reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches
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@Rhabanus wrote:
Many thanks, ake! These shots revived my drooping spirit!
The stencilling is exquisite and retains a distinctly celtic character. Were they recently restored or have they been in this mint condition all these decades? Absolutely splendid! Truly amazing that the HACKs and the latterday henchmen of Cromwell allowed this church to pass unscathed.
FIVE STARS to the artists and FIVE STARS to the clergy who commissioned them and FIVE STARS to the great members of the lay faithful who supported this worthy work. This is what is known as a WIN-WIN situation. Everybody wins and nobody loses. Why can we not have more of this, please?
I do not think that that is stencil work. My recollection is that it is mosaic work. But I might be wrong.
I believe it is mosaic yes. What do you all think of neo-celticry in a thoroughly gothic church?
Btw, what would you cite as the best neo-celtic church in Ireland? Besides the Honan chapel.
The Cathedral in Loughrea would be a candidate.
At village level, it would be difficult to rival the Chiurch of the Scared Heart in Imokilly, near Midelton.
@Praxiteles wrote:
I do not think that that is stencil work. My recollection is that it is mosaic work. But I might be wrong.
That explains its vibrancy of colour. The gold tiles are splendid. The greens are delightful.
The ‘Celticity’ of the design I suppose is unusual and perhaps not something one would hope to see much in evidence elsewhere; but it certainly works well here.@Praxiteles wrote:
The Cathedral in Loughrea would be a candidate.
At village level, it would be difficult to rival the Chiurch of the Scared Heart in Imokilly, near Midelton.
Have any photos of Imokilly been posted on the thread? I think it’s time we had some interesting iconography. Some Celtic saints with their stories would be nice.
St McCartan, for example, or St Colman, St Columkille, or St Killian, St Finbar, St Fenton, or St Finian.
Praxiteles wrote:Just give me a while qnd I will answer that question]Any update on this? (Macartan’s) I actually remember picking up a copy of this ages ago, and not bothering to look through it. I think I came across it twice! It must have been a bookshop in Dublin. Possibly Waterstones. Or was it a public library. Damn.
St.Peter’s church, Phibsborough.
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The present condition of this church is a terrible pity, as it is probably the catholic church in Dublin that comes closest to rivalling St.Colman’s, just ahead of SS Augustine and John. The scale of it is the same as Cobh and sculptural furnishings are equal in quality and amount. Unfortunately, it has been significantly re-ordered, the altar now being in the crossing. That’s not a serious problem, it’s quite reversible and the original high altar was not hacked into pieces. It’s still there, intact. One of the transept chapels however is totally destroyed, housing a monstrous modern Mary. The other transept has an adjacent adoration chapel which is modern and open to the church but not too bad. The ceiling is in dire need of (high quality) stenciling. Right now it’s poster painted red and looks truely awful. The wall surfaces are also very bare, and need to be decorated one way or another.
One thing it has which Cobh does not is an ambulatory with many altars off it, all with very good, stone scultped. More shots here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58086761@N00/sets/72157600701940560/@ake wrote:
Any update on this? (Macartan’s) I actually remember picking up a copy of this ages ago, and not bothering to look through it. I think I came across it twice! It must have been a bookshop in Dublin. Possibly Waterstones. Or was it a public library. Damn.
Will be back on this shortly – still waiting for ot to arrive. The postal system!
There is no before picture of St Macartan’s in that book. The book is basically a defence, and showing the crime would work against the defendent.
@Paul Clerkin wrote:
There is no before picture of St Macartan’s in that book. The book is basically a defence, and showing the crime would work against the defendent.
A pity that Moyra Doorly did not include St Macartan’s in her book No Place for God: The Denial of the Transcendent in Modern Church Architecture (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2007). An excellent book crying for a follow-up. Perhaps Ireland next?
@ake wrote:
St.Peter’s church, Phibsborough.
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The present condition of this church is a terrible pity, as it is probably the catholic church in Dublin that comes closest to rivalling St.Colman’s, just ahead of SS Augustine and John. The scale of it is the same as Cobh and sculptural furnishings are equal in quality and amount. Unfortunately, it has been significantly re-ordered, the altar now being in the crossing. That’s not a serious problem, it’s quite reversible and the original high altar was not hacked into pieces. It’s still there, intact. One of the transept chapels however is totally destroyed, housing a monstrous modern Mary. The other transept has an adjacent adoration chapel which is modern and open to the church but not too bad. The ceiling is in dire need of (high quality) stenciling. Right now it’s poster painted red and looks truely awful. The wall surfaces are also very bare, and need to be decorated one way or another.
One thing it has which Cobh does not is an ambulatory with many altars off it, all with very good, stone scultped. More shots here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58086761@N00/sets/72157600701940560/Superb photos as always Ake!
I believe the spire here is a smaller twin of that at Derry Cathedral, completed by Ashlin in the early 1900s.. they are both slightly more elaborate siblings of the spire at Killarney, which I belive was completed at the same time.
Derry now has a website, some good photos, but some rather glaring inaccuricies in the text!
@Fearg wrote:
Superb photos as always Ake!
I believe the spire here is a smaller twin of that at Derry Cathedral, completed by Ashlin in the early 1900s.. they are both slightly more elaborate siblings of the spire at Killarney, which I belive was completed at the same time.
Derry now has a website, some good photos, but some rather glaring inaccuricies in the text!
Very interesting site!
@Paul Clerkin wrote:
There is no before picture of St Macartan’s in that book. The book is basically a defence, and showing the crime would work against the defendent.
Clearly, it is not the account that it makes itself out to be!
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Kanturk, Co. COrk
Someone has mentioned to Praxiteles that fairly extensive alterations have been made in recent times to this church, including the removal of the central gates and one of the side gates from the altar fail. The gates are by McGloghlin of Dublin. Praxiteles has searched the Cork County Council Webpage but cannot find a planning application for this intervention to a protected structure.
It also seems that works have been carried out to the sanctuary. Was permission obtaind for this? What looks to be a new altar has been installed and a sort of predella has been provided for the reredos of the Hogh Altar. Who authorised this?
There also appears to be severa; problems with new doors that have been provided to the church. Rather than making replica doors for the church, it seems that modern doors have been installed.
Praxiteles is also told that new metal gutters have been installed on the church. These are round and painted black. Still, I can find no reference to this in a ny planning application.
Extensive landscaping is currently going on, it appears, in the grounds of the church, yet no mention is made of this in a planning application.
Has anyone any information about this development? Or, are we seeing substantial alterations to a protected structured achieved through the cumulative efect a series of piecemeal “declarations” granted by a planning authority that seems to know little about the gothic revival? After all, we have had the “expertiese” of the Heffernan gentleman in Cobh!
Some unusual stained glass in the parish church in Fethard, Tipperary.
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[ATTACH]5368[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5369[/ATTACH]For anyone seriously interested in undoing the vandalism in churches over the past 40 years, here is a website hat should prove more than useful when it comes to finding replacement fittings:
@ake wrote:
Some unusual stained glass in the parish church in Fethard, Tipperary.
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[ATTACH]5368[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5369[/ATTACH]Ake!
Any idea of who produced this glass?
Those images are really very striking!
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