ST. FINBARR'S CATHEDRAL
Cork City, County Cork

The monastery at Corcaigh was Finbarr's second settlement. It was founded as a school and continued to be amongst the five principle monastic schools of Ireland up to the 10th century. All traces of the early settlement are long gone, except for the cemetery in which Finbarr was buried. That site is on the current St Finbarr's Cathedral.

Few traces of the original medieval buildings survived, though entries in the chapter minute books give some idea of the structures size and what they looked like. Items from that period include some stone carvings, a sacrarium (a shallow basin for washing communal vessels), a square font, and a carved doorway, which is now inserted into the south boundary wall of the cathedral. The communion vessels are still in use, and include a silver gilt chalice from 1536 and a silver chalice and patens made by goldsmith Robert Goble, a Cork Huguenot, in 1712.

The cathedral suffered damage in the Siege of Cork in 1689-90 when it came under fire from the nearby Elizabeth Fort. A 24-pounds cannon was discovered embedded deep in the masonary of the church in 1865 after the steeple was demolished.

In 1735, Bishop Peter Browne laid the foundation stone of the new section of the cathedral, which would also include the tower and spire from the previous cathedral.

In 1862, church officials felt that the cathedral was too small and did not pay enough honor and dignity to the size of the diocese. After hosting a competion, winning architect William Burges was appointed to design the new cathedral. Competition requirements included a £15,000 maximum spending cost. Burges was criticised by other competing architects because

construction costs had actually far exceeded the competition limits. Burges had failed to include the cost of the towers, spires and hand-carvings. In the end, the cathedral cost exceeded £100,000!

In 1865, the medieval cathedral was demolished to make way for a much larger cathedral and the foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by Bishop John Gregg.

Burges drew up an iconographic scheme for the cathedral windows and maintains control over all stages of construction. He designed all of the sculptures, mosaics, furniture and metalwork. Because of this, the cathedral retains a remarkable unity of style throughout.

The Resurrection Angel on the pinnacle of the sanctuary roof was a gift from Burges and is made from gold leaf covered copper.

The cathedral was finally consecreated on 30 November 1870, St Andrew's Day, even though the spires had not yet been completed. Those were finally finished in 1879. The cathedral was constructed from Cork limestone. Inside, much of the interior is of Bath stone and the walls are lined with red Cork marble.

Note: Visitors are asked to respect those at prayer, mass times and special events.