One of the earliest posts on this blog featured the diocese of Cloyne's Catholic cathedral in Cobh, Co. Cork. The splendid Gothic edifice towers over Cobh Harbour, and is surely one of Ireland's most glorious ecclesiastical buildings. Less well-known, however, is the Church of Ireland cathedral, situated in the village of Cloyne, some ten or so miles to the east. This more venerable building is also dedicated to the local saint, Colman. Cloyne has an ancient ecclesiastical heritage dating back to the sixth century when St Colman founded a monastery there. While virtually nothing survives from the Early Christian period in the cathedral itself, the wonderful and relatively intact round tower bordering the cathedral still stands. The monastery and cathedral church were ransacked by Viking raiders on separate occasions in the ninth century. The cathedral itself eventually was essentially rebuilt in the late thirteenth century.
To the right of the cathedral stands the ancient round tower. The round tower at Cloyne is slightly different from most Irish round towers in that its top is not conical but rather is adorned with battlements. This change came as a result of an eighteenth alteration in which the round tower was used as the cathedral's bell tower.
The cathedral's interior is relatively simple: an aisleless nave and chancel with trancepts to the north and south. Much of what can been above was as a result of significant alterations that took place throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Typical of most rural Church of Ireland cathedrals, St Colmans is small, simple, uncomplicated yet dignified and graceful. It contains a monument to its most famous incumbent: the philosopher, George Berkeley (1685-1753).
