reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

From what we understand from Cobh Urban District Council, several complaints have been made to the Town Clerk, Mr. P. Lynch, concerning the deplorable lack of maintenance in St. Colman’s Cathedral. It is understood that Mr Lynch has been requested to serve Notice on the Trustees of St. Colman’s Cathedral under the terms of Section 59 of the Planning Act of 2000. Never one to fail to pass the ball, Mr. Lynch recently told the members of the Cobh Urban District Council that he had asked the town architect, the Italian Mr. Pierangelo Cacciotti, to prepare a report on the condition of the Cathedral. This will be interesting for several reasons and will let us see just how well informed Cobh UDC actuall is (or, more likely, is not). For example, will Mr. Cacciotti’s eagerly awaited Report refer tot he state of the Baptistery? WIll it mention the importance the Heritage Council Attached to it when it drew up a covenant before making a grant of £250,000? Will Mr. Cacciotti refer to the horrible manner in which the marble wainscotting has been hacked off the wall (see photograph -immediately behind and to the right of the Font) ? Will he refer to G.C. Ashlin’s designs for this marble wainscotting drawn up in May 1905? Will he know where to locate the same drawings…..? Does he know who Luigi Tomasi was? Will this be Mr. Cacciotti’s Beecher’s Brook? All remains to be seen…..

Will be interesting to see what that report holds 🙂 Nice to see a pic of the old place, any luck finding a shot of the inside??

@Praxiteles wrote:

Well, finally, it looks as though reality has begun to dawn on the Cobh Cathedral restoration Fund. We have ONE resignation after the great debacle – surely others must follow? The latest from the Companies Registration Office:

And no appointees to take up the position…….? Interesting…..

Just discovered an interesting thing about the window in the South Transept of Cobh Cathedral. In October 1879, G.C: Ashlin asked one Barnett to prepare a design for the South Window. It looks as this is probably Henry Mark Barnett of Newcastle, a company with strong Pugin connections: “Henry Barnett, whose father and grandfather were both stained glass makers in York, trained in Newcastle with William Wailes, a major North-Eastern stained glass manufacturer and proprietor of what was the largest stained glass factory in Britain in the 1840s and 1850s. Barnett set up his own firm in Newcastle in 1858, when he was 25, and continued in business until his death in 1888. There is no reference to Barnett in the National Archives or the Stained Glass Museum at Ely Cathedral”.

Re. William Wailes, the following: “Wailes, William
(1808-1881AD)
William Wailes was a local stained glass manufacturer. He was born in Newcastle in 1808AD and originally took up a grocery and tea-dealing business. Though he had studied stained glass in 1830AD at Munich, (Germany) it was not until 1841AD that he gave himself over to glass manufacture. Previously he advertised, with the food provisions, decorative enamels for sale. (The grocers was taken-over by his original assistant).

Wailes set up in various Newcastle premises – though was soon to become one of the largest employers in the field outside of London. Most of his output is to be found in local Northeast churches – but by no means is this exclusively so. Several designers were employed by Wailes such as Francis Wilson Oliphant R.A. (1818-1859AD), Henry Mark Barnett and George Jospeh Baguley (1824-1915AD). (Some of these men were later to set up their own respected studios, such as Baguley and Barnett separately). The stained glass made by Wailes’s firm is particularly noted for its following of Medieval styles and colours – indeed the Medieval revivalist Augustine Welby Northmore Pugin (181-1852AD) who designed the Houses of Parliament, London 1840-1860AD, frequently used Wailes glass exclusively from 1842AD till his death.

Commemorative windows for individuals or groups were becomingly increasingly popular at this time and Wailes workshop produced many examples of note. These were common to young children – and Wailes and his wife, Elizabeth, must have known the anguish suffered as they lost three children in their infancy themselves. A further daughter was death – and a Wailes window, (at Saint Andrews, Newcastle), is amongst the first to shown the use of sign language.

The studios of Wiles designed and made their own glass for new churches. They also undertook the restoration of Medieval stained glass at York Minster, and worked around existing windows, as at Ely Cathedral. Wailes was among the exhibitors of ‘The Great Exhibition’ of 1851AD held at London’s original Crystal Palace. The partnership of Wailes Company with his son-in-law Thomas Rankine Strang (1835-1899AD) took the firm as a viable concern after Wailes death in to the 1910s AD – though retained and was constrained by the style of the Medieval revivalist work, then out of fashion.

Wailes’s entry to glass making was unexpected to other artists. William Bell Scott wrote the Wailes is the last man one would have expected to organise and succeed. Indeed Wailes did undergo financial difficulties – though only after buying the Saltwell Estate in Gateshead, in 1860AD. Here he landscaped the grounds and built the colourful Saltwell Towers as his home. Wailes sold the estate to the Gateshead Corporation for £35, 000 in 1876AD – when it became Saltwell Park. Wailes died in 1881AD whilst living at Saltwell, (a condition of the sale), and was buried at Saint Peter’s Church, Bywell, Northumberland. This was a place where there were both business and family links; there is glass attributed to Wailes in the church, and it is where his father had been buried”.

The South Window in St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork designed by Henry Mark Harnett and executed by Hardman’s of Birmingham:

The Rose windows in the north and south transepts in St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork are based on the Rose Window in the north transept of Laon Cathedral which dates from c. 1200.

@Praxiteles wrote:

Here is another view of the window in the South Transept in St. Colman’s Cathedral at Cobh, Co. Cork

That is a very beautiful image

Did none of the iconoclasts plan insert plasma screens for a more up to date liturgical experience?

An example of glass made by H. M. Barnett for St John’s Church Sharow

Monaghan – Some pics of the Cathedral

[ATTACH]4548[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4549[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4550[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4552[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4553[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4554[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4555[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4551[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4556[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4557[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4558[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]4559[/ATTACH]

@Praxiteles wrote:

Very nice photographs, ferg. Thanks. It was a pity that the transepts were never glazed with stained glass. But the lines of the building remain and they, like Cathedral, are quite stupendous.

Stupendous it is!

One thing regarding the transepts.. notice that the North transept rose is off centre, whereas the South is bang on centre. Strange..