reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

Now . . what do you know about them gargoyles that adorn many of our churches & cathedrals . .
As Westminster Abbey is about to unveil a set of new gargoyles, Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the strange and sinister history of these macabre figures. He is unprepared for what awaits him… he discovers exactly what a Graham-Dixon gargoyle looks like! The critic also makes an admission to maybe talking out of his arse.

[align=left:2xwusnad][/align:2xwusnad] @apelles wrote:

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.

Quite a mess indeed!

St Eunan’s Cathedral, Leterkenny, Co. Donegal

Work is under way on the restoration of the 110-year old St Eunan’s Cathedral in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
The project is taking about three months to complete and will consist of repairs to the roof to counter damp, and the re-pointing of the walls and elimination of cracks.

The refurbishment project is being overseen by historic building specialists J Rainey & Co, and spokesman Brian Rainey sad that the cathedral had stood the test of time ad remained in “overall good condition apart from a few isolated sites.”

“You couldn’t get something like it built nowadays,” he remarked. “The cathedral looks so well from the ground but there are a few small cracks which have been restrained with metal bands.”

Much of the focus of the refurbishment is on restoring the 82 metre high tower, which has intricate stonework.

Mr Rainey said that the four capping stones at the summit of the spire had been damaged by the wrought iron crosses mounted on them. “We have taken the stones off and had the new ones carved and we’re replacing the crosses with stainless steel ones,” he explained.

The four specially commissioned new capping stones for the top of the tower cathedral have now been delivered by local sculptor Raymond Herrity who cut them from the same Mountcharles sandstone that was used in building St Eunan’s.

Mr Herrity, whose own great-great grandfather was one of the stonemasons who worked on the construction of the cathedral, said the pieces have all been carved from a block of stone he was given ten years ago.

He said that each of the capping stones would hold up a cross and in carving the designs, he was instructed to use the original stones as templates, so there was “very little room for error.”

The cathedral was previously renovated and remodelled internally in 1985 when a new altar table and chair were installed, while the exterior stonework was last repaired twenty years ago.

And still on the subject of cathedral restoration, I notice their talking about David Slattery over on another thread https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=8304. . I don’t know if the following information is actual confirmation or perhaps just a suggestion that David Slattery is going to be the architect in charge of the whole restoration of St. Mel’s Cathedral, or merely that he is acting as a consultant for the preparatory works.

From http://www.engineersjournal.ie/issues/august-2010/articles/stmels/

After fire wreaked havoc in the interior of St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford, Hegarty Demolition led the team that worked to stabilize the building and salvage as much as possible of its precious contents

Following Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 2009, a fire at St Mel’s destroyed the interior of the cathedral at Longford, along with most of its furnishings and fittings. On Christmas Day, Hegarty Demolition had a team of experts in position. The first tasks to be performed were to create a safe external perimeter and to provide assistance to the Longford Fire Brigade.

Over the next few days, the team provided temporary propping and wind-bracing to the main superstructure to make the building safe. Following this preliminary work, the Hegarty team, which grew to over 20 at peak, braced the walls, propped the standing columns and prepared 3D scans of surviving interior finishes. These scans will be vital in restoring the cathedral to its former glory.
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Hegarty Demolition worked in association with experts from the National Museum of Ireland, along with leading conservation architect firm David Slattery & Company, Moylan Consulting Engineers, Barrett Mahony Consulting Engineers and Interactive Project Managers Ltd. Further bracing of structural items involved fitting specially made steel collars around the cracked and unstable pillars. Specific propping to the underside of the column arches can be seen on http://www.hegartydemolition.ie where a full project brief and up-to-date progress bulletins are available.

One of the casualties was the content of the Diocesan Museum, located at the rear of the cathedral. Assembled in the 1930s and 40s by the late Fr Michael Kearney, President of St Mel’s College, the collection was moved to the cathedral in 1974.

Painstaking removal
The team performed a painstaking removal of all the fire debris, sieving each load in order to salvage as much as possible. Their efforts have been rewarded in that over 30 per cent of the treasures from St Mel’s Museum have been recovered.

The collection included almost 500 items and ranked among the finest ecclesiastical archives in the country, containing a variety of ecclesiastical material as well as objects of archaeological, historical and ethnographical interest. It included a number of objects of national importance, including the Ninth Century Crozier of St Mel, patron of the diocese, which was found at Ardagh, Co. Longford in the 19th Century. Equally important were, the Shrine of St Caillinn of Fenagh, Co. Leitrim – a book shrine dated to 1536 and associated with Brian O’Rourke, Lord of Breifne – and the 12th Century Clog na Rígh – ‘bell of the kings’ – also associated with St Caillinn.Of particular local interest were a number of ceremonial keys and trowels used in commemorating the foundations of the cathedral and other parish churches in the diocese.

Objects recovered
A significant number of objects have survived and have been recovered. All have suffered fire damage and it is not yet clear how successful the conservation process will be. Among the objects recovered are the Shrine of St Caillinn, which is largely intact and a portion of the Crozier of St Mel.

Among the other objects found were an early iron hand-bell from Wheery, Co. Offaly and a 13th Century crozier made at Limoges in France. Regrettably, the collection of vestments, penal crosses, altar vessels of pewter and silver, and works in paper were lost. In all, over 200 objects have been recovered and these have now been removed to a stable environment at the National Museum of Ireland for safekeeping and their condition is currently being assessed. The Museum is working closely with the diocese to develop a conservation strategy for the objects recovered.
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Commenting on the project, Liam Hogan, managing director of Hegarty Demolition Ltd, is particularly proud of its success in salvaging the stained glass windows. “These were by Harry Clarke and were a much-loved feature of the old cathedral,” he reports. “The surviving windows have been removed for restoration and any fragments of the damaged windows have been retrieved and will be available for restoration.”

Hegarty Demolition has succeeded in stabilizing the building, having placed a temporary roof in position and ensured that the whole structure is fully weathered and in a suitable state of preparedness for reconstruction.

ONQ has put up David Slattery’s contact details. .I’m tinkering that maybe I should just ring Mr Slattery & ask him what his involvement is. . He’d probably, quite rightly tell me to get lost & mind me own. .But what the hell. . Nothing ventured. . Nothing gained 😉

Is this the same David Slattery who was retained as architect for the “restoration” of Cobh Cathedral?

@Praxiteles wrote:

Is this the same David Slattery who was retained as architect for the “restoration” of Cobh Cathedral?

I’d say it’s probably him alright. . What do you know of his work?. .Is it bad news for St. Mel’s?

@apelles wrote:

I’d say it’s probably him alright. . What do you know of his work?. .Is it bad news for St. Mel’s?

Well, the one who was responsible for the “restoration” of Cobh Cathedral left the limestone joints on most of the building unpointed which allowed plenty of water to enter through the walls; the cleaning of the stine work was also controversial in that not too long afterwards the north wall was covered in a black substance. It is all to be found in the conerrvation report commissioned by the restoration Trust and consigned to the National Heritage Council (by fax) as a condition for reception of a a grant of 70,000 euro.

Yep it’s the same chap alright http://www.slatteryconservation.ie/ . .How could he have messed up so badly with the “restoration” of Cobh Cathedral? He seems to be highly thought of in conservation terms in Ireland :confused:
I better make that call.

@apelles wrote:

Yep it’s the same chap alright http://www.slatteryconservation.ie/ . .How could he have messed up so badly with the “restoration” of Cobh Cathedral? He seems to be highly thought of in conservation terms in Ireland :confused:
I better make that call.

Indeed, this must be the man himself. Just looking at his web page, he has some references to his work at St Colman’s, Cthedral, Cobh. He even has a photograph of the north elevation . If you look carefully, you will see those beautiful black discolorations of the stone.

As for conservation, the report compiled for the National heritage Council estimates that it will cost a million euro simply to make the the building waterproof following the effects of the “restoration” – 700 plus thousand euro on the Cathedral fabric and a further 300 plus thousand on the sacrist building. That is some restoration!

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

The following item is recorded in the minutes of Cobh Town Council for its meeting of 10 May 2010 and indicates just how devastating the results of the last “restoration” of Cobh Cathedr<l have been:

. Report by Mona hallihan, Conservation officer, Cork County Council.

The Conservation officer gave a report to Cobh Town Council on ongoing remedial works at Cobh Cathedral. In response to a question from Cllr Sean O’Connor regarding the erection of netting, the Conservation Officer stated that due to sugaring of the Bath stone and its decaying the netting had to be erected as a health & safety measure. She stated that the stonework would have to be re-pointed due to damage from salt-water and all water had to be eliminated from the building both inside and outside. Cllr O’Connor in response expressed the view that the pointing works were responsible for the seepage of water into the joints and buttresses. Ms Hallihan stated that the stonework had been rectified but that it along with the lead flashings, pipes etc needed ongoing maintenance and a plan for such was being drawn up. She added that the Bath stone was difficult to maintain such was its composition.