the work of J.J. McCarthy

[Praxiteles]

Church of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Kilskyre, Co. Meath, by JJ. McCarthy (1847-1854)

Eamonn Hedermann architect for recent "renovations and alterations to the existing church". I am not sure what that means.

[Praxiteles]

St. Mary and St. Michael's, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, JJ. McCarthy (1856-1858)

[Praxiteles]

St. Mary's, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, JJ. McCarthy (1860-1862)

[Praxiteles]

St. Patrick's Church, Portlaw, Co. Waterford, JJ. McCarthy (1858-1860)

[Praxiteles]

Church of the Holy Cross, Tramore, Co. Waterford, by JJ. McCarthy (1856-1862)

The interior of the church was wrecked beyond recognition by Ray Carroll in 1970s

It seems as though it also lost its original doors in 1995.

[Praxiteles]

The Church of Sts. Quan and Broghan, Clonea, Co. Waterford, by JJ. McCarthy (1860)

This is a highly decorted church but the spire was never built.

The windows are by the Harry Clarke studio.

By some miracle, it still seems to be intact.

[Praxiteles]

St. Mary's Church, Keadew, Co. Roscommon, by JJ. McCarthy (1860-1862)

[Praxiteles]

St. Senan's church, Foynes, Co. Limerick, by JJ. McCarthy (1868)

St. Senan's is another example of the unfettered vandalism visited on JJ. McCarthy's oeuvre: in the 1970s a cheap concrete extension was added tot he south wall which was then demolished and the original church "converted" into a chancel. This piece of hooliganism must surely rank after the assault on Dingle parish church.

[Praxiteles]

The Franciscan Friary of the Most Holy Trinity, Killarney, Co. Kerry, att. JJ. McCarthy (or E.W. Pugin) 1864.

[Praxiteles]

St. Vincent's, Ballyferriter, JJ. McCarthy (c.1865).

[Praxiteles]

St. Agatha's Church, Glenflesk, Co. Kerry, JJ. McCarthy (1862)


Small Gothic Revival church built out of local stone, sited at the start of a mountain pass from Kerry to Cork. Tower never completed.

[Praxiteles]

St. Michael's, Lixnaw, Co. Kerry, in the hiberno-romanesque style, by JJ. McCarthy (1861).

[Praxiteles]

St. Mary's Church, Ballingarry, Co. Limerick, by Jj. McCarthy (1872).

By a miracle of providence the church seems to have escaped the ravages of vandalism and looks mostly intact.

[Praxiteles]

St. Patrick's, Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, by Jj. McCarthy (1870-1876), interior completed by CJ. McCarthy in 1889.






J J McCARTHY
[Extract from J J McCarthy and the Gothic Revival in Ireland, by Jeanne Sheehy, published by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 1977.]


St Patrick's, Dungannon

The church was begun about 1870, and by 1871 was well under way. The contractor was Mr. Thomas Byrne of Belfast. The building was dedicated on Trinity Sunday 1876. The interior,
however, remained unfinished, and the High Altar, reredos, side altars, and painted decoration were added, to the design of C.J.McCarthy (who succeeded to his father's practice) about1889. The church was designed to accommodate about 4,000 persons.

St. Patrick's is one of McCarthy's ambitious town churches, not usually so successful as his smaller country ones. It has a nave with aisles, a chancel, eastern chapels, a sacristy at the south eastern corner, and a tower,whose base serves as a porch, in the north western corner.

The tower and spire are very tall, and dominate the building, which is fairly elaborate on the outside. The east end has two two-light windows, with a buttress between and a rose window above. There are buttresses clasping south corners of the east end, topped with pinnacles and crosses, and the sacristy, at the south-eastern corner, has a corner round tower with a conical cap. The west front, with a rose window set in a pointed frame, a canopied west doorway with a trumeau figure and carved tympanum, many buttresses, and the tall tower and spire, is no less elaborate.

Inside, the pointed nave arcade is carried on cylindrical pillars with carved capitals. The second capital on the south side represents earth, air, fire and water, and includes a monkey. There is an open timber roof, and no chancel arch.

The style is 'French Gothic of the 13th century' and the building material 'the fine warm-coloured yellow sandstone of the district' . This has been very roughly dressed for the outside walls, which, in combination with the quantity of ornament and carved detail, makes for a very fussy appearance.


Refs: RHA Catalogue 1870; Builder 4 March 1871, pp.166-67; Building News 23 June 1876, p.636; Irish Builder, 1 May 1889, p.115; UAHS Dungannon & Cookstown no.63, p.19.

[Praxiteles]

Church of St. Anne, Bohernabreena, Co. Dublin, JJ. McCarthy (1868-1870), foundation laid by Paul Cardinal Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin, and consecrated by his nephew Patrick Cardinal Moran, Archbishop of Sydney.



"The foundation stone of St Anne’s church was laid in 1868 by one of the most distinguished Irish churchmen of his time, his Eminence Cardinal Cullen who had been archbishop of Dublin prior to his appointment as the first of Ireland cardinals in 1866. To this day the people of Bohernabreena and surrounding districts have many reasons to be proud of this fine church which stands looking down on the peaceful valley. It was built in the thirteenth century, French gothic style. The exterior stone used in the building is granite which was cut and dressed on the Glassa mucky mountain between Cunard and Featherbed. All the work was carried out voluntarily by the parishioners. The stained glass window behind Our Lady’s Altar shows the Blessed Virgin on one side holding the Infant Jesus and on the opposite side stands St Joseph. The people of Bohernabreena remain very proud of their fine church which was built by their fathers and grandfathers."

[Praxiteles]

St. Senan's Church, Kilrush, Co. Clare, interior (in part) and spire by JJ. McCarthy

[Praxiteles]

Church of St. Mary and St. Laurence, Ballitore, Co. Kildare, by JJ. McCarthy (1860-1863), foundation stone laid by Paul Cardinal Cullen who was born in Ballitore.

[Praxiteles]

St. Brigid's, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, by JJ. McCarthy (1869)

[Praxiteles]

Passionist Monastery, Mount Argus, Harold's Cross, Dublin (1862), and adjoining Church of St Paul of the Cross (1874) by JJ. McCarthy, sculpture on church facade by James Pearse.




Interior 1924

[Paul Clerkin]

Prax - re the interior of St Josephs, Carrickmacross. seems it has already been done. In conversation with my Dad who has been it, he told me that there is "a piece of garden trellis behind the altar"...

[Gianlorenzo]

J. J. McCarthy was involved with six of Ireland’s Catholic Cathedrals; St. Patrick’s, Armagh; St. Peter and St. Paul’s, Ennis; St. Aidan’s, Enniscorthy; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Killarney; St. Macartan’s, Monaghan; and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Thurles.

He was the principal designer for Thurles and Monaghan, in Killarney and Enniscorthy he took over from A.W.N. Pugin, in Armagh he followed Thomas Duff, and in Ennis Dominic Madden and Maurice Fitzgerald.

[sangallo]

Re Carrickmacross: P. Clerkin's report (#519) suggests that the church there has falled victim to the Japanese restaurant formula, already used to such effect in the North Cathedral, Cork. What a pity!:(

[Praxiteles]

I have come across these pictures of the interior of St. Saviour's Dominick Street, Dublin showing the church before the awful havoc wrecked by Austin Flannery OP:

[ake]

Some very interesting pieces of information from the Clogher diocesan site:


The Diocese of Clogher
St Macartan's Cathedral
The Sanctuary


...

The Sanctuary (Photo by Manuel Lavery)

To encourage maximum participation by the entire congregation in the celebration
of the Eucharist, the altar is given pride of place in the crossing, just at the
point where, because of the deliberate absence of stained glass in the rose
windows of the transepts and in certain other high-level windows, the natural
light of day is brighest and most concentrated. The altar is carved from a single
piece of granite from south County Dublin. As an integral piece of natural stone
it suggests the primeval offering of sacrifice. Its carefully-wrought carving
humanises that concept, so that this great rock is transformed into a table,
inviting the worshipper to partake of the sacred meal in communion with the
Lord.

...

laugh out loud reading classic!

[Praxiteles]

St Michael The Archangel, Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, J.J. McCarthy in the Hiberno-Rpmanesque style 1871: