Beggars and Artisans: Architecture of the Modern Church of St Francis
Nearly four hundred years after the dissolution of the monasteries, the Franciscans in Cork saw the opening of their new church in the city centre. Father Jerome O’Callaghan wrote in Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork: ‘Long expected was the great day; it came – the day of the blessing and opening of the new St. Francis.’ This ‘great day’ took place on 14 July 1953. O’Callaghan continues: ‘We may well call the event an epoch-making event. It is the third ‘permanent’ church of the Order to be built in Cork.’ The first Franciscan house in Cork was the medieval friary discussed in the previous post, the second house was the so-called Old St Francis on Broad Lane, and the third the present-day church.
By 1950, the so-called Old St Francis on Broad Lane (pictured above) was in a state of disrepair, with one third of the roof and side walls being replaced with a temporary roof of timber and felt. Photograph reproduced in Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork (1953). Special Collections, UCC Library.
Map of Cork, 1801. Broad Lane is seen in the centre of the map. Special Collections, UCC Library.
O’Callaghan’s description of the completed 1953 church encapsulates a sense of awe and wonderment, not dissimilar to the views of medieval western writers towards ecclesiastical architecture. O’Callaghan states that anybody seeing the church was ‘struck by this immense lofty building of rustic red brick which dominates the surrounding areas. (…) The large dominating tracery window, the artistic portico and graceful flanking towers, invest the whole scene in dignified grandeur.’ His selection of words recalls an account of churches in England, France and Italy that were visited by an early fourteenth-century Franciscan pilgrim from Ireland, Friar Simon. Simon, for example, mentions a ‘wonderfully beautiful’ church in Amiens, the ‘glittering’ shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury and the Church of Notre Dame in Paris ‘furnished with lofty towers’.
The façade of St Francis Church is flanked by two towers and adorned with a large stained-glass window, above which is the life-size replica of the famous San Damiano Cross. The cross seems to crown the entrance to the church and is a reminder of a seminal story in the life of St Francis. Bonaventure’s (c. 1217-1274)Life of St Francis also known as the Legenda Maior, recounts a time when Francis, still a merchant, visited the San Damiano church outside Assisi. There, he heard a voice speaking to him from the painted cross. According to Bonaventure, the voice told Francis ‘go and repair my house which, as you see, is all being destroyed.’ The use of this particular image on the façade of Cork’s friary alludes to the Franciscan ideals of spiritual renewal and restoration, as well as the actual act of building a church.
View of the façade with the image of the San Damiano Cross, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
‘On reaching the church proper the impression we receive, is one of beauty, dignity and even grandeur.’ It is clear from O’Callaghan’s words that the interior of the church building was planned to reflect the grandeur and wonder of the building’s exterior. Mosaics and stained-glass windows adorn the walls of the church and will be examined in the following sections of this exhibition.
Apse mosaic, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
To finish this post, we may quote again from Father O’Callaghan’s Franciscan Cork, in order to convey the impression, which the church left on its visitors in 1953: ‘Almost invariably one hears a first-time visitor uttering the spontaneous whisper: “Oh how beautiful!” and beautiful it is indeed in every line and feature.’
Morgan Hole
Further reading
Bonaventure, The Major Legend of Saint Francis, in Regis J. Armstrong, J.A. Wayne Hellmann and William J. Short, eds, Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol.2 (New York, 2000), 525-683.
Historical maps of Cork city give a clear indication about the location of the medieval Franciscan friary. UCC’s Special Collections houses a copy of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum or Cities of the World, a six-volume work, first published in Cologne and Antwerp between 1572 and 1618. The publication presents bird’s-eye views, maps and plans of all major cities of the world and its sixth volume contains a page with maps of the four Irish cities, namely Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Cork, the latter is pictured below and was the subject of the online exhibition created by the MA in Medieval History students in 2020.
Map of Cork, Civitates Orbis Terrarum, Cologne, 1618, edited by Georg Braun, engravings by Abraham Hogenberg. Special Collections, UCC Library.
The Civitates map of Cork marks the Franciscan friary with number 3 and shows it as being positioned on the north bank of the river Lee, in the vicinity of the bridge. The map is oriented east-west, so the Franciscan church features on the left, which is north, with two other mendicant churches of the Dominicans (number 4) and Augustinians (number 9) being located on the right side of the map, which corresponds to the south side of the city.
The size of the medieval Franciscan friary was restricted by topographical features of the river to the south and the red sandstone cliff to the north of the friary complex. Evidence concerning the medieval structure of the friary is limited, but its size and appearance can be discerned from documentary sources, archaeological excavations and early modern maps.
Map of Cork, published in Pacata Hibernia, London, 1633 (detail). The text of Pacata Hibernia deals with the Elizabethan wars in Ireland. The map of Cork is oriented west-east with the city’s north side shown on the right side of the map. The Franciscan friary (‘Sanden Abby’) is on the right side of the map. Map from the 1810 reprint, Special Collections, UCC Library.
On the Pacata Hibernia map, the church of St Francis is visible on the north side of the city (right side of the map), where it is labelled as ‘Sanden Abby’ meaning Shandon Abbey. As on the Civitates map, here the church also appears as a simple structure, possibly having one nave. The Civitates map displays a side transept and the Pacata Hibernia map indicates the existence of a tower. Early modern sources, such as Annales Minorum compiled by a Franciscan historianLuke Wadding (1588-1657) state that the church was a notable one, divided in two parts by high columns, which may imply that columns separated the nave from the transept. In 1541, following the dissolution of the monasteries, the church and its tower were to be demolished: this confirms that the friary indeed had a bell tower, which was a typical architectural feature of mendicant Irish churches. The seventeenth-century Pacata Hibernia map retains the tower, in spite of chronological discrepancies regarding the tower’s demolition.
Archaeological surveys of Cork’s medieval Franciscan friary are limited, however the findings on the site of the Dominican friary of St Mary’s of the Isle provide important comparative information on the architectural structure and decorative elements of mendicant houses in medieval Cork. In both cases, a friary complex consisted of a church, most likely with one nave and a tower, and conventual buildings that were grouped around a central cloister. Cork Public Museum houses a collection of architectural fragments from St Mary’s Dominican site, such as parts of ornate window arches and funerary stone slabs.
A fragment of a double ogee-headed window, now inserted into the wall of the Distillery House on Wise’s Hill, was found in the nineteenth century near the site of the medieval friary and probably came the Franciscan house.
Drawing of a double ogee-headed window, now inserted into the wall on Wise’s Hill. From Michael Holland, ‘The Monastery of St. Francis at Cork’, The Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 23 (1917), 122.
In 1804, during the construction of houses on the North Mall, which was the site of the medieval Franciscan friary, some stone coffins were found and subsequently recorded in 1852. The description of burials was cited in the 1917 volume of The Journal of Cork Historical and Archaeological Society: ‘The red stone rock which rises perpendicularly at the back of the buildings had on ledges at various heights coffins cut out of the solid stone, and the lid fitting so closely that to the casual observer it would appear to be part of the original rock’. The now-lost medieval Franciscan friary is still remembered in the street names, such as North Abbey Street and North Abbey Square.
By the time Father Donatus Mooney, OFM, Ireland’s minister provincial, visited all Franciscan houses in Ireland possibly between 1615 and 1616, the friary had been mostly dismantled following the dissolution of the monasteries. All that remained by that time were the ruined walls of the church and as Mooney recorded the place was ‘inhabited by an English Protestant, who has erected a dwelling house within the precincts’. As a result of the friary’s destruction, the friars of St Francis were forced to inhabit a rented house in the city.
Later maps of Cork allow us to trace the subsequent history of the friary building. The 1801 map does not show the Franciscan friary, as it was no longer extent at that time, yet it displays the area where it had been originally positioned by retaining the name of North Abbey.
Map of Cork, 1801. The site of the medieval Franciscan friary is noted only by the name of North Abbey, seen on the enlarged detail of the map (below). Special Collections, UCC Library.
Map of Cork, 1801 (detail). Special Collections, UCC Library.
A sketch pictured below and dated to 1831 shows the remains of the Franciscan friary, which were demolished in 1836 during the construction of buildings on present-day Abbey Square. The arches pictured in the centre of the sketch were identified as remnants of the medieval friary building and may have been part of a cloister arcade.
Sketch by T.C. Croker dated 1831, showing arches that were identified as part of the medieval friary. From Michael Holland, ‘The Monastery of St. Francis at Cork’, The Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 23 (1917), 121.
A map below (created on OpenMap ) shows archaeological sites located in the area of the medieval Franciscan friary. The two red dots mark the sites of archaeological importance: the dot placed closer to the river references the friary, the red dot north of that shows the location of the holy well.
The photograph below, reproduced in the 1953 Franciscan Cork, shows the houses on the North Mall and suggests the location of medieval sections of the friary: number 1 indicates the place of arches noted in the 1831 sketch and number 2 shows the site regarded as the entrance to a Franciscan well.
Photo taken from North Gate Bridge, c.1953. Number 1 indicates arches seen in T.C. Croker’s sketch (above), and number 2 indicates the entrance to a well. Image from Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork (1953), 10. Special Collections, UCC Library.
Although there is no longer a physical structure on the site of Cork’s medieval Franciscan friary, place names on the North Mall recall this once prominent building that Luke Wadding described as ‘a mirror of the whole Ireland’.
Beggars and Artisans:Franciscan Friars in Cork: From Their Arrival to the Dissolution
The early thirteenth century saw dramatic social, economic, religious and cultural changes in western Europe. The rise of cities and the increased wealth of merchant classes paradoxically led to the establishment of new religious orders known as the mendicants (or begging orders), who devoted themselves to absolute poverty. One of the main mendicant orders was the Order of St Francis, also called the Order of Friars Minor or the Franciscan Order.
The Franciscan Province of Ireland was established in 1230 during the general chapter of the Order held in Assisi, when the body of the Order’s founder, St Francis (1181/82-1226), was transitioned to the basilica dedicated to the Saint. It was at this chapter that Friar Richard of Ingworth, a pioneer member of the English Province, was elected as Ireland’s first minister provincial. After about nine years in Ireland, Richard went as a missionary to Syria, where he ‘died happily’, according to the Franciscan chronicler, Thomas of Eccleston (fl. 1232-59).
Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
The earliest Franciscan friaries in Ireland were established in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the island; these areas had been dominated by the presence of the Anglo-Normans since the later twelfth century. Linguistic affiliation and reliance on alms for their day-to-day subsistence meant that the friars originally settled in the towns and boroughs of the Anglo-Norman colony, and their first houses were staffed mainly by English and Anglo-Irish friars. However, the Franciscans also benefitted from the support of Irish patrons and recruited across the two ethnic groups.
The origins of the Cork friary, its date and the names of the founders remain unclear. Canice Mooney, a great twentieth-century historian of the Franciscan Order, suggested in his contribution to Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork, that the founder was Dermot MacCarthy, King of Desmond (d. 1229), married to the Anglo-Norman Petronilla Bloet. More than likely, the creation of the friary was a long process that required multiple benefactors, and in fact, the various foundation dates (1229, 1230, 1231, 1240) and the various names of the founders (MacCarthy, de Barry, de Burgo, Prendergast) reflect the complexity of the process: from the initial arrival of the friars, their establishment in the area, the start of the friary’s building to the actual dedication of the friary.
Kilcrea Franciscan friary, Co. Cork. View from the MacCarthy’s castle. Ancestors of Cormac MacCarthy, who founded Kilcrea friary in the late fifteenth century, were most likely involved in the establishment of Cork friary. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
The MacCarthys continued to support the Franciscan Order in Munster throughout the Middle Ages. They patronised Timoleague friary, established in the thirteenth century, and in 1465 Cormac MacCarthy founded a Franciscan friary at Kilcrea, located opposite his castle. The location of Cork’s Franciscan friary in the area of Shandon just outside the city walls on the north side (see the next blog post) was a material manifestation of the friars’ preaching and pastoral care for the ethnically mixed communities of the townsfolk and the predominantly Irish inhabitants of the hinterland. As elsewhere, the friary acted as a stabiliser between the native Irish and the Anglo-Irish communities, however it was also a witness to racial tensions. The 1291 Franciscan provincial chapter held in Cork allegedly resulted in a physical confrontation between the native Irish and Anglo-Irish friars, and the killing of at least sixteen friars.
Map of Cork, published in Pacata Hibernia, London, 1633. The map shows three mendicant churches: the Dominican friary on the south side (top left side of the map, labelled as ‘Abby in y Iland’, now known as St Mary’s of the Isle), the Augustinian friary (lower left side of the map, labelled ‘Saint Austine’, where John de Wynchedon was buried) and the Franciscan friars on the north side (right side of the map, labelled ‘Sanden Abby’ in reference to the area’s name of Shandon). Map from the 1810 reprint, Special Collections, UCC Library.
The liminal location of Cork’s Franciscan friary was balanced by the comparable position of the Dominican and Augustinian friaries, located outside the city walls on the south side. The friary benefited from the support of the royal exchequer, the nobility and the merchants. The will of a Cork’s merchant, John de Wynchedon, dated 1306, indicates his wealth and generosity for religious establishments, his own family and the city’s marginalized groups of the poor and the infirm, as well as the presence of intertwined social and religious networks in medieval Cork. John wished to be buried in the Augustinian friary, and his two sons were friars in the Dominican and Franciscan Orders respectively.
The medieval Cork friary held a prominent role in the Irish Franciscan Province as evidenced by a number of provincial chapters that met there and regular royal grants given for the purchase of friars’ habits. Cork friary also served as a studium or the place of studies. A late thirteenth-century Cork lector of English origin, whose name is unfortunately unknown, had trained in Paris and while in Ireland compiled a book of colourful stories (around 1275) that were used during sermons. One of the stories concerned a murdered widow from Carrigtwohill near Cork, who worked as a brewer and who, following her death, was eternally punished for leaving Mass too early.
Map of Cork, published in Pacata Hibernia, London, 1633 (detail). The map indicates the riverine location of the Franciscan friary. Map from the 1810 reprint, Special Collections, UCC Library.
From the fifteenth century, the Irish Franciscan friaries had been undergoing Observant reforms, which meant a return to a more austere lifestyle and the original ideals as envisaged by St Francis. Cork friars accepted the reform before 1518. A few decades later, in 1540, the friary was suppressed and a Cork merchant, called David Sheghan, received a lease of the friary’s weir, fishery and land; six tenants were allowed to rent the garden that had formerly belonged to the friary.
In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the friars were scattered, some left the country and ended up in the Low Countries, Italy and Spain, some were imprisoned in Cork jail, while some continued their ministry from a place of refuge located in the city centre. Still, the memory of their original foundation in the Shandon area remained a powerful part of their identity as seen on liturgical objects commissioned by and for the Cork friars.
In spite of the friars’ dispersal and the destruction of their medieval friary, a number of chalices created in the early seventeenth century bear inscriptions that state how these precious objects were made for the Friars Minor of Shandon.
Krasnodębska-D’Aughton, Małgorzata, ‘Me Fieri Fecit: Franciscan Chalices 1600-1650’ and ‘Catalogue’, in R. Ó Floinn, ed., Franciscan Faith: Sacred Art in Ireland, AD 1600-1750 (Dublin, 2011), 71-183.
Introduction:MA in Medieval History, HI6091 Module and Special Collections at University College Cork
Special Collections is delighted to welcome the School of History students engaging with our collections through a series of online exhibitions. UCC Library’s Special Collections holds Munster Printing, a collection of books, journals, pamphlets and ephemera printed in or about Munster from 1641 to the present. The subject matter of the collection varies and includes:
items with particular provenance interest including Canon Patrick Power (1862-1951), Professor of Archaeology at UCC (1915-1934) and Robert Day (1836-1914), antiquarian, photographer and president of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society (1894-1914).
This online exhibition, which uses Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church Cork as a starting point, is presented as a series of blog posts and celebrates the ongoing collaboration between UCC’s Special Collections and the School of History’s MA in Medieval History. History students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, who visit Special Collections receive specialised support and access to stimulating rare publications and materials of historical value. These students develop key skills including communication, teamwork and archival intelligence: the practical skills to locate and use special collections material, and artefactual skills: the ability to identify and analyse primary sources. Acquisition of this skill set leads them to a deeper understanding of the artefact far beyond that acquired from modern text reprints.
“Primary source literacy intersects with other ‘literacies,’ including information literacy, visual literacy, and digital literacy, and concepts like collective memory, cultural heritage, and individual/cultural perspectives. To create order in this complex landscape, these Primary Source Literacy Guidelines identify core ideas for successful work with primary sources. These core ideas include analytical, ethical, theoretical and practical concepts.”
In the absence of classes using the Special Collections & Archives’ reading rooms students continued to have the opportunity to work with publications and materials of historical value via Canvas. The Special Collections & Archives team selected a range of primary sources: legal documents, letters, manuscripts, maps, newspapers and prints, and suggested the students use a semi-structured worksheet to explore these sources. We used a flipped classroom approach to answer any questions following students’ exploration of these primary sources.
The initial encounter, be it in person or online, of undergraduates with Special Collections continues through their postgraduate studies. In the last four years the MA in Medieval History students as part of the HI6091 Skills for Medieval Historians module have created online exhibitions inspired by maps, rare books and facsimiles housed by Special Collections. These exhibitions include: Mapping Cork, The Luttrell Psalter, The Book of Kells and Viking Cork.
This online exhibition explores themes of cultural continuity with a particular focus on a single church of St Francis in Cork. Curated by the current MA in Medieval History students this exhibition looks at the medieval and modern friary of Cork’s Franciscan friars as the students explore the role of ecclesiastical architecture and its impact on medieval and modern audiences as well as the significance of stained glass and mosaics in expressing institutional identities and ideals. The church of St Francis is a significant architectural and artistic landmark in Cork’s city centre with its mosaic designs echoing early Christian apse mosaics and its stained-glass windows created by the Harry Clarke Studios.
Using Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church Cork Munster Printing item, this project is yet another outcome of collaboration between the librarians, academics and students. It represents a collaboration that continues to stimulate all involved and through the online output reaches beyond the walls of UCC. More importantly, the project has been completed during the COVID-19 crisis and its completion is a great testimony to the value of teamwork and collegiality, and the commitment of the MA students to produce high quality research during challenging times.
UCC Crest. Image: Clare Keogh.
Students
Morgan Hole completed his undergraduate studies in English and History at University College Dublin, in 2020. He focused his undergraduate work on the medieval period in both subjects, especially in the final year of his degree. His MA in Medieval History dissertation focuses on the external influences on the Battle of Clontarf, and the changing Irish polity through the eleventh century.
Martha Ewence completed her undergraduate studies in History and English in 2016 at University College Cork. She was awarded the Jennifer O’ Reilly Prize in Medieval History for her dissertation exploring the expression of the vow of poverty by the Friars Minor in Ireland. Her research interests include Irish and European medieval monasticism, medieval art and iconography and the study of religious women and female saints. She will undertake her MA thesis in September and will focus on religious and lay women in late medieval Ireland.
The project has been overseen by Elaine Harrington and Dr Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
Elaine Harrington is UCC Library’s Special Collections Assistant Librarian. Elaine raises the profile of UCC Library’s Special Collections with local, national and international engagement through classes, social media, exhibitions, events, outreach and broadcasting. She collaborates with 30 academics in UCC and CIT to develop innovative research-led undergraduate and postgraduate modules based on primary sources held in UCC Library’s Special Collections. In 2020 Elaine created with Emer Twomey and Emma Horgan, UCC Library Archivists, an ‘Introduction to Special Collections & Archives,’ accessible via UCC Library Learning Resources page on Canvas.
Dr Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton is Senior Lecturer at UCC’s School of History. She has published on Irish illuminated manuscripts, manuscripts in Polish libraries, and most recently, on the Irish mendicant orders. She is interested in the intersections between History and other disciplines, History and the arts, and History and students’ skills and employability. Her professional experience includes work on the Franciscan Faith: Sacred Art in Ireland 1600-1750 exhibition as well as the Medieval Ireland exhibition, both on permanent display at the National Museum of Ireland. She collaborates on the Monastic Ireland Project that provides a platform for academic studies on monasticism, combined with heritage and education outputs. She has contributed to programmes on RTÉ’s Lyric FM titled ‘Friars Walk’ (December 2016), ‘Jerusalem Passion’ (April 2017, finalist at the New York Festivals: World’s Best Radio Programs, June 2018) and ‘Christmas Postcards’ (December 2017). She is a co-editor of Monastic Europe: Community, Landscape and Settlement (Brepols, 2019).
Dr Joseph MacMahon, Brother Stephen O’Kane and Father Pat Younge, members of the Franciscan Province of Ireland,
for addressing our queries in relation to different parts of the blog. The students of the MA in Medieval History programme wish to convey their gratitude to Dr Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton, coordinator of the HI6091 Skills for Medieval Historians module, and Elaine Harrington, Special Collections Librarian, for their support throughout the editing process of this blog.
In 2015 University College Cork and UCC Library celebrated the life and scientific achievements of George Boole, first Professor of Mathematics, Queens College Cork (QCC), with George Boole 200*.
You may wonder why George Boole is the subject of a blog in 2021. UCC Library Archives has recently listed material dating from the 19th and 20th centuries that is now open to researchers as the George Boole Ancillary Collection. It contains Boole-related material that was housed in Special Collections, UCC Library, on permanent loan from the Royal Irish Academy, and original letters by George Boole and related material donated by Emeritus Professor Des MacHale (School of Mathematics, UCC) to UCC library after the main Boole Collection was listed.
The original letters and related material of George Boole (BP/1/A/2) show his dedication to scholarly pursuit and his joy of family. We learn a little more about his lodgings in Cork close to College when he first arrived in 1849.
“I have got lodgings close by the Colege {sic} in a delightful situation quite indeed like the country”
BP/1/A/2/1
Ever dedicated to his classes he closes this letter with his having to attend to the copying out of papers in preparation of an examination.
There are lecture notes to members of the Lincoln Mutual Improvement Society “On a district in the south of Ireland” published in the Lincoln Chronicle in 1851 (BP/1/A/2/2).
“I have selected this subject partly because it is an interesting, and in some respects a misunderstood subject, but still more, because it is one of the very few subjects…of which I possess any personal knowledge.”
“The lofty Galtee range of mountains protecting the region overlooked by their Southern slopes from the extreme & violence of the north & east winds…the southern & western shores are washed by the warm waters of the Atlantic, which [can] retain some portion of the temperature imparted to them by the Gulf Stream.”
There is an example of student / lecturer difference of opinion on examination results in 1858, the student [Thomas Henry Marmion] and George Boole write to Sir Robert Kane, President of Queens College Cork arguing their case on the matter.
[Marmion] writes “a letter from the Registrar to me intimating that I had received a qualifying mark in Mathematics, Dr. Boole…appears to be under some misconception as he declined to sign my certificate until I should have passed a supplemental examination.”
Extract from a letter from Thomas H. Marmion to President Kane, QCC, questioning the actions of “Dr. Boole” (BP/1/A/2/4)
Boole’s response is fairly matter-of-fact “the value of Mr. [Marmion’s] answering as calculated from the marks which he obtained was 2…as his answering did not appear to me to be sufficiently good to qualify him for passing I added a recommendation for a supplemental examination which I should be ready to give him if [decided] to do so.”
Extract from a letter from George Boole to President Kane, QCC, on the results of one of his students [Thomas H. Marmion] – (BP/1/A/2/5)
Within a heavily used original copy of Purcell’s Commercial Cork Almanac (1865) is a newspaper cutting in which its author praises Boole’s lecture on Newton to the Lincoln Mechanics’ Institute when Boole was only nineteen years old (BP/1/A/2/6).
Purcell’s Commercial Cork Almanac (1865)
Reporting on Boole’s lecture on Newton
I mentioned a little earlier that from this material we also get a deeper insight into George Boole ‘the person’ from a letter addressed to a “dear friend“, who I suspect is Dr. Bury after checking The Papers of George Boole. Boole writes as a proud father and husband, relaying the birth of his eldest daughter, Mary Ellen, in 1856.
“…I am now a father. My little first born – a daughter – came with the [world] two days ago. It is a fine healthy child and its dear mother is wonderfully well”.
BP/1/A/2/3
He describes his wife’s health during the pregnancy “…she was able to take an amount of exercise very unusual for person in her situation up to the very day of her confinement. Her step remained as light as ever…” He goes on to describe her labour, how she was afterwards and breastfeeding “the only sypton {sic} she noticed…was a little giddiness at the moment when the child first began to suck.” He is of the mind that;
“a great deal of suffering, certainly to mother & probably to child, is due to the neglect of natures [plainest] dictates…my wife took no medicine whatever – nor has she taken any since…”
BP/1/A/2/
If you are interested in learning more about these documents, or any other items in the Boole Collections, please contact specialcollectionsarchives@ucc.ie
The Honourable Elizabeth Aldworth (née St Leger) The Lady Freemason: A Late Seventeenth Century Strike for the Feminist Cause
The tranquil setting of 17th century Doneraile, Co. Cork is an unlikely setting to strike a blow for the feminist cause. Moreover, the even more unlikely female scion of Irish nobility would [by default] strike the blow. Sometime between the years 1693-1695 a daughter was born at Doneraile Court Co. Cork to Arthur St.Leger, Baron Kilmayden and 1st Viscount Doneraile, and his wife Elizabeth (nee Hayes). The little girl would make Masonic history: as the only woman ever initiated into the Ancient Order of Free and Accepted Masons. In a time of patriarchal absolutism, a girl would become a member of what became the oldest and largest fraternal organisation in the world.
“Doneraile Court.” From Herself-Ireland by Elizabeth O’Connor.
Arthur St. Leger was a member of the Irish House of Lords, raised to the peerage in 1703. St. Leger: his sons Arthur, John and Hayes were ardent Freemasons and occasionally a private Lodge was opened at Doneraile Court. This was in a time before Freemasonry came under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodges; England 1717, Ireland 1725 and Scotland 1736. It was at one of these occasions that Elizabeth St.Leger would become witness to the conferring of a Masonic Degree of the Fellowcraft and by accident, be initiated into the Masonic Order.
Events surrounding Elizabeth’s early life are unknown. However, nearly a century before Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her work A Vindication of the Rights of Women, (1792) Elizabeth would enter a world exclusively the domain of men. Seventeenth century Ireland was an era of turmoil. The Williamite Wars had started in 1689 and in 1690 the Wild Geese with the Jacobite Army fled the country. By 1695 the introduction of the Anti-Catholic Penal Laws would sink Ireland deeper into poverty for years to come. Male authority descended from the father, to the brothers and then through marriage to a husband. Women were expected to know and keep their place.
On the 17th April 1713, Elizabeth married Richard Aldworth Esquire of Newmarket Court, Co. Cork. The pair would spend sixty years together and produce two sons. Sources do not exist of the domestic life of Mrs Aldworth but the Memoir of 1811 has a testament to her masonic membership:
“she lived up to the highest principles of the [Masonic] Order to which she belonged. The lady was possessed of considerable wealth, her purse and influence were always at the command of any Brother in distress and to all appeals she responded with ready sympathy and large-hearted generosity. She was a most exemplary mason and headed her Lodge frequently in procession. The lady had such a veneration for Masonry that she would never suffer it to be lightly spoken of in her presence. Thus lived this pattern of female excellence, dispensing, like a principle of good, comfort and happiness to all about her.”
The line of the Viscounts Doneraile would continue through Mrs Aldworth’s second son St. Leger, until the male line became extinct in 1956 upon the death of the 7th Viscount. The House of Lords decided against offering the title and inheritance to Mr Dick St. Leger, an American cousin. Lady Doneraile continued to live at Doneraile Court until 1969 when she sold the estate to the Land Commission. In 1994 the Irish Georgian Society handed the house over to the Office of Public Works, who now run it and the park.
Elizabeth & Freemasonry Initiation
Of course, much conjecture surrounds the events leading to Elizabeth’s initiation, however Brother John Day in his memoir, stated that the legend of Elizabeth hidden in a clock should be dismissed.It is almost certain that Elizabeth was initiated into Freemasonry, some time in the years 1710 to 1712, when she was between 17 and 19 years old. Her story of initiation is an interesting one and is worth retelling. The incident proves that Freemasonry was being practiced in Ireland many years before the first recorded meeting of the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
The Grand Lodge of Dublin, Molesworth Street. It was built 1866-1869. WikiMedia Commons.
In the days before Grand, Provincial and District lodges were instituted, Brethren would meet in Inns or private homes. On one such occasion at Doneraile Court, Viscount Doneraile opened Lodge next to a room known as the library. Unknown to the assembled Lodge, Elizabeth was in the library, a room next door to the Lodge Room. Structural work was in progress at the time and part of the separating wall was being removed. Elizabeth was fully aware that her father’s Lodge was held at the house; she had no knowledge of the meeting taking place on that occasion. Looking through an opening in the structural work, she saw and heard the proceedings of the Lodge. The young girl knew her only route out was through the Lodge Room. Attempting to exit she was confronted by The Tyler [her father’s butler] guarding the Lodge with a drawn sword. Elizabeth’s scream of alarm alerted the Lodge and Brethren. The Tyler posed no danger to the young girl, as his function was a ceremonial one. However, this posed a problem for the assembly. What course of action would they pursue? Elizabeth had witnessed and heard everything. This was a fraternal society with secrets, and female membership would have been held preposterous. Moreover, she had witnessed the conferring of a Fellowcraft Degree on a male member. According to Brother Edward Conder’s account The Hon. Miss St.Leger and Freemasonry (1895), the Tyler summoned the Brethren [including her father] and after a long discussion; Elizabeth was acquainted with the grave responsibilities she had unwittingly taken upon herself. Only one course was open to them. The young woman displaying a high sense of honour, at once consented to pass through the ceremonial that she already in part, witnessed.
Since this was in the days before properly constituted Grand or Provincial Lodges, it cannot be ascertained with any certainty which Lodge could be her “Mother Lodge.” Unlike the Blue or Craft Lodges of today which encompass three degrees, Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason; the Craft of Miss St. Leger’s time worked only two; Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft. In Masonic instruction each degree has its own tracing board. This one is the Fellowcraft Board showing the entrance to King Solomon’s Temple, the pillars, Boaz and Jachin, the all-seeing eye and the masonic tools of the square, compass and level.
According to the Limerick Chronicle dated 18th May 1772, Mrs Aldworth’s death is recorded as occurring on 11th May 1772, in her eightieth year. She was laid to rest in the Davies family vault, in the crypt of St. Fin Barres Cathedral Cork. However, this would not be the last we would hear of the Lady Freemason.
The memorial tablet to Mrs Aldworth erected by the Aldworth Familiy lies beside the pulpit in St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork. WikiMedia Commons.
Almost a century after her death in 1870, the new Cathedral of St. Fin Barre was consecrated. The eminent antiquarian Dr Richard Caulfield during the demolition of the old church had an opportunity to examine the vault. Elizabeth’s coffin had been disturbed and Dr Caulfield described what he found in his Annals of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork:
“She was in a leaden shell and in a wonderful state of preservation. She was attired in a dark silk dress, white satin shoes and silk stockings of similar colour. Her person was comely: her face of a dusky or ash colour: her features quite perfect and calm. She had long silk gloves, which extended above the embroidered lace wrist bands: her bosom was full and large for her age: she wore a white head-dress with a full frill round her neck the plaits of which were not even ruffled.”
Annals of St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, p.83.
Remembering the Lady Freemason
Regular Freemasonry as it is known today was unified with the United Grand Lodge of England in 1717, by 1736 Ireland and Scotland had followed. This was in a time when; not only could women not vote, but could not own property, in fact a woman stood for very little. Like in an absolute monarchy the woman was tied to her father or husband, the law came firmly down on the male side. Elizabeth Aldworth in the years before masonic constitutions, exploded the myth that only men can be made Masons. Worldwide Freemasonry for women is today a fact of life, and female masonic rites and constitutions flourish on every continent. Regular Freemasonry remains exclusive to men as it is believed that to admit female members would violate the ancient Landmarks. The time has come to remember the principles that Mrs Aldworth stood for in veneration of the highest human qualities.
To celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of UCC, this blog post will look at two works donated to the College, and now in Special Collections, and recorded in a catalogue printed in 1860, when the College was known as Queen’s College Cork. This blog will show how these two works still remain useful in medieval Irish studies.
The first book is a nineteenth-century printed edition of the Annals of the Four Masters. Although I have been familiar with the references to these Annals, I typically used the online version of the text available on the CELT website. Working with a printed copy of the Annals offered me an opportunity to appreciate their full contents and to understand better the scope of the task set out by the seventeenth-century historians who compiled the Annals. Despite its age and the countless pairs of hands who have held the book and leafed through its pages, the book was still in good condition. It is important, however, for the student to remember that these nineteenth-century books are to be treated delicately and with the respect their age demands. Beware all ye who would dog-ear a page!
Before even beginning to examine the book’s contents, the book’s physical condition teaches the student how to handle old printed texts. Although this edition of the Annals did not require me to wear gloves to protect its pages from the effects of human touch, a correct placement of the book upon sponge support pads as well as careful turning of its pages were essential. This book’s spine was strong but still needed gentle support and handling. The book must be allowed to part its pages on its own in the manner least taxing to the binding and once open, the pages can be carefully sifted through, which recalls the work of a medieval monk inside the scriptorium.
The Four Masters who compiled the Annals in the early seventeenth century were Franciscan friars who worked under the patronage of Fearghal Ó Gadhra, Member of Parliament for Sligo and Lord of Coolavin. Their Annals record the Irish history from the time of the biblical flood dated by the friars to 2,242 BC to the year 1616AD. Chief amongst the compilers was Brother Mícheál Ó Cléirigh. The nineteenth-century edition held by UCC Library is a translation from the original Irish by Owen Connellan. This edition details the events beginning from 1171AD and so allows the student a glimpse into the later medieval times and the early modern period in Ireland. The events recorded by the Four Masters are laid out in a factual, almost bullet point fashion.
Although individual events may lack details, the brevity of the accounts allows the student to gain an outline of the Irish history up to the early seventeenth-century. The accounts provide a roadmap for the student to navigate through Ireland’s recorded past with each recorded detail giving interesting information on persons, places and events, thus allowing for further research. As the student of history, let alone medieval history, progresses through their degree more and more original research will be encouraged and expected. Becoming familiar with the original medieval and early modern sources and their editions is therefore crucial to any student in developing their own research abilities and critical thinking skills. Primary sources allow the student to test and hone their skills of deduction, inquiry and discernment of a text’s significance to the peoples of the past.
A Complete History from the First Colonisation of the Island by Parthalon to the Anglo-Norman Invasion
This nineteenth-century edition of the English translation done by William Holliday contains both the original Irish and the English translation printed alongside. This edition is covered in a green leather cover. Keating’s work details the history of the Irish people in a similar manner to the Annals of the Four Masters, tracing the origins of the Irish from the mythical past. However, unlike the Annals, Keating’s history delves freely into the rich details of the origins of the various peoples who came to the island of Ireland, within the context of biblically centred cosmos.
While the Annals offer what was regarded as a factual account of Ireland’s past, Keating’s book offers a vivid and narrative driven history. Although it reads more like a work of fiction than history, The History of Ireland reveals how the early modern Irish viewed their own origins and the past peoples of their country. Keating’s work steeped in the medieval concept of the world, reveals the medieval perception of history and shows how the narratives and stories were essential in the construction of the Irish identity in the seventeenth century. As with the Annals Keating approaches Irish history in relation to the Bible, as he attempts to link the events of the Irish past to biblical events. For example, he dates the invasion of Ireland by Parthalon to twenty-two years before Abraham’s birth.
Working with Primary Sources– Part 2
These two books that have been in the possession of UCC (Queen’s College Cork) for over a century and a half are important sources which provide unique insights into Ireland’s past. The books are valuable publications that enable students and researchers to delve into medieval and early modern perceptions of the universe and its history, that revolved around the biblical events of the Old and New Testaments. The books also provide opportunities for the student to sharpen their own research skills, while teaching them about constructions of Ireland’s origins in the medieval and in the early modern times.
Tom and Jerry Prints – Not the Cat and Mouse Team: A Spree through Regency and Georgian London
When we consider satirists, artists such as Hogarth and Cruikshank, and writers like Swift and Thackery come to mind. As part of my MA placement, I was given the opportunity to study a largely overlooked satirist, Pierce Egan, whose collaboration with the Cruikshank brothers and his own acerbic wit shone a light in all the corners of a rapidly expanding London of the early nineteenth-century. Egan’s satirical work Life in London was a monthly publication that ran between 1821 and 1828.
The first edition of the instantly successful Life in London or, the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esquire, and His Elegant Friend, Corinthian Tom, Accompanied by Bob Logic, The Oxonian, in Their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis appeared on 15th of July 1821. The publication was dedicated to King George IV, formerly the Prince Regent.
Pierce Egan the Elder (1772-1849), the son of Irish immigrants, may have been born in London. He joined the printing trade as a compositor and established himself as one of England’s leading sports journalists. Isaac Robert Cruikshank (1789-1856) was a caricaturist, illustrator and miniaturist, he is the lesser known sibling of George Cruikshank (1792-1878), a caricaturist and book illustrator. Through George’s collaboration with Dickens, he illustrated Sketches by Boz (1836), The Mudfog Papers (1837/38) and Oliver Twist (1838).
L: (Isaac) Robert Cruikshank by Frederick William Pailthorpe, after George Cruikshank (1828) R: George Cruikshank by Unknown artist (1836). Both National Portrait Gallery, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.
As the title indicates, Egan’s work tells the story of three ‘Gadabouts’ or ‘men about town’ or Regency Bucks: the elegant socialite Corinthian Tom, his naïve country cousin Jerry Hawthorn and their promiscuous, unscrupulous ‘friend’ Bob Logic. The three worthies may well have been caricatures made by their creator, they are shown to explore the possibilities of the high and indeed low life of 1820s London. Following a role model set by the Prince Regent, bucks of the Regency and late Georgian gentlemen gambled, drank, played hard and generally indulged in all kinds of excess. A ‘Corinthian’ was one who was both a good sportsman and took care of one’s dress. With too much money and too much time on their hands, Tom, Jerry and Logic pursue pleasure as they focus on blood sports and disguise themselves when exploring the seedier side of London. The Tom and Jerry prints included in Life in London suited the tastes of the time, a time when life in the fast lane had become a sophisticated and conscious aim.
So great was the success of the work, that the Cruikshank brothers could not colour the engravings for prints fast enough to meet the demand of the audience. Gathered into a book in 1820, the work was still in print when Queen Victoria’s long reign was coming to an end. The work was also adapted into five stage versions and inspired the fiction writing of Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew, a founder of the satirical magazine Punch.
Frontispiece to Life in London. British Library. Public domain image.
The frontispiece with a tiered structure illustrates the rigid class divide in English society. At the top sits King George IV enthroned, the lower social groups are depicted at the bottom of the image. In the centre celebrating their way of life are the three protagonists, Tom, Jerry and Logic.
The selection of prints discussed below comes from Special Collections UCC, Boole Library, University College Cork. My MA placement involved listing eleven of the thirty-five prints that appeared in Life in London and I include seven in my blog post. They mark the beginning of George Cruikshank’s first success in turning from political caricature to the drama and drollery of contemporary life.
Tom, Jerry and Logic making the most of an Evening at Vauxhall
The crowd enjoys the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and amusement park. This busy scene bears closer inspection. A military band plays on a raised dais, some couples are dancing. However, at the left-hand corner we see a burly man with a black eye patch. He clenches his fists, while standing over a prostrate figure of a gallant loser. The quality of the attire suggests this is a popular gathering for the appearance conscious elite and a place to be seen although, unsavoury characters also mingle there.
The ‘Ne Plus Ultra’ of Life in London
The Throne Room at Carlton House conveys the magnificence of royalty: crimson drapes are decorated with gold brocade, a crystal chandelier lights up the space and the monogram of George IV is seen in the background. These devices indicate the distance between royalty and a commoner. Jerry is absorbed in thought, leaning on the monarch’s seat, Tom speaks with the guide and is accompanied by Kate and Sue. Logic admires the opulence. (See Life in London, p. 261)
Sporting their bits of blood among the Pinks in Rotten Row
Tom is receiving a host of smiles and nods from his acquaintances when riding in Rotten Row, London’s fashionable place for horse-riding in the 18th and 19th centuries. But who is the new man next to Tom?
Tom & Jerry Sporting their bits of blood among the Pinks in Rotten Row. Special Collections, UCC Library.
“Not of London growth”, said Lady Wanton to her sister the Hon. Miss Satire as Tom and Jerry rode by the carriage. “His ruddy, unsophisticated, huntsman’s face bespeaks him of the Tally-ho sort… he has left the rude company of horses and hounds to mix with genteel society, under the patronage of the CORINTHIAN!”.
These and a thousand other whisper comments and private attacks were directed at Jerry, as he passed through Rotten Row. This was another popular meeting place for upper class Londoners, where people dressed in the finest clothes in order to be seen.
A Whistling Shop
It seems from this print that Logic is in trouble for debt and living beyond his means. ‘The Fleet’ was a debtor’s prison and here Tom and Jerry sit with a dishevelled Logic. The ‘haberdasher’ serves spirits from bottles displayed on open shelves. A thin man enters the place carrying racquets. By the door, a melancholy man listens to his wife, who holds a little girl in her arms, while a little boy stares at the inmates. Some texts and prints are pasted over the fireplace, one of them showing a ship in full sail and another one a wreck.
‘Masquerading it’ among the Cadgers in the ‘Back Slums’ in the Holy Land
‘The Holy Land’ was a name given to the poor rookeries (Back Slums) in the parish of St Giles in London. Tom and Jerry with Logic have disguised themselves to fit with the clientele. A drinking den is a scene of chaos. Logic stands beside Tom, wearing a bowler and carrying a crutch. Jerry chucks the chin of bare-breasted lady. Amid the bedlam, a pickpocket is a work. Look closely, this a multi-ethnic society.
A Shilling Well Laid Out
In a room in Somerset House, a throng of people view the exhibition. The crowd inspects the pictures, while referencing their catalogues. Tom and Jerry are accompanied by the Misses Trifle: Tom and his partner sit as Jerry stands in conversation. There is a variety of society in the print, with different classes and races. An interesting figure in a conical hat and beard stands behind Jerry, in conversation with a top hatted, black spectator. The walls of the room are completely covered with paintings: the upper tier displays mainly portraits, which are quite detailed, while paintings in the lower tier are largely concealed by the crowd.
Goodbye Jerry!
Towards the end of Egan’s Life in London, there is a parting scene that takes place in the White Horse Cellar and Hatchett’s Coffee House. It is almost time for Jerry’s departure from London, but the hurly burly of the place prevents much conversation. Logic purchases a newspaper.
White Hourse Cellar, Piccadilly: Tom and Logic bidding Jerry ‘good bye’ upon his return to Hawthorn Hall. Special Collections, UCC Library.
The separation of such staunch pals was a rather trying moment to the feelings of poor Jerry… The Corinthian caught his last sentence: “mention me in the kindest manner to the lovely Sue…I shall almost certainly return to London to enjoy a few more sprees.”
Egan’s work was unprecedented and became instantly popular as the attraction was of course the content and its satirical style. The contrasting of scenes and characters set the misery of the poor against the profligate waste and folly of the upper classes. Egan neatly wrapped the two in attractive and animated dialogue. His sometimes hilarious and conversely dark descriptions were brought to life by the Cruikshank brothers.
Egan, Pierce, Life in London or, the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esquire, and His Elegant Friend, Corinthian Tom, Accompanied by Bob Logic, The Oxonian, in Their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis (1821) and (1822)
In non-COVID19 times the work placement has comprised:
40 hours in Special Collections building on skills learned in creating the online exhibition by shadowing me in various preparatory tasks, undertaking a collection care task and creating a finding aid.
20 hours in General Collections doing shelving and associated tasks
10 hours for gaining greater understanding of general library operations benefiting the student’s studies. This is achieved by various visits (30 –60 mins) to different parts of the library: the liaison librarian team; InterLibrary Loan; acquisitions, cataloguing and electronic resources; Library & IT Services including the Ask Us desk; academic technologies such as 3D Printing, Library Studio & VR Suite; UCC Library Archives; Scholarly Communications including UCC’s Institutional Repository & Research Data Management; Brookfield branch & medical library.
Pivoting Online
However as the first quarter of 2020 progressed, it was clear that the work placement normally undertaken from early March onward would be solely online. As each staff member and library were then in a state of short-notice pivot this meant in the absence of spending time in UCC Library’s wider operational landscape, I needed to identify what the key skills were for the work placement and how they could be achieved within the milieu of Special Collections alone. To gain greater knowledge and understanding about Special Collections I identified various MOOCs from Trinity College Dublin:
Each was to be watched / read with the student completing a HI6091 portfolio reflection entry; however there was no assessment and no payment for certification was required. There are many MOOCs available on the history of the book but I was interested in choosing ones that resonated with Medieval History and particularly so in an Irish context: choosing the Book of Kells is self-evident and the Civitates orbis terrarum used for the online exhibition is of the early modern period.
During the first lockdown from mid-March to mid-July I, like many colleagues, was working from home with a limited supply of digital surrogates. Using these digital images I created tasks that would be of interest to the work placement student and would have output useful for Special Collections. By the end of summer 2020 Andrew Neville and Patrick McKee had each completed Special Collections’ first online student work placement using items from UCC Library’s collections.
Patrick McKee’s Online Work Placement
Patrick had come to me with a research question which he wanted to investigate: that of the Lady Freemason Elizabeth Aldworth. He had his own copy of John Day’s memoir and together we identified other potential primary sources he could investigate during his work placement: newspapers, Rosemary ffolliott’s typed card index, historical works about Cork and county, maps and charters. However only one-fifth of these were available online in the lock-down period. Nevertheless Patrick completed preliminary investigations into Elizabeth Aldworth.
Patrick used the standard finding aid template for prints to describe each one: format, date, caption including engraver or printed by, plate number, provenance markings and a description of what the print scene is. Patrick blogged about Elizabeth Aldworth and a selection of the prints.
Finding Aid Template for Prints
The skills gained from completing the MOOCs, the research project, creating a finding aid and blog posts were: an awareness of range of items held in Special Collections and knowledge about listing non-book content in Special Collections and promotion thereof. These print items can be used in conjunction with other graphic collections: Cartographic Visual, Turner and Ungerer. 2021 marks the 200th anniversary of Life in London and the remaining 21 prints will be listed over the course of 2021.
Andrew Neville’s Online Work Placement
During Andrew’s work placement he investigated digital catalogue projects, how university collections evolve in response to changing disciplines, and how individuals respond to items in the collection.
Queen’s College Cork was founded in 1845 and opened to students in 1849. It became University College, Cork, under the Irish Universities Act of 1908. The Queen’s College Cork classified catalogue was printed in 1860 and is not currently available on the Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg or on any UCC site. First Andrew was to become familiar with both the School of History‘s and UCC‘s early history. To learn more about the creation of the classified catalogue Andrew read excerpts from the The Report of the President1859-1860 and 1860-1861 (accessed through the U.K. Parliamentary Papers database). The Queen’s College Cork Classified Catalogue uses 4vo, 8vo and folio to indicate the size of books whereas modern cataloguers use cm to indicate the height of a book. Therefore I recommended that Andrew read an article or watch a video about book sizes.
As the classified catalogue is 245 pages long Andrew worked with the section relating to ‘Irish History.’ He used the standard template for exploring donations and catalogues listing the details of each book in the that section.
Template for exploring donations and catalogues.
From the listing he chose two books to blog about. For this he had to check which items are both in the Queen’s College Cork Library Catalogue and in the current library catalogue. The holdings of UCC Library have changed substantially since 1860. Some books are old-fashioned in their thinking or may no longer be relevant. Some newer editions of items may have been published and the older items withdrawn. Some items may have been withdrawn because of general wear and tear since 1860. New disciplines have since been established for example UCC’s Department of Microbiology came into being when Dr Michael Grimes became Prof. of Dairy Bacteriology in 1940. Therefore not all books from the Queen’s College Cork classified catalogue might still be in the current online library catalogue.
The skills gained from completing the MOOCs, creating a finding aid and blog posts were: an awareness of range of items held in Special Collections, the requisite knowledge for using print catalogues and differences between print / online versions. Over the course of 2021 the Queen’s College Cork classified catalogue will be used as a starting point for various research investigations into the collections.
UCC Library is pleased to open to the public the R.M. Bulter Architect Collection, a small archival collection relating to prominent architects Rudolf Maximilian Butler and James Gandon.
Rudolf Maximilian Butler (1872-1943)
Rudolf Maximilian Butler was an Irish architect, architectural historian, academic, and journalist. Born in Dublin in 1872, he was educated in both Dublin and Germany. Following his studies, he apprenticed in Dublin under architects James Joseph Farrall, from 1889-1891, and Walter Glynn Doolin, from 1891-1896. After completing his training, he remained with Doolin, first as his assistant and then as his junior partner. With Doolin’s death in 1902, Butler formed an architectural partnership with James Louis Donnelly named Doolin Bulter & Donnelly. The partnership ended approximately five years later with Donnelly’s departure. Butler then operated as Doolin & Butler for several years before finally practicing privately under his own name.
Butler’s most well known architectural designs are Catholic ecclesiastical works. Notable examples include:
The R.M. Butler Architect Collection primarily relates to Butler’s work as an architectural historian, containing correspondence, press cuttings, and other material, concerning his research into the renowned English-born architect James Gandon, best known for his design of Irish public buildings including the Custom House, the Four Courts, and King’s Inns in Dublin.
James Gandon (1743–1823)
James Gandon was born in London in February 1743. He was educated at Shipley’s Drawing Academy before apprenticing under the Scottish architect William Chambers, designer of the Casino at Marino and Charlemont House in Dublin, from 1758-1765. Following his apprenticeship, he set up an independent practice in 1765.
The collection includes correspondence from individuals such as Walter G. Strickland, author of A Dictionary of Irish Artists, and W. J. Jessop of Jessop & Son in Nottingham, touching on different periods of Gandon’s career. Early projects referenced include his engravings for Colen Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus, a book of plans and drawings of Palladian revival buildings, and his design for the Shire Hall in Nottingham (built 1769-1772).
Gandon’s first major Irish commission came in 1780 when he was hired to design and superintend the construction of the Custom House in Dublin. It was a controversial project, receiving considerable opposition from the Corporation of Dublin, city merchants, and the public, largely due to its high cost and location. Despite the hostility, the project led to Gandon settling in Ireland where he was to remained the rest of his life.
Of Gandon’s other Irish projects, the collection includes two letters from R.M. Butler to the editor of the Freeman’s Journal, one in draft form and the other as a press cutting, concerning his work on the Four Courts and Parliament House in Dublin. In the draft letter, Butler outlines the design of the Four Courts by Gandon and Thomas Cooley (1740–1784). Cooley was the original designer but died after the western and southern portions of the quadrangle were finished. Gandon was then hired to complete the project and was responsible for the central part containing the Four Courts proper leaving “the impress of his genius on the whole beautiful edifice.” However, as with his other projects, things did not always run smoothly, with Butler noting that Gandon was forced to change his design for the portico by the Earl of Portarlington, which Gandon much regretted.
Writing in 1922, Butler ends the letter by laments the recent destruction of some Dublin’s most notable buildings, including the Four Courts, “which contributed so much to give it architectural dignity and charm as a metropolis.” He concludes: “It would be well if the Government would, when we once again enjoy the blessings of peace, appoint a commission to ascertain and report to what extent these beautiful buildings may, by careful restoration be recreated in whole or in part.” These restoration efforts are touched on in other items in the collection, including a notice from the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland containing a paper titled ‘Some Reconstruction Work at the Four Courts, Dublin.’ by T. J. Byrne from 1929.
The collection also includes a short article by Butler, from the Irish Builder, discussing Canonbrook House in Lucan, County Dublin, Gandon’s residence following his retirement in 1805. Canonbrook is described as a rural Georgian house “designed and embellish by Gandon himself.” While retiring from the stresses of large scale schemes, Gandon remained active, designing upward of forty residences in Lucan and putting forward a range of projects in connection with public improvements and national memorials. He died at Canonbrook on 24 December 1823.
![Print of The Four Courts, Dublin [IE BL/CV/TP/DublinCity/39]](http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/files/2020/11/four-courts-1024x710.jpg)
