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.   

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Cashel, Co. Tipperary

Since the Reformation the mother church of the Protestant archdiocese of Cashel had been St. Patrick's Cathedral, gloriously situated on the Rock of Cashel. That cathedral, built in the thirteenth century, had gradually fallen into disrepair, and was closed for worship in 1721. With the medieval parish church serving as the de-facto cathedral in the meantime, construction on a new cathedral was completed in 1784. Cashel was one of two Irish cathedrals built in the eighteenth-century Georgian style, the other being at Waterford. 

The spire was not part of the original cathedral, but was later added in 1812.The cathedral is classically Georgian in its form and appearance, with aedicules, pediments, pilasters, rounded windows and a spire. Alongside the cathedral was built a library, also designed in the Classical style, dedicated to Theophilus Bolton (1678-1744), archbishop of Cashel. 

View towards the chancel.

The chancel was remodeled in the nineteenth century in a gilded Italianate style by local architect, William Atkins. 

St. Macartan's Cathedral, Monaghan

Located in the province of Ulster, the diocese of Clogher straddles the Irish border, with parishes in counties Monaghan, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Donegal. The Catholic cathedral is located in the country town of Monaghan. Dedicated to a sixth century bishop of Clogher, Macartan, construction of the cathedral commenced in 1861. The chosen architect was J.J. McCarthy, dubbed by some as the 'Irish Pugin'. A founder member of the Irish Ecclesiological Society, McCarthy had been strongly influenced by the work of Pugin and the Gothic Revival . The chosen style French Gothic. 

A view of the west front

When McCarthy died in 1882 the cathedral was still unfinished. The tower and spire were added by a local architect, William Hague Jn, between 1882-92. 

The view towards the high altar

In the wake of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) alterations were made to many churches to allow for the celebration of the Mass on forward facing altars. In some reorderings were sympathetic, with only minor changes being made to the overall appearance of sanctuaries. In others what occurred was more unfortunate. At Monaghan nearly all of the original Victorian fittings that can be seen here were removed in what was one of the most drastic and unsympathetic reorderings. The sanctuary was entirely overhauled with the high altar and ciborium removed. 

A view towards the sanctuary and high altar

Here the high altar is adorned with a ciborium, the large stone canopy. Ciboria, sometimes but incorrectly  known as baldacchinos, trace their heritage to Roman antiquity and to the Temple of Jerusalem, and the Holy of Holies, the most sacred area of the Temple where the Ark of the Covanent was kept. In the early Christian Church ciboria were often draped with curtains on all sides, so that at the point of consecration the curtains were drawn, and all was out of view. 

A view towards to the west window and organ gallery

St. Edan's Cathedral, Ferns, Co. Wexford

The village of Ferns is situated in the southeastern county of Wexford. This Church of Ireland (Protestant) cathedral is dedicated to Edan (Aidan), a great seventh century Irish missionary. The small cathedral is believed to date to the thirteenth century, although little remains today from the medieval period; the present day church largely being a nineteenthcentury reconstruction.

The cathedral graveyard is the burial place of the great twelfth century Norman invader Richard de Clare, earl of Pembroke, better-known as Strongbow. 

A view of the chancel looking east. 

A church is of course not designated a 'cathedral' because of size, but rather because it is the seat of a bishop. In most Irish dioceses the Church of Ireland population was not large, therefore, many of its cathedrals were relatively small buildings, often more like parish churches than vast cathedrals. Here at Ferns you can see the canopied cathedra, or bishop's throne, on the right. The box pews have since been removed but were a common nineteenth-century fitting. To the rear, just left of the pulpit, the blind arcading is one of the few remaining traces of the medieval cathedral. The cathedral was essentially rebuilt in the early twentieth century, with today's view bearing little resemblance to the above.  

A view from the churchyard, with the remains of the medieval cathedral in the foreground. 

St. Coleman's Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

St. Coleman's, Cobh is the cathedral church of the Catholic diocese of Cloyne. Perched high above the port below, its location over looking Cork Harbour was a dramatic statement by the Catholic community of its new found confidence and wealth in the post-Emancipation period. Construction of the new cathedral began in 1867 to the designs of Edward Welby Pugin and George Ashlin. Built in the early French Gothic style the cathedral has been described as the most ambitious project undertaken by the Irish Church in the nineteenth century, taking some forty-seven years to build, completed only in 1915, at a cost of £235,000. 

The cathedral c. 1914

The view from the harbour below

In the nineteenth century Cobh, known then as Queenstown, was transformed into one of Ireland's busiest ports, with an estimated 2.5 million Irishmen and women departing for North America from there. Famously it was the final port of call for RMS Titantic, before setting off on its ill fated Atlantic voyage. 

A view of the north aisle looking east. To the right is the magnificent pulpit carved from Austrian oak.

The great west rose window, characteristic of French Gothic cathedrals. 

An early picture of the high altar, with only the centre window adorned with stained glass. In spite of recent attempts, and unlike many Catholic cathedrals in Ireland, St Coleman's survived the ravages of reordering since the 1960s, with the altar and sanctuary remaining wholly intact.