MacLeinin

Boyler –

It would seem like Bishop Magee wants to be remembered for, literally, destroying the Cathedral not improving it. Does he not realise that people of Cobh don’t want their cathdral ‘reordered’?

24,000 sign petition opposing the changes; 720 people sign 213 objections to the planning application but according to the church authorities in Cobh there are only a handful of ‘fanatics’ fighting them. They have convinced themselves that the people will come around eventually and they plan to achieve this goal by not ever discussing the proposals with the people.They have presented the people with a fair accompli, and call it “consultation”.:mad:
They are delusional as well as being iconoclastic wreckers. Unfortunately they seem to have convinced their planning consultants and architect that really deep deep deep deep down the people like this lunatic plan. Just who are they fooling? :rolleyes:

Good News from Cobh. An Bord Pleanala have granted the Friends of St. Colman’s Cathedral request for an Oral Hearing of their appeal. Date and location to be announced later.

Re. #442
Re Gosfort Castle. I found this interesting piece today.

The cost of building Gosford Castle
The cost incurred in the building of Gosford Castle was an alleged £80,000 (not a surprising figure, in view of the size and quality of the building). Lord Gosford had married Mary, daughter and heiress of Robert Sparrow of Worlingham Hall, Beccles, Suffolk, and the Norman style – of which there are a number of genuine East Anglian examples – may have been her idea. It was also probably her money which in large part financed the venture.
In spite of this, money and other difficulties beset the commission and Lord Gosford did not hesitate to express his dissatisfaction. In response to his recriminations about workmanship and bills, and his insensitive reference to a rival architect, William Playfair (who had been working at Drumbanagher, near Newry, Co. Armagh), Hopper replied sadly, in January 1834: ‘… I suspect it did not cost him one hundredth part the thought, and but a small portion of the trouble, which I took to try to make Gosford Castle as convenient and as good as I wished it to be. … I have always felt a sorrow that I ever went to Ireland. I now consider it a misfortune …’. After Hopper’s death in 1856, the work was continued by George Adam Burn (who had been employed under Hopper since 1853).

Lord Gosford’s relations with his wife, as well as with Hopper, may have been affected by the strains of castle-building. The couple separated, and Lady Gosford went back to live at Worlingham, where she died some years before her husband in 1841. The story is told that, on its return journey to Co. Armagh for burial in the family vault at Mullaghbrack, her coffin was mislaid by the drunken servants whom Lord Gosford had sent to fetch it, and was conveyed by train to somewhere in the Midlands. At some time after her death, the Worlingham estate was sold.

Anto. Not harsh, just reality. A church is what it is; it is not a concert hall, it was never meant to be one.
Why is it so hard for people to understand that for those who believe a church, any church, has a meaning beyond the secural understanding of what a building is.

To be continued at a later date.

For now I would like to wish everyone a very happy,prosperous and stimulating New Year.
PS. Thank you all for a great 2005

@Gianlorenzo wrote:

:confused: At present the Sedelia has been removed from right hand Sanctuary screen and is now free standing in Sanctuary and a dining chair put in its place.

Can anyone explain who this can happen since the building was listed as a protected structure and is the subject of a Covenant with the Heritage Council

These are the only photos I have as originally posted by Gianlorenzo. You can see in the lower image that all the seats have been detached from the screen and the central one (top pic) has been moved out on to the Sanctuary floor and replaced by the infamous ‘dining chair’.

@Praxiteles wrote:

I can confirm that present state of baisc maintanance of the Cathedral in Cobh leaves a good deal to be desired. Following a visit there earlier in the year, I was horrified to find it it in such a delapidated state and generally unkempt. The Baptistry in particular is a cause for concern. The large brass cover, which should be on top of the font, has been for quite some time left suspended from a bracket on the wall. It is only a matter of time before it comes loose from the wall. It was also noticeable (and it can be seen in the pictures that have been posted) that a section of the marble dado has been hacked off exposing the underlying layer of slate. It was also depressing to see the very beautiful Lady Chapel reduced to a store room for benches that have been displaced from their original positions because an unintelligent attempt to create an antiphonal seating arrangement in both transepts. It is only a matter of time before the particularly fine Oppenheimer mosic in the floor of the Lady Chapel will be wrecked by the abuse to which it is being subjected. I could continue the list but I doubt that Cork County Council is in the least interested in enforcing the law to ensure that this incredibly complex and culturally sophisticated building is treated with the respect that it deserves. As for the clerical guardians of the building, I am afraid to say that the level of education, to say nothing of culture, among them has reached such a nadir that the building would be in more appreciative hands were Raidegesus in charge. Cobh Cathedral, and what has been allowed to happen to it, is yet another example of why Ireland is undeserving of anything more than mud and wattle. Unfortunately, it exhibits, in more than cultural terms, the very worst symptoms of the kind of post colonial social malaise that we have come habitually to associate with the furthest reaches of the Limpopo. Clearly, the lack of maintanance of Cobh Cathedral cannot be unintentional and is many ways similar to treatment meated out to preserved structures until they reach a condition that they must be demolished.

Evidence of above.:(

@Graham Hickey wrote:

🙂 Quite the opposite in fact – just that many of the ‘alternative’ churches featured are fine pieces of architecture.
Hence is it the dislike of the modern that is putting people here off, or is it these buildings’ ”apparent’ (in that I do not know) disregard for liturgical convention?

Many of the ‘alternative’ (interesting choice of word here!) churches featured, may be as you say fine pieces of architecture, but to my eye they are sterile and cold, hardly what one expects of a church and certainly not the message which the churches would have us believe they wish to send out.

@sangallo wrote:

After our little trip abroad, perhaps it’s time to take a look at some of the home-grown variety. A particularly eloquent example is the “Eucharistic room” in Carlow’s Institute of Pastoral Liturgy, designed by the architect Richard Hurley and theologically justified by the notorious Sean Swayne.

The architect tells us that that “The uncompromising character of the all-white space is softened by the intimacy of the assembly. The space comes alive during the celebration. The complete flexibility of the timber furnishings, designed by the architects, respond to similar flexibility required by the liturgical celebrations from time to time. “
Sounds like musical chairs!

Have you ever seen such a miserably uncomfortable group? 🙁 ” The space comes alive..” :rolleyes: 😡

Great photos Praxiteles 😀

@Praxiteles wrote:

Does anybody know who the architects for the 1979 reordering of Thurles Cathedral were?

Is it not Prof. O’Neill who is responsible for Thurles? ]http://www.cashel-emly.ie/gallery/galleries/Cathedral%20of%20the%20Assumption/cathedral5.jpg[/IMG]

The green hued bottled aumbry is perhaps too suggestive of Biddy Early!!!! :rolleyes: