St Patrick's Cathedral, Skibbereen, Co. Cork

The town of Skibbereen is located on Ireland's southwesterly Atlantic coast. A small rural town, now with a population of less than 3,000, it proudly stands as the cathedral town of the Catholic diocese of Ross. Ross is one of Ireland's smallest dioceses, numbering only a handful of parishes. Its size has been a determining factor in its union with two larger neighbouring dioceses over time: Cork and Cloyne. In 1747 Cork and Cloyne became separate dioceses, each with their own bishop, and Ross was subsequently united with Cork in 1750, an arrangement that continues to this day. 

The new cathedral was located along the banks of the River Ilen and was built in 1826. It was a Classical structure with  a cut stone front. It was not completed with a bell tower or spire, but rather a bellcote was added above the pediment. St Patrick's was a relativity small building; a three bay nave with transepts to the north and south. The cathedral was bordered by a convent, home to Sisters of Mercy. Their chapel can be seen to the left of the cathedral. 

The cathedral's interior was essentially Classical, albeit with a somewhat irregular appearance, partially due to the erection of galleries in the transepts and the enlarged sanctuary, which sits behind arches and Corinthian pillars.  

New Facebook page launched

I've recently started a Facebook page. The address is https://www.facebook.com/bygone.ireland

The page's aim is to bring together the three blogs that I currently compile. The page will bring you news of new posts on all three blogs. It would be wonderful if you could check it out and maybe 'like' it or even add as a friend. Feel free to comment on entries and pictures; feed back and discussion is always appreciated. 

St Mary's Chapel of Ease (the Black Church), St Mary's Place, Dublin

In the eighteenth century the style generally favoured by architects and patrons alike was Classical. Indeed it continued to be popular into the early nineteenth century, with great churches like St George's, Hardwicke Street and the famous 'Pepper canister Church' at Mount Street being erected in its early decades. However, tastes were beginning to shift towards the Gothic, even by the turn of the century. When it was decided to erect a new church in Dublin Castle, Gothic, rather than the ever popular Classical, was chosen. After there followed a boom in Gothic church building, initially sponsored by the Church of Ireland, but later adopted by the Catholic Church and the smaller denominations. However, many of these churches differed greatly in both style and decoration, sometimes owing to denominational and theological differences. Some of these differences on the other hand were more to do with the architect, as was the case with St Mary's. The architect there was John Semple (1801-82), well-known for his innovative and eclectic interpretations of Gothic at Tallaght and Monkstown. Temple's 'Black Church' with its needle-like pinnacles and dramatic west front dates from 1830. The chapel's crowning glory is, however, its interior parabolic roof, in which the walls lean inward from floor level. The church was closed for worship in 1962, and is now used as office space. 

By the early 1800s the parish system that had served Dublin City since medieval times was in need of renewal. The city's population which had traditionally clustered around the old city to the south, and to a lesser extent in the three parishes north of Liffey, was fast spreading its wings and moving to new suburban developments. In the north of the city, St Mary's parish was to be given a 'chapel of ease' within its boundaries, to cater for the large number of its parishioners now living further and further away from its traditional core. The newly erected chapel soon became known among the public as the 'Black Chapel', as the calp stone used in building turned a dark colour after rain. A different explanation was remembered in the poet Austin Clarke's memoirs, Twice Round the Black Church (1962), that said if a person was to run around the church twice at midnight the devil would steal their soul! The church is also briefly mentioned in James Joyce's Ulyssees, Joyce himself having lived temporarily at nearby  Fontenoy Street. 

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

Church of the Sacred Heart, Limerick City

When the Jesuits reestablished a community in Limerick in 1859 the bishop of Limerick, John Ryan, entrusted to their care the diocesan college, St. Munchin's; the Jesuits since their foundation in the sixteenth century had a long association with education. The college moved from Harstonge Street to the nearby Crescent in 1862. The Crescent was a late Georgian residential development, dating from the 1820s, housing some of the city's more well-to-do residents. In 1864 it was decided that the college would be relocated and that in its place a Jesuit church would be erected. Construction on the church began in 1864 and was completed by 1868. The church was to be dedicated to the great Jesuit saint, Aloysius, but the lately venerated Sacred Heart was eventually settled upon.  

When the Jesuits decided to open a public church in the city centre they chose local man, William Edward Corbett as architect. Corbett was responsible for many of the most important architectural works in the city in the period, leaving an indelible mark on its landscape. His new church was to be incorporated into the Georgian terrace, in as harmonious fashion as possible. The church was t-shaped, with a nave, transepts and a shallow sanctuary. In 1900 the facade was renovated, giving us its present appearance. The new facade was a three bay, two storey structure, constructed largely in red brick. The church's prominence was thanks to its central setting on the Crescent. Facing the facade stands a statue (1857) of Daniel O'Connell, the leader of the movement for Catholic Emancipation.  

The church's interior was essentially Classical. As the church was sandwiched in between a Georgian terrace, it had a narrow, but relatively long nave, and was flanked to the north and south by transepts. The marble high altar, made in Rome, was installed in 1876. The nave and sanctuary seen above were renovated extensively in the twentieth century. The apse was decorated in mosaics depicting the lives of Jesuit saints in 1938. The central panel depicts St Margaret Mary Alocoque and St Claude la Colombiere kneeling before the ascending Sacred Heart. The Jesuits continued to offer pastoral care to the city's Catholics until 2006, when due to falling vocations the church was closed. It was sold to a developer, and was due to be converted into a leisure complex. In 2012 the church was bought by the Institute of the Christ the King Sovereign Priest, an order dedicated to the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass. The church is due to reopen to the public in the near future. 

Clonegam Church, Portlaw, Co. Waterford

The ancestral home of the marquis of Waterford, Curraghmore House near the village of Portlaw is one of Ireland's great country houses. The current house dates from the mid-eighteenth century, but was built on the site of an earlier medieval tower house. The de la Poer family arrived in Ireland in the twelfth century, as part of the Anglo-Norman invasion, and settled near the banks of the River Clodagh, some ten or so miles west of Waterford City. By the eighteenth century the family possessed the title earl of Tyrone, and were granted the current title of marquis of Waterford in 1789. As part of the major restructuring of the estate that took place in the mid 1700s, a new chapel was erected within the estate bounds. 

The present church, known as Clonegam church, was erected in 1741, and subsequently renovated in 1791. The church was affiliated to the Protestant Church of Ireland, the de la Poers having conformed to the established church in the wake of the Protestant Reformation in Ireland. It is a relatively small structure; a single cell three bay detached church, not untypical of many Protestant churches erected in rural Ireland in this period. 

On first view Clonegam resembles more a family mausoleum than a parish church. And in many respects this is true. The church and adjoining graveyard is dominated by monuments to the de la Poer Beresford family. A number of these monuments are especially fine, made of cut stone Kilkenny marble.

This monument dates from 1873, and is dedicated to Florence Grosvenor Rowley, wife of the fifth marquis of Waterford. The marchioness, as she was known, died in 1873 during childbirth. Her grief stricken husband commissioned this monument, designed by an eminent Austrian artist, Joseph Edgar Boehm. The monument, in Kilkenny marble, sits cleverly in a wall niche, and is lit by a skylight in the roof above. 

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