Macnas made a welcome return to the sodden streets of Dublin last night for their first Halloween parade in the city in four years. It was great to see them back again, conjuring up the ancient spirits of our past, as only they can.
The parade was based on the tale of La Loba, a wild Wolf-Woman who collects and preserves the bones of animals, humans and gods that are in danger of being lost or forgotten to the world, and sings them back to life by moonlight.
As part of the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Spring Heritage events I was delighted to get the chance to pay a visit to a lesser-known, early 20th century Celtic Revival masterpiece; the Oratory of the Sacred Heart in Dun Laoghaire.
The entrance to the Oratory
The Oratory of the Sacred Heart was built on the grounds of St. Mary's Dominican Convent and dedicated to the Sacred Heart in 1919. The building commemorates the many local Irishmen who fought and died in the Great War. From 1920-1936, its interior was hand-painted by Sister Concepta Lynch, a Dominican nun at St. Mary's
Photo of Sister Concepta Lynch and her cousin in July 1937 - Photo by Dlr Heritage Events
Known familiarly as "Lily", Bridget Mary Lynch was born in Booterstown, Dublin, to Thomas Joseph Lynch a renowned Dublin illumination artist with studios in Harcourt Street, who was known as the King of Celtic Art in the 1880s. Eldest of five, she was his only child to survive infancy. His business specialised in high quality illuminated addresses and he trained her in his trade.
Example of a commemorative address by Dublin artist Thomas J. Lynch - Image by National Library of Ireland
He taught Lily calligraphy and illumination so well that when he died in 1889 she left her school at the Dominican convent, Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), and took over his studio, which under her direction continued to flourish. However, on 3 July 1896 she entered the Dominican Order at St Mary's convent, where she had been educated.
Dominican Convent National School, Kingstown - Image Dlr Library
Taking the name of Sr Mary Concepta, she taught art, illustrated the school magazine, and was involved with musical activities. Her musical talent was considerable and she wrote hymns, especially in praise of St Teresa of Lisieux, the ‘Little Flower’, to whom she was one of the first devotees in Ireland.
Original Oratory structure, built in 1919 - Photo by RTE
After the first world war a small oratory to the Sacred Heart was built by the order in 1919 in the grounds of St Mary's convent, Dún Laoghaire, to commemorate the peace. The following year Sr Concepta began her life's work of decorating the interior. The project was partly financed by her cousin Seán Glenville and his wife, the actress Dorothy Ward, who held benefit concerts in Liverpool and elsewhere to raise funds.
I will never forget the shock I felt when first walking through the entrance doors to the oratory, and the sheer intensity of it. It was like walking into the Book of Kells. Her achievement is remarkable: she transformed the bare, austere oratory walls with a riot of Celtic colours, shapes, and designs. Some motifs she copied from ancient manuscripts, others of her own invention are strikingly original. She conceived of her work as a whole; though it is complex, intricate and elaborate, it is harmonious.
She managed all this through her practice of using stencils, which allowed for duplication and reverse-duplication of details so that panels are precisely reflected on opposing walls, providing a strong sense of balance to the space.
Harry Clarke provided the seven stained-glass windows in the Oratory, under her direction. As he was still young, they are not outstanding examples of his work but they do manage to complement her art…no easy task!
The ceiling must have been especially demanding for Sister Concepta, with her health failing, as it would have involved mounting scaffolding and painting on her back. The unfinished work does, however, provide us with a valuable insight into her method of sketching and stenciling out of the original forms.
In 1936 arthritis forced her to stop work, leaving the ceiling and part of a wall undone. No doubt the years of breathing in fumes from the lead based paint she used to complete the work was also a significant factor in her early demise. Three years later she died (30 April 1939), and was buried in the convent cemetery.
To my shame I had never heard of this place or the extraordinary art of Lily Lynch. Thankfully the Oratory was not bulldozed with the rest of the school when it was sold off to a shopping arcade developer during the late 1980s. Due to the sterling work of enlightened locals, the National Gallery, the support of the then Minister for Culture (now President) Michael D. Higgins, and the EU Cultural Directorate the building was saved. It is now protected, covered by a surrounding architectural shell designed by the OPW, ensuring future generations can marvel at this incredible work of art.
Additional Information:
See a short documentary on the building by RTE here
Hear a short piece on the building by Tim Carey on Sunday Miscellany here
A book by New Island publishers on the building is available here: Divine Illumination: The Oratory of the Sacred Hear, Dún Laoghaire
Sack - Whelans - 23/12/2022
Read MoreI had the pleasure of visiting June Blake’s Garden in Co. Wicklow last week, which supplied the welcome colours of summer on an otherwise overcast day. Such a beautiful place…one I am sure I will return to often through the seasons.
As an extra bonus we got a brief tour of the restoration work carried out on the associated farm buildings, converted beautifully to residential use by architects Michael Kelly & Dan Costelloe
Chicago’s finest, Shellac, composed of Steve Albini (guitar + vocals), Bob Weston (bass + vocals) & Todd Trainer (drums + vocals), came and tore the Button a factory a new one last night. An incredible evening of precision rock. To my shame this was the first time I have ever seen them live, but it will not be my last, if I can do anything about it…
Unfortunately I missed the support act, M(h)aol…but from what I heard from those who saw them their upcoming debut album is one to look forward to.
A very special night in the evocative surroundings of Saint Stephen’s, AKA the Pepper Canister; embraced by the symbiosis of measured word & improvised sound, in the company of Stephen James Smith & friends. A thing of beauty.
Stephen was accompanied by this wonderful bunch of humans; Gareth Quinn Redmond - beautiful sounds / Jess Kav - Vocals & poetry / Thunderclap Murphy - flute / Caimin Gilmore - double bass / Kalle Ryan - poetry / Steve Simpson - illustrations
Listen to Stephen’s album See No Evil here:
https://found.ee/SCQk5
If you get the chance, check him out on tour;
10th April - Bennigans Bar, Derry
22nd April - Presentation Centre Enniscorthy, Wexford
23rd April - Monroe's Tavern, Galway
30th April - The MAC, Belfast
6th May - Coughlan’s, Cork
UK
18th May - London Irish Centre
19th May - Carole Nash Hall, Stoller Hall, Manchester
21st May - Thorner Victory Hall, Leeds
22nd May - The Hug and Pint, Glasgow
A few shots from a joyous evening spent in the company of Rónan Ó Snódaigh & Myles O’Reilly, and the harmonious union of their diverse musical talents, performed to a packed crowd at the main stage of Whelans.
Wonderful support on the night from Niamh Bury, backing vocals by mister Rhob Cunningham, and gorgeous visuals by the legend that is Donal Dineen
A pleasure to witness.
Tá’n t’Ádh liom…
Looking west from Liam Mellows Bridge
Named after the Dublin author James Joyce whose story “The Dead” is set in No. 15 Usher’s Island, on the south side of the Liffey facing the bridge.
Looking south, with 15 Usher’s Island on the right - taken Jan. 2017
The Joyce Bridge is a single span structural steel design, 40m (131 ft) long, with the deck supported from two outward angled arches, one each side of and above the deck. It is supported on piles in the river and adjacent to the quay walls.
Looking south from Blackhall Place
The deck provides double two-lane vehicular movement in each direction, and a pedestrian walkway is cantilevered from the deck on the outside of angled stringer supports between the deck and arches. This physical barrier between the pedestrians and traffic and the wide walkway (varies from 3 to 6m) are designed to attract people onto the bridge to view the city landscape and the River Liffey. The deck width between railings is 30m (98.5 ft).
Sketch Design by Santiago Calatrava - Dublin City Council
Santiago Calatrava, the renowned Spanish Architect & Engineer, was appointed to design the bridge in 1998. The contract was commenced in April 2001 for a tender sum of IR£4.4m (€5.6m). Irishenco Construction Ltd were the main contractor and Harland & Wolff of Belfast the steel fabricator. The superstructure was fabricated in Belfast and assembled by welding on a temporary deck in the river.
Looking south, with No. 15 Usher’s Island in the background
Considerable delays were incurred as a result of extended piling due to a buried river and welding complexities with the steel fabrication. As a result, the actual construction time was 26 month with the bridge opening, appropriately on Bloomsday, the 16th June 2003.
Looking south, with No. 15 Usher’s Island in the background
This was one of two Bridges designed by Calatrava for Dublin, the other being the Samuel Beckett bridge, located further downstream, in the docklands.
The Samuel Beckett Bridge, by Santiago Cslatrava. Opened in 2009
Long before a bridge ever spanned the Liffey in this location, things looked very different.
Excerpt from John Rocque’s map of Dublin, 1756
Oxmantown Green, the last of the remaining undeveloped medieval commons in the north-west of the city still survived, with its artillery grounds, associated with the nearby barracks, and bowling green, dating from 1664. Where the Joyce Bridge is now was a small slipway known as the Gravel Walk Slip
View of the city from the Wooden Bridge (Bloody Bridge), 1698, by Francis Place - The National Gallery of Ireland
Intriguingly, we can see in Rocque’s map numerous yards with what looks like timber stacked in them. I can imagine boats arriving here from throughout the country, off-loading timber which would then go on to be used in the construction of Georgian Dublin,
Map of Dublin 1837-42 - Ordinance Survey Ireland
By the mid-19th century the Gravel Walk Slip has been filled-in, and Oxmantown Green had been bisected by Blackhall Place and the associated construction of the Blue Coat Hospital School. The original school, built further east towards Smithfield, was deemed to be in danger of collapsing by the early 1770s. Thomas Ivory, Master of the School of Architectural Drawing in the Dublin Society prepared a set of thirteen drawings in 1776 for a new design. In December 1783, the building was opened and the first boys moved into the school.
The Law Society, Blackhall Place - formally the Blue Coat Hospital School, 1773, by Sir Thomas Ivory
The Commissioners for making Wide and Convenient Ways, Streets and Passages in the City of Dublin was established by an Act of Parliament in 1757. The Commission had extensive powers with the authority to acquire property by compulsory purchase, demolish it, lay down new streets and set lots along the new streets to builders for development.
Plan indicating the proposed extension south of Blackhall Place to the Quays by the Wide Street Commissioners, date unknown - Dublin City Council
The Commission had an enormous influence on the city, creating Parliament Street, Westmoreland Street and D'Olier Street, widening Dame Street, building Carlisle Bridge (now O'Connell bridge), and extending lower Sackville Street (O'Connell) and Blackhall Place south to the Liffey, giving us the present-day street arrangement. The Commission was abolished under the Dublin Improvement Act of 1849 with the final completion of its work in 1851.
Map of Dublin, 1888-1913 - Ordinance Survey Ireland
The addition of the Joyce Bridge made the final connection linking Blackhall Place to the south of the Liffey, sitting right alongside Mellows Bridge, the 'old man of the river', the longest surviving structure of all the Liffey bridges.
Looking west from Mellows Bridge, with the Joyce Bridge in the background
As an aside, on my way home from one of my recent rambles, I spied a fox making its way across…
Dawn breaking, looking east on Parnell Square North
Located just to the North of O’Connoll St., Rutland Square (renamed Parnell Square in 1933 in honour of Charles Stewart Parnell who once lived there) was the first Georgian Square in the city, developed between c.1755-1795, as a series of residential terraces enclosing the grounds to the north of the Rotunda Hospital
Excerpt from John Rocque’s 1756 map of Dublin City & Suburbs
It is difficult for us now to imagine just how magnificent Parnell Square once was, before the encroachment of extensions to the Rotunda hospital in the 1940s, and the development of the Garden of Rememberence in the 1960s. Once, at its centre were a bowling green, lantern-lined walks, obelisks, a coffee room and terraces riding up the slope towards an Orchestra at the center of Palace Row, now Parnell Square north.
Undoubtedly it rivalled any of the later Georgian squares on the southern side of the Liffey.
Looking south over Rutland Square - an extract from “Dublin from the spire of St. George’s Church“, by James Mahony 1854 - Dublin Civic Trust
The square came about further to the establishment in 1749 of the New Pleasure Gardens. The gardens, designed by Robert Stevenson, acted as a fundraising enterprise of the Rotunda Hospital’s founder Dr Bartholomew Mosse, who attracted patronage through annual subscriptions and events held in the grounds.
Looking north-east over the Rotunda Gardens, with Findlater’s Church in the background, photographed by Robert French, between 1865 and 1914. The Lawrence Photograph Collection, the National Library of Ireland.
The maternity hospital was designed by the great Richard Castle, and opened on the 8th December 1757, the first charitable lying-in hospital in the country.
Parnell Square South, with the Rotunda on the left & the Parnell monument on the right, at the northern end of O’Connoll St.
Looking south towards O’Connoll Street, with the Parnell Monument in the foreground, unveiled in 1911 and designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, in conjunction with Henry Bacon of McKim, Mead & White and George P. Sheridan.
Half-way down O’Connoll St., directly opposite the GPO is the 120 meter high Spire, designed by Ian Richie, 2001-3
The hospital complex was added to with the construction of the Rotunda entertaining room in 1764 (now the Ambassador) to designs by John Ensor. In 1784 construction began on the Assembly Rooms, to designs by Richard Johnston, now the Gate Theatre.
The entrance to the former Assembly Rooms, now the Gate Theatre, Cavendish Row
The success of the Pleasure Gardens resulted in the development of the surrounding lands, with plots being laid out from the mid-1700s. Soon Rutland Square became one of the city’s most fashionable neighbourhoods. You can read some contemporary descriptions of the area in an interesting article by the Mapping Dubliners Project here
Map from 1837-42, Ordinance Survey Ireland
Map from 1888-1913 - Ordinance Survey Ireland
The townhouses surrounding the square contain some of the best examples of 18th-century interiors and decorative plasterwork in the city, many of which remain largely unaltered since their construction.
Rutland Square West, by James Malton - Dublin City Library & Archive
Parnell Square west, with the Spire in the background
The north-western corner of Parnell Square
Georgian townhouses to the north of Parnell Square west
The huge scale of these houses has allowed many of them to be adapted over time to a variety of uses including hotels, offices, schools and cultural institutions such as the wonderful The Hugh Lane gallery and the Dublin Writer’s Museum.
The entrance to No. 18 Parnell Square north, built by Thomas Sherwood and leased in 1770, now the Dublin Writers Museum
Looking east towards Gardiner Row, with the Dublin Writer’s Museum and Findlater’s Church on the left hand side on Parnell Square north
Looking east along Parnell Square North, formally Palace Row, with the Abbey Presbyterian Church (Findlater’s Church) in the background, 1862-4 by Andrew Heiton
The Hugh Lane Gallery, formally Charlemont House, by William Chambers, 1763. Remodelled as an art gallery in 1931-3 by the City Architect Horace O’Rourke
I hope to get access at some stage to document the interiors of some of these buildings, including the Rotunda itself, and will include them here when I get around to it.
Arial view looking north - Google Earth
Recently a significant amount of work was carried out with the intention to create a Cultural Quarter at Parnell Square, which would see the construction of a new city library, a 200-seat conference centre, a music centre, education facilities and a café and exhibition spaces across the northern end of the square.
Section through the proposed City Library & Parnell Square North - Grafton Architects
The scheme also was to include the creation of a new public plaza at Parnell Square North, and the restoration of some of the finer Georgian houses, including the former Coláiste Mhuire, Christian Brothers school, in what was to be a catalyst for the regeneration of the north inner city.
Arial view of the proposed new plaza at Parnell Square north - Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners
The project, however, seems now to have stalled due to soaring construction costs. There have also been long protracted discussions regarding the construction of a national maternity hospital, and moving the services of the Rotunda elsewhere as part of a re-organisation of maternity services in Dublin.
Proposed new plaza at Parnell Square North - Grafton Architects
Were this to happen, the Rotunda perhaps be adapted to cultural usage and the park area cleared and restored, I could imagine a time where the Georgian splendour of Parnell Square could one day be back on full display.
The rising Flower Moon aligning with Chesterfield Avenue
May’s full moon is known as the Flower Moon, as it’s this time of year that flowers tend to bloom.
Other similarly seasonal names for May's full moon are Corn Planting Moon, Mother's Moon, and Milk Moon, from the Old English Rimilcemona which means Month of Three Milkings, when cows were milked three times a day. It looked like a Grapefruit Moon to me.
Whatever it’s name, it was a beautiful sight.
Big wheel keeps on turning…