Tag Archives: Lismore

The Old Man of Lismore



Located in the nave of one of the Irish Aesthete’s favourite buildings, St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore, this early Christian carving of a man holding a book was discovered in the 19th century when the old well near Lismore Castle was being cleared. The figure likely formed some part of a support for the monastery that once stood on that site. St Carthage’s needs funds at present to improve the lighting, heating and sound and so, determined to ensure the cathedral has a viable future, not just as a place of worship but also a venue for other events, a number of locals have come together with a clever initiative. Verso Arts is an online auction which will be held two weeks’ hence on Saturday November 6th and feature more than 800 postcard-sized works by artists, some well-known (who would have guessed Joanna Lumley was such a dab hand with the paintbrush), others less familiar. All are being offered for the same price of €50 and all are listed anonymously, on a first-bid, first-secure basis. (They are all on exhibition at present in Lismore Castle Art Gallery). Absolutely all proceeds from the auction will go to St Carthage’s Cathedral, thereby helping to guarantee the old man above will still be visible for many years to come, as well as the wonderful McGrath Tomb below, dating from 1543 and without doubt one of the finest surviving examples of 16th century carving in Ireland.



All works included in the Verso Art auction are currently on view in Lismore Castle Arts Gallery, County Waterford until October 31st. For more information on the auction and how to bid, please see: Verso Art – VersoArt

The Passing of a Pioneer


A view of the south front of St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore, County Waterford drawn by Jonas Blaymire and engraved by J Haydon in 1739. At that date the building still assumed the appearance given after an extensive programme of restoration work undertaken by Sir William Robinson from 1769 onward. Robinson rightly features prominently in A Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Ireland 1600-1720 published in 1981. Sadly its author, Rolf Loeber, who thanks to the Hon Desmond Guinness was able to live in Castletown, County Kildare during the book’s preparation, died in Pittsburgh earlier this week. Although a distinguished professor of psychiatry and psychology, Loeber had a life-long passion for Ireland’s architectural history, first inspired when as a student in Amsterdam in the 1960s he had read a copy of Maurice Craig’s Dublin 1660-1860. Beginning with an article on Irish Country Houses and Castles of the Late Caroline Period: An Unremembered Past Recaptured (Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society XVI, 1973), he published extensively on the subject, often breaking fresh ground and often in collaboration with his wife Magda (together they produced A Guide to Irish Fiction, 1650-1900 which appeared in 2006). His knowledge and passion will be much missed by everyone interested in Ireland’s built heritage.

Ice Ice Baby

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Located on a side road adjacent to the river Blackwater outside Lismore, County Waterford is this pair of ice houses dating from the end of the 18th century. They were built not to serve the nearby castle but by a local family, the Foleys who operated a fishery business in the area and wanted to preserve their catches. On a piece of flat land, channels were dug through which water from the river would enter and then be held by sluice gates while it froze during the winter: the resultant ice was then moved into these two round buildings which seemingly continued to serve this purpose well into the last century. The original entrance porch was to the rear, through which further doors gave admittance to each house, each measuring 6.65 metres in diameter and 4.5 metres to the top of the dome: the arched entrance in the southern chamber (next to the road) was only created a few years ago by the local authority. The cracks in the northern chamber must be a cause of concern.

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Sancto Carthago non Delenda Est

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Early Irish saints seem to have been a turbulent lot. Not for the majority of them lives of quiet contemplation (although they may have claimed a desire for such); instead they were caught up in political feuds and rivalries, sometimes even initiating disputes. The history of Saint Mo Chutu mac Fínaill, otherwise known as Carthach or Carthach the Younger, is typical. Born in County Kerry around the year 555 initially he became a monk under the guidance of St. Carthage the Elder. However in 580 he opted for the life of a hermit and built a cell at Kiltallagh where, despite the wish for solitude, he soon began to attract admirers. This in turn inspired the jealousy of two neighbouring bishops, so he moved to forced him to Bangor, County Down where he spent a year before returning to Kerry and founding a couple of churches. After visiting several other parts of the country, he founded a monastery at Rahan, County Offaly and composed a rule for his monks, an Irish metrical poem of 580 lines, divided into nine separate sections. Unfortunately he then found himself involved in one of the greatest religious controversies of the time: the date on which Easter should fall (the Roman and Celtic churches disagreed on the subject). This led to Mo Chutu’s expulsion from the monastery he had founded, so he and many of his followers moved instead to County Waterford where he established a new monastery at Lios-Mor, today called Lismore.

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The origins of the present Cathedral in Lismore bearing St Carthage’s name are unclear, but appear to date from the 12th century and owe their origin to Murtagh O’Brien, King of Munster. Likely of cruciform shape, some remains of the building survive, incorporated into the present edifice such as the Chancel Arch and perhaps portions of the transepts, including the windows. Like so many other religious structures, it suffered abuse in the 16th and 17th centuries, being almost entirely destroyed by Edmund FitzGibbon, the White Knight in the second half of the 1590s when he was serving as Sheriff of County Cork. Within the cathedral, at west the end of the nave, is a surviving tomb of the Magrath family, dated 1557 and elaborately carved-top, front, back, and sides: it is a rare survivor from FitzGibbon’s assault. The building was subsequently restored for Protestant worship and partly reconstructed by Richard Boyle, first Earl of Cork, who by this time was in possession of Lismore Castle which he made his principle residence. In 1633 he wrote ‘God bless my good intentions and endeavours in this work. This day, I resolved with the assistance of my good God, to re-edify the ancient Cathedral Church of Lismore, which was demolished by Edward Fitzgibbon [sic] called the White Knight, and other traitors in the late rebellion of Mownster. The chancel of the church I did at my own expense, and put a new roof covered with slate, and now have given orders to have the ruins of the body and aisle cleared and to have the same new-built and re-edified as fair or fairer than it ever was before.’

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The upheavals of the 1640s put an end to further work being undertaken on the cathedral but after Charles II’s Restoration in 1660, once more the building benefitted from attention, this time under the architectural supervision of Sir William Robinson who from c.1670 onwards served as Surveyor General of Ireland. When Richard Pococke visited Lismore in 1752, he noted, ‘The Castle and Cathedral are on a hanging ground, some of which is covered with wood over the Blackwater: From the Castle and the Warren behind the Cathedral is a fine view of the river both ways, of the meadows on each side, of the wood on the hanging ground and of the Cascade from the Salmon Weir…the Quire part of the Cathedral is very old, built with sort of Pilasters at the corners, and long narrow windows on each side and at the end. It was founded by St. Carthage als. Mocoddy who was driven by King Blathmac out of the Abbey of Batheny in the County of Westmeath. He first founded an Abbey of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, where the Castle now is: He also founded a School or University here, which was afterwards governed by St. Cataldus, who in process of time became Bishop of Tarentum.This cathedral was repaired by Munchus King of Munster in 1130. The body of the church is a modern building, probably of the time of King Charles 2d. The Chapter house is a good room, there are remains of the staircase in it, and signs of a room above in which they might keep the Archives of the Church. In the church are remains of the tomb of a Magrath in 1557 probably a relation of Bishop McGrath.’

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Certain residues of the 18th century can still be found inside St Carthage’s cathedral, such as the classical carved oak screen separating nave from chancel which dates from the 1730s and a slightly later oak pulpit on the southern side of the nave. However Nicholas Carlisle’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (published 1810) commented that Lismore’s cathedral, ‘being in indifferent repair, is about to undergo a thorough renovation.’ Clearly the earlier improvements undertaken had proven insufficient, because over the next few decades the building was largely reconstructed. In 1833 the Dublin Penny Journal informed readers that the cathedral in Lismore ‘being in a state of complete dilapidation, was a few years since, taken down and rebuilt from the foundation, under the supervision of Mr Morrison.’ This was Richard Morrison, although a local architect called James Dwyer is believed to have overseen the actual work. This involved the restoration of the nave and transepts and the complete rebuilding of the chancel: the latter in its current form is therefore a Morrison structure with its splendid vaulted roof and arched windows. The east window above the altar contains painted glass executed by Dublin artist George McAlister at some point before his death in June 1812 (he left a commission for Tuam Cathedral’s windows incomplete).

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In 1827 the Chapter of St Carthage’s Cathedral agreed ‘That a plan for the erection of a new tower and spire, and repairs of the isle [sic] made by Messrs Payne, to be completed for the sum of £3,500 which has been commenced under the direction of the Dean of Lismore, is unanimously and highly approved by us.’ The Messrs Payne referred to were brothers George and James Pain who had come to Ireland some time around 1811/1812 to supervise the building of Lough Cutra, County Galway (for more on this house, see: Domat Omnia Virtus, January 27th 2014). At Lismore cathedral they were responsible for adding a square tower with corner pinnacles to the west end of the building. Above this climbs a slim octagonal spire supported by flying buttresses. The Pains also worked on the interior of the nave, bringing its appearance into line with that of Morrison’s chancel by adding a fan-vaulted ceiling and giving the windows arches. They also added the gothic memorial to Dean John Scott which simultaneously serves as a doorway at the west end of the nave. No wonder that by the time Thackeray visited Lismore he could write ‘The church with the handsome spire that looks so graceful among the trees, is a cathedral church and one of the neatest kept and prettiest edifices I have seen in Ireland.’ Such remains the case some 170 years later. St Carthage’s, with its further additions such as a Burne-Jones window in the south transept and the Cotton Library off the north transept (see Sapientia in Libris Exsistit, October 15th 2012) remains neatly kept and elegant, and indubitably well worth a visit.

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Sapientia in Libris Exsistit*

Both Marsh’s Library, attached to St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin and the Bolton Library in Cashel are rightly well-known foundations. Much less familiar to the public is the Cotton Library belonging to St Carthage’s Cathedral in Lismore, County Waterford. St Carthage (otherwise known in Irish as Mochuta) first established a monastery in his native Kerry but finally settled in Lismore in 635, dying there some two years later.
The small cathedral bearing his name, originally the abbey church of St Cathage’s foundation, has gone through a series of vicissitudes, being burnt by the White Knight at the start of the 17th century, re-roofed by Richard Boyle, the great Earl of Cork soon after, then damaged again during the 1640s before being rebuilt three decades later by the Irish Surveyor General William Robinson whose other extant works include Marsh’s Library. The greater part of the cathedral structure as seen today dates from the beginning of the 19th century when it was extensively reconstructed first by Sir Richard Morrison and then by the brothers James and George Richard Pain.
Only after they had all finished their work did Henry Cotton establish the library which now bears his name. Born in Oxford in 1789 Cotton was appointed sub-librarian of the university’s Bodleian Library in 1814, retaining that position for eight years by which time he had been admitted to holy orders. In 1823 he moved to Ireland where he became domestic chaplain to his father-in-law Richard Lawrence who had recently been elevated to the Archbishopric of Cashel. In 1834 Cotton was elected Dean of Lismore, retaining this position until the end of the following decade when failing eyesight obliged him to retire. A considerable scholar, he wrote many books, most notably Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, a five-volume history of the Irish church including the succession of prelates and members of the country’s cathedral bodies. He died in 1879 and is buried within the cathedral grounds.

Believed to date from 1851, the library he founded can be reached by a door off the north transept of the cathedral followed by a short flight of wooden steps. It is unclear whether the room housing the library was built for this purpose or converted when Cotton made his donation. It’s not a large space and much of the north wall is taken up by a wide vaguely Tudor-esque window which provides ample light to the interior but limits opportunities for the bookcases with their charming castellations and spires. The centre of the east wall has a quartrefoil window bearing the arms of the Dukes of Devonshire (who have owned adjacent Lismore Castle since it passed into their hands in the 18th century courtesy of a Boyle heiress) and their motto ‘Cavendo Tutus’ or Safety through Caution. As if testifying to these words, the fireplace immediately beneath the window is now blocked by a display case.

The core of the collection is made up of Cotton’s own library, enhanced by a variety of gifts made over the past 150 years. Among the holdings are a 16th century English translation of John Calvin’s writings and an English translation of the Koran dating from 1734, as well as some works by the great 17th century polymath Robert Boyle. Second-youngest of the first Earl of Cork’s fourteen children, Boyle was born in Lismore and spent part of his adult life in Ireland but eventually left the country since he found it impossible to continue his chemistry research here. There are also quirky items of the sort that give any library its particular interest, not least a Victorian box with the words ‘Exceeding Great and Precious Promises’ on its cover. Inside the box are over 100 tiny scrolls, each bearing a religious injunction; the idea is that you remove one scroll every morning and then implement its directive over the rest of the day.

St Carthage’s current dynamic Dean, Paul Draper, would like the Cotton Library to be more accessible, and appreciated. At the moment there are problems concerning security and safety that would need to be resolved. In addition, some funding for the project is required since the room itself needs attention, especially the western corner of the north wall. Conditional on those issues being addressed, there’s no reason why the Cotton Library shouldn’t provide another reason to visit Lismore and its handsome cathedral.

*Wisdom resides in books