St Finbar's Cathedral, Cork

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St Finbarr's Cathedral (Dean Street)

The French Gothic style of the Cathedral gives impressive architectural views. Built in the XIXth and designed by William Burges, the cathedral is part of the Anglican Church of Ireland. Christian worship has been offered on the site of the present Cathedral since the VIIth century.

Church of St. Anne Shandon

Saint Annes church is a much loved local landmark since 1722. Its famous chime of 8 bells made by Rudal of Gloucester together weigh over 6 tonnes. Its walls are 7ft thick and has both a sandstone and limestone facing, from which Cork takes its colours red and white. The clock is affectionately known as a four faced liar, since the east and west facings tell slightly different times. The panoramic view of the city is well worth the climb.


Holy Trinity Friary and Church

Holy Trinity is also well worth the visit. The location is on Fr. Mathew Quay in the heart of Cork City where it has overlooked the River Lee since the XVIIIth century.

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There are two cathedrals in Cork: the Roman Catholic St Mary's Cathedral and the Church of Ireland St Fin Barre's Cathedral.
The first monastery on the site of St Fin Barre's Cathedral is believed to have been established by St Fin Barre himself in around 606 A.D. The present, eleventh building of the Cathedral, amazingly ornate, was designed in the Neo-Gothic style by the English architect William Burges and erected between 1865 and 1870. Its magnificent facade abounds in statues, gargoyles and scenes from the Bible in bas-relief.
If you look up at the cathedral from Bishop Street, you will see the statue of the Golden Angel, who, according to legend, is going to blow her horn when the end of the world comes.
In 1999 both her horns were stolen during construction work, causing understandable confusion: how would the Corkonians learn about the end of the world now? Fortunately, the horns were found some time later to everybody's relief.

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The interior of St Fin Barre's Cathedral boasts many interesting architectural details and pieces of art. The booklet you will get on paying your admission fee of EUR 3 (1.5 if you are a student or a child) will point them all out to you. For me the most interesting was the colourful pulpit with representations of the four evangelists and St Paul carved around it. I also loved the plaques and coats-of-arms on the walls in the walk way behind the chancel and the fantastic stained-glass windows representing stories from the New Testament, all designed by William Burges.
One of the more interesting cathedral exhibits is the 24 lb cannonball, shot from Elisabeth Fort just east of the Cathedral during the siege of Cork in 1690. Lodged in the spire of the mediaeval cathedral, it was discovered only on its demolition in 1865.
More pictures of the interior of the Cathedral can be found in my travelogue.

We took a walk out to St Finbar's Cathedral when we spent a day exploring Cork. It's a magnificent-looking building a little way from the heart of town, and stands on the site of a monastery founded in the 7th century by St Finbar himself.

St. Finbarr's Cathedral is named after the saint who founded Cork. Of fairly recent vintage (1867-1879) it stands on ground that is said to be the site of St. Finbarr's monastic settledment (c. 650), . The present Church of Ireland structure is a multi-spired Early French Gothic church, known for its elaborate scriptural carvings, mosaic pavements and great rose window. Open daily.

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Everybody visits St Finbar's Cathedral, one of Cork's most beautiful buildings but not everybody fully explores the grounds. There are some tombstones but it is much more a garden than a graveyard and an absolute oasis of peace and tranquility. Behind the old wall surrounding the cathedral is Dean Street , a narrow street of tall grey houses reminiscent of Victorian parsonages. These were the dwellings of the cathredral staff and some are now used as a hostel and an artists collective.
If you go to the end of this street and turn right you will come to Barrack Street and Elizabth Fort. Barrack street is not what you would call picturesque but it is narrow and hilly and very much traditional Cork. Some scenes from the film version of Angela's Ashes were filmed here a few years ago.

St Finbar's Cathedral grounds are open every day. Admission is free but there is a small charge to visit the inside of the cathedral.

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St Finbarres Cathedral is dedicated to the founder of Cork who is also Corks patron saint built in 1878 by Willam Burges in a gothic style ,inside is a painted and glided apse ceiling which shows chirst in glory surrounded by angels.
There is a golden angel statue outside a gift to the citizens of cork from Willam Burges
the Bishop of St Finbarres married Posh and Becks in Ireland a few years ago.

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Well, I just had to make St Fin Barre's Cathedral my first stop of my visit. It is designed by fantasy neo-Gothic architect William Burges, who also designed two Castles at Cardiff (my home city).

The Cathedral, just outside the city centre, is a lovely squat composition of roofs and spires. And covered with carvings and gargoyles for good measure. This is not an ancient cathedral - Burgess died around 1880 - and Cork's cathedral was 'finished' in 1870.

Unfortunately all the colourful paintwork that Burges had carefully planned was not added. So you will have to go to Cardiff Castle or Castell Coch in Wales to see some of that. But there is still a nice ceiling over the chancel and some nice furnishings made of red Cork marble.

And some really very nice stained glass. For instance, above you, a big Rose Window showing God creating Earth, and twelve high windos showing the Signs of the Zodiac.

Altogether, a very cute bit of architecture!

P.S. there is a charge to enter, pay at the gift shop, not much - a couple of Euros, which probably pays for a few seconds heating!!