reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

@Praxiteles wrote:

The architects J. J. McCarthy and Patrick Byrne are both interred in Glasnevin as is the stonemason James Pearse.

So are G. C. Ashlin and Thomas Coleman.

Patrick Byrne is buried in plot XA34 garden. It is ironical that there is no mark or stone to indicate his grave given that he was the architect for the cemetery. I think we need to do something to remedy this.

A very accomplished interior at Fermoy; I hope there is no question of this being sold off or ‘deconsecrated’. With a minimum of intervention, this could easily be restored to virtually its original state.
Incidentally, I’ve now come to the conclusion that the flimsy ‘second altar’ in this kind of situation is best left as just that, to make clear what is still the ‘high altar’ (although an antipendium would give it a dignity it currently lacks). It also seems to me an irony that while some uber-trendy ‘liturgists’ seem obsessed with an ‘antiphonal’ layout, it is not implemented here, where the seats college-wise would be very appropriate!

PS Any images of the gothicised parish church?

@Brendan Grimes wrote:

Patrick Byrne is buried in plot XA34 garden. It is ironical that there is no mark or stone to indicate his grave given that he was the architect for the cemetery. I think we need to do something to remedy this.

How about opening a subscription list?

@Brendan Grimes wrote:

Patrick Byrne is buried in plot XA34 garden. It is ironical that there is no mark or stone to indicate his grave given that he was the architect for the cemetery. I think we need to do something to remedy this.

Wow – that’s bad. We do need to do something.

@gunter wrote:

I was only ever in the freaky vaults of Nicholas of Myra once, and I’ve no particular desire to go again, but I have a dim recollection that Mrs. Leeson and some of the kids are down there, but I don’t recall that Leeson himself was there, I wonder had he fallen out with another PP by the time his time had come, as it were?

Nicholson Numskull 🙂

. . . . tell us more

I’ve done searches for the full article of Nicholson Numskull’s ‘Essay on the Rise and Progress of Architectural Taste in Dublin’ (1832) & apart from the few mentions on the DOIA, & jstor (which I can’t get access to), the other references always lead me back to Brendan’s lectures . .
So if you do have access to the ‘Nicholson Numskull’ essay Brendan, would you be so good as to post the whole thing in its entirety for us to view.

Very unusual that someone as successful & accomplished as Patrick Byrne has no visible headstone at his burial site . .He hardly died penniless did he?

Very unusual that someone as successful & accomplished as Patrick Byrne has no visible headstone at his burial site .

Is there any possibility that he might have left instructions for no monument to be erected?

@Praxiteles wrote:

How about opening a subscription list?

I’m going away for a few days; I’ll look this up to see what I have when I come home.

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of year again (in fact a little anticipated) when we all have the pleasure of reading he returns made to the Companies Registration Office by St. Colman’s Roman Catholic Trust Limited. This, as you will recall is the body which raises “funds for the restoration of St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork”. This year’s report is presented by Denis Murphy, the milk person from Mallow, but it remains ambivelant whether he is presenting the report as chairman of the Trust or not. It is dated 8 July 2010 – a fatal day for on that very day Bishop John Magee resigned as chairman of the Trust with immediate effect.

The boldest statement in the report (which, we must admit, is of fig-leaf dimensions) is that the Trust “intends to continue in its efforts to raise funds for the completion of the restoration“. It was well that this was stated as an intention. As a pious aspiration it might have been better – especially when we look at the results of the fund raising efforts for the financial year ended 31 December 2009. An enterprising boy would have done better for his confirmation.

Briefly, the fundraising activities amounted to 28,036 euro in bank interest; 40,000 euro from the Department of the Environment, heritage and Local Government, and 70, 000 euro from The Heritage Council. No donations, bequests or endowments are reported. So, that is the sum total of the efforts “to raise funds for the completion of the restoration of St Colman’s Cathedral” to year’s end 2009.

Praxiteles has to say that the bank interest received is pretty miserable – even for the present straightened circumstances. Perhaps the Trust might try a Post Office stamp account – the interest return could not be worse.

In the same period, 377,190 euro was spend on works to th Cathedral – presumably to stop the water coming in as a result of the “restoration” being pursued by the Trust. This left the Trust with a negative situation in the amount of 239, 154 euro which was subvented from reserves.

At the opening of the year, the rserve amounted to 1,093,274 euro. Subvenbting the works’ loss left the reserve at 854,120 euro at year’s end. However, as contingency item for 190,461 is charged to the reserve (this is money that may have to be repaid to the Heritage Council in the event of a breach of covenant made with the Heritage Council as a condition for funding received in the 1990s) it looks as though the reserve fund now really stands at 673,659 euro. Bearing in mind that the report commissioned for the Heritage Council states that some 1 million will have to be spent simply to make the building waterproof after the botched restoration Praxiteles is beginning to see a red coloured horizon – especially as the general population in Cork at present would not subscribe much to an appeal after the last run around the got.

More sad news: The Directors of St Colman’s Catholic Trust have now shrunk to three: brian Carroll, Denis Murphy, and the intrepid Fran Walley. They do not seem to have a chairman at the moment. Denis Murphy, in his report, wishes to place on record “our debt of gratitude to the contributions made by The Ven. Archdeacon WilliamTwohig (RIP) and to Rt Rev Mgr Denis O’Callaghan and Rt Rev Mgr James O’Donnell, who both retired on age grounds“. Everybody, I think, realizes that that is Alic in Wonderland and it remains to be seen whether the “debit of gratitude” will be re-iterated in next year’s report. Nobody has come on to the board of directors – clearly signs of the times and of trouble convincing business persons of the worthwhileness of this particular enterprise.

Praxiteles is beginning to wonder how a company can continue to operate with three directors – especially when one has to act the chairman. As it is, it looks more than probable that there is a winding-up on the horizon – but will anyone be left to propose second and vote for it at a board meeting? Perhaps a trip to the commercial court might resolve the matter in the end?

If anybody thought that the financial crisis was over, he should think again having purused this awful set of results:

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

St. Colman’s Roman Catholic Trust Limited

Returns to the Companies Registration Office, received on 9 August 2009:

This is the announcement we have been expecting for several years now, i.e., the departure of Bishop Magee as a Director of the St Colman’s Roman Catholic Trust. While we note that Denis Murphy, in presenting the chairman’s report placed on record a debt of gratitude to fellow directors Denis O’Callaghan and James O’Donnell, no such debt was registered in respect of Bishop Magee. Indeed, his departure is distinguished by an eerie silence.

Given the present composition of the Trust, there are only three more resignations thta we have to wait for before this glorious body is sent to commercial Valhalla:

@Praxiteles wrote:

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

In the same period, 377,190 euro was spend on works to th Cathedral – presumably to stop the water coming in as a result of the “restoration” being pursued by the Trust. This left the Trust with a negative situation in the amount of 239, 154 euro which was subvented from reserves.

Bearing in mind that the report commissioned for the Heritage Council states that some 1 million will have to be spent simply to make the building waterproof after the botched restoration Praxiteles is beginning to see a red coloured horizon – especially as the general population in Cork at present would not subscribe much to an appeal after the last run around the got.

What a mess . .Just how do they intend to proceed with the ‘restoration’ without adequate funding?
Surely the first issue on the agenda would be to get the building properly watertight . .And in the current climate that could be achieved I’m sure for much less than the million quoted above. . Scaffolding which I’m figuring would be a major cost factor to the repairs (50% is often not unusual) is lying idle all across the country & can be hired very cheaply. I was on a project recently where the full interior of a church was scaffolded out right up to the rafters for the duration of the project & the only charge to the parish was for the labour costs associated with the assembly & dis-assembly of the scaffold . .Deals can definitely be got on this . .They can do better.