Re: Re: reordering and destruction of irish cathedrals – St Colmans Cathedral, Cobh

Re 370:

The dumping of all these benches in the Lady Chapel is an example of the conservation Act gone wrong. They have been moved from where they are supposed to be. They cannot be taken out of the building. The building was not designed to have them anywhere else except where they originally were. So, a dumping ground has to be found within the building. In this case, the Lady Chapel was made the dump. INterestingly, Cathal O’Neill’s drawings for the proposed alterations in Cobh show the Lady Chapel as having benches – an absurdity of which he seems unconcious. It also strikes me that two kneelers and chairs that have appeared in the neighbouring Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy Chapel might have more to do with taking the bare look off of the Lady Chapel in it cluttered condition than with the promotion of an intense piety to Blessed Thaddeus. If memory serves me correctly, the Sacred Heart Chapel has also been used for the dumping of a few more benches, his time parked along the dividing screens. What I would like to know is why the Cork County Manager, the Cobh Town Manager, and the Heritage Officer for the County of Cork have allowed this to happen without the slightest murmur?

The laugh is of course that all this goes on while the City of Cork celebrates, with the seriousness of the unknowing, the 2005 European City of Culture!!! Culture, I ask…..