1862 – Unbuilt Design for St. Finn Barre’s Cathedral, Cork

Competition design from the 1862 competition published in The Building News, October 11th 1872. In February 1863, William Burges was declared the winner. His diary records his delight; “Got Cork!”, whilst the cathedral accounts record the payment of the winning prize sum of £100. Burges’s winning design greatly exceeded the stipulated cost, which occasioned much indignation at the time. Godwin and Burges were friends, and toured Ireland in 1867. Four of his sketch books are in the Victoria & Albert Museum and include drawings of Irish churches, abbeys and castles as well as decorative motifs from manuscripts and objects in the Royal Irish Academy.