St Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny

The medieval town of Kilkenny boasts two cathedrals: the ancient St. Canice's, and the less venerable St Mary's. The nineteenth-century Catholic St. Mary's is the mother church of Ossory, a diocese which roughly corresponds to the county of Kilkenny, but with a number of parishes in neighboring Laois and Offaly. Like all Catholic dioceses in Ireland, Ossory found itself bereft of a cathedral in the wake of the Protestant Reformation; St Canice's serving as the seat of the Church of Ireland bishop. In the aftermath of the passing of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, moves were made to erect a permanent cathedral for the Catholic population, with a site being eventually acquired in James' Street sometime before 1842. The site was known locally as Burrell's Hall, and had housed a Catholic college founded 1782. The foundation stone for the new cathedral was laid by the bishop of Ossory, William Kinsella, in 1842. The architect chosen was Dubliner, William Butler Deane, who had lately designed the nearby St Kieran's College. 

St Mary's is a cruciform Gothic cathedral, in the Early English style. Deane's inspiration was said to have come from the glorious medieval cathedral at Gloucester. The most striking similarity is of course the centrally located lantern tower over the crossing and the harmonious continuity of design throughout.  The sense of continuity is somewhat surprising since building on the cathedral was severely disrupted by the Great Famine (1845-52), and was not opened to the public until 1857. The tower, which dominates the town's landscape, soars to some 190 feet. The cathedral was built entirely in chiseled limestone. 

The view from the west end towards the sanctuary and apse. 

Since the 1970s the cathedral's interior appearance changed somewhat due to changes in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. The most striking change was the introduction of a new high altar under the crossing. The new altar, a block of polished limestone, sits on a raised carpeted platform, and looks somewhat at odds with the surrounds. Fortunately though the main high altar survived unscathed. 

The organ and the great west window