William Burges’ Cork

Special outing to Cork to celebrate Cork European Capital of Culture – Saturday 19 November 2005

On Saturday 19 November 2005 there was a special outing to Cork to celebrate Cork’s year as European Capital of Culture. About forty members of the Society travelled to Cork by train, where they were joined by a number of Cork members, The main theme of the day was the Victorian architect William Burges and St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral built between 1865 and 1870.

The first visit of the day was to the Cork City Museum where, after a brief chance to see the permanent exhibits, the members were treated to a ‘tour de force’ talk on Burges by Richard Wood. Richard is the curator of the new exhibition in the museum entitled ‘Conserving the Dream, the Treasures of St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral’. The Cathedral is regarded as perhaps the finest cathedral built by the Church of Ireland and Burges was the mind behind all aspects of its architecture, art-works and iconography. His concept was to represent the early French phase of the gothic style. Richard spoke on the original cartoons and the plaster maquettes that were used by Burges in the creation of the stained glass, mosaics and the statuary of the cathedral. A number of examples of these original drawings and maquettes are on show in the exhibition. Eight of the original ninety cartoons have been conserved by Paul Curtis and, following a generous donation from an anonymous benefactor, a project to conserve the remainder of the collection will soon be launched. The maquettes were restored by Jason Ellis, with one of the originals left untreated to illustrate their original condition.

The members then enjoyed a lunch in the Glucksman Gallery - the menu was prominently emblazoned with the society’s logo. Griffin Murray, Council Member, then led a brief tour of the Stone Corridor to view UCC’s collection of Ogham stones and also to the Honan Chapel to view the Harry Clarke stained glass windows and the church furnishings by the Dun Emer Guild.

The members then went by coach to St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral where the Dean the Very Reverend Michael Burrows welcomed the members and gave a most lively, witty and informative talk on the links between the iconography of the art works (glass, wood, brass, stone and mosaic) with the old and new testament and with mid-Victorian Church of Ireland theology. The dean showed the members some of the more outstanding art works in the cathedral including the new processional cross, painted by Patrick Pye, and the new brass candle stand made by John O’Connell. Not all the imagery in the cathedral was of the sacred and profane – Burges sense of humour extended to ensuring that cork was used in the iconography of the new cathedral in Cork – in the mosaic on the floor in the alter area. Other items of note were the frogs shaving one another on the miserecordia and the rather large bishops throne colloquially known as the ‘Sentry Box’.

Following the dean’s talk Dr. Kevin Murray of the Department of Early Irish in UCC spoke on St. Fin Barre – Myth or Reality? He addressed the issue of the conflating of a number of early Irish saints into the single personality of St Fin Barre as recorded the annals.

The presentations in the cathedral were completed by a talk given by Dr. Michael O’Neill, Council Member, on the link between the Burges’ nineteenth century creation and the original thirteenth century gothic cathedrals in Normandy and the Ile-de-France. Michael also linked the design of St. Fin Barre’s in Cork with contemporary Victorian Anglican building styles in Britain and Ireland.

Special thanks are due to Griffin Murray for organising the itinerary and for making all the local arrangements which resulted in a memorable day made all the more enjoyable by the wonderful autumn weather throughout the entire day.

Further Reading

Teehan, V. & Wincott Heckett, E., The Honan Chapel: A Golden Vision, (Cork University Press, 2004).

McManus, D., Ogam Stones at University College Cork, (Cork University Press, 2004).

Moore, F., 'Munster Ogham Stones: Siting, Context and Function', in M.A. Monk & J. Sheehan (eds) Early Medieval Munster: Archaeology, History and Society, (Cork University Press, 1998), pp. 23-32.