Portlester served as Lord Chancellor and Treasurer of Ireland and was buried near Kilcullen, Co. Kildare. He is believed to have erected a chapel at St. Audeon's in his name as an act of thanksgiving for his rescue from shipwreck nearby. 

This section of the nave was the only part of the church that survived intact. 

St. Brendan's Church, Birr, Co. Offaly

Formerly known as Parsonstown, the town of Birr is one of Ireland's Georgian gems. The town's great benefactors were the earls of Rosse; the Parsons family, whose home was at Birr Castle. The town expanded considerably from the mid-eighteenth century, and was enhanced by the erection of a series of Georgian style houses and malls. The town's aesthetics continued to be improved in the early 1800s, but by now the popularity of Georgian classicism had been superseded. By this time Gothic was beginning to emerge as the the more popular style, and was chosen for the new Protestant church in the town erected in 1815. 

The view from the west shows the cut stone front and the pinnacled, five stage tower. 

The new Gothic church was situated on Oxmanstown Mall. The mall was erected in the early 1800s as a promenade leading to the castle, and was flanked by a series of Georgian town houses. The new church was named after Brendan of Birr, a sixth century local abbot. In popular tradition Brendan is remembered as one of the 'Twelve Apostles of Ireland'; a group of monastic saints who are said to have studied under St. Finian at the great monastery of Clonard. The monastery Brendan founded at Birr is famed for one of the early Irish  Church's artistic treasures: the Gospel Book of MecRegol, now housed in the Bodleain Museum, Oxford. 

The architect, John Johnson designed this grand five bay church in the Perpendicular Gothic style. The chancel, seen here on the extreme right, was a later addition, added by the well-known architect, Sir Thomas Drew in 1876.  

Looking down the nave one's eyes are drawn towards the great east window. A gift from the fourth earl of Rosse, it was added in 1891, complete with intricate stone tracery in the perpendicular style. The slender columns which rise towards a ribbed vaulted ceiling, are flanked on either side by galleries. 

St. John's Church, Cashel, Co. Tipperary

In 1857 Archbishop Patrick Leahy chose the county town of Thurles as the location for the Catholic archdiocese of Cashel's new cathedral, instead of the town of Cashel. Cashel itself already had a fine church chapel dating from the Penal Era. This chapel, built from 1772, was situated on the the site of the medieval Franciscan friary. The architect largely responsible for the new chapel  was a Protestant, John Roberts, who went on the design both cathedrals at nearby Waterford. While greatly altered in the nineteenth century, the interior's original form remains largely the same, making it one of the few existing Catholic churches predating 1800.

Like many Catholic chapels erected in the eighteenth century, St. John's contained galleries. The reason for this was not solely to enhance aesthetics but rather as they allowed for the most economical use of space; galleries were a common sight even in many of Ireland's most wretched rural chapels. Galleries also served to enforce social segregation, with those from the lower classes standing in the nave, while the pews above were reserved for the better sorts, with wealthier parishioners often owning their own pew, sometimes marked by a plaque. 

In 1850 the exterior of the church was adjusted, refronted with a three bay pedimented front gable, with a clock tower above. In the twentieth century the three square windows below the pediment were removed, and replaced with mosaics to commemorate the Eucharistic Congress of 1932. 

A view of the remodeled interior 

The original sanctuary was considerably altered, with a new marble high altar and reredos installed. The east wall was given three lancet stained glass windows, and the sanctuary walls were ornately gilded. One of the most striking alterations to church was, however, a new hammerbeem roof in the nave, while the galleries received coffered ceilings, both a dramatic departure from the church's original Classical appearance.