Irish Arts Review

Triskel ChristchurchAuthor(s): Peter MurraySource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 28, No. 3 (AUTUMN [SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER 2011]),pp. 120-123Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23049511 .

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ARCHITECTURE TRISKEL CHRISTCHURCH

Triskel

Christchurch

1 Restored light leaded window and window seat

2 First-floor glazed link to Triskel Arts Centre

3 Detail from the 16th-century chimneypiece now in the Crawford Collection. Photo: Dara McGrath

U Main entrance from South Main Street

5 Restored decorative plaster ceiling supported by twelve Ionic scagliola columns, above the refurbished pews

120 IRISH ARTS REVIEW I AUTUMN 2011

Peter Murray traces the evolution of Christchurch in Cork, from an

historic parish church to its latest incarnation as a venue for the arts

Standing

about fifty metres west of Grand

Parade, a broad thoroughfare in Cork's city cen

tre, the historic building known as Christchurch

has just been given a new lease of life, having become

an integral part of the lively Triskel Arts Centre (Fig

4). Originally built as a place of worship, and for

many years used as a less-than-suitable repository for

3 municipal archives, Christchurch has now benefitted

from a detailed architectural renovation programme, led by project architect Helen

Devitt. Originally known as the church of the Holy Trinity, Christchurch is at the

heart of the medieval city, on a site used for religious services for many centuries.

Excavations carried out in nearby Christchurch Lane have uncovered fragments of

green-glazed English pottery, dating from the 15th century. At that time, Cork was

a mercantile colonial settlement with close trading links to Bristol. However, the

original church on the site may well have been much older, and was perhaps

founded by Viking settlers in the 11th century. The first documentary evidence for

the church dates from 1199, when Pope

Innocent III, in a decretal letter, referred

to several churches in the South of

Ireland, including Christchurch. James

Ware records one Bishop Selhaic (perhaps

Reynolds) in 1199 obtaining confirma tion from Pope Innocent, of all the 'pos

sessions of the see of Cork, whereof we

have a catalogue in the decretal epistles of

the same Innocent."

During the Anglo-Norman invasion,

Henry II reserved Cork as a royal city, t

Triskel

Christchurch

Peter Murray

1 Restored light leaded window and window seat

2 First-floor glazed link to Triskel Arts Centre

3 Detail from the 16th-century chimneypiece now in the Crawford Collection. Photo: Dara McGrath

U Main entrance from South Main Street

5 Restored decorative plaster ceiling supported by twelve Ionic scagliola columns, above the refurbished pews

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AUTUMN 2011 I IRISH ARTS REVIEW 121

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ARCHITECTURE TRISKEL CHRISTCHURCH

and, notwithstanding its paying

dues to Rome, Christchurch was

considered a 'free royal' church, and

was known as the King's Chapel,

with the English crown retaining the

right to appoint its clergy. The most

important of the two parish

churches in Cork (the other being St

Peter's), Christchurch was used for

civic thanksgiving ceremonies, mar

riages and funerals. According to

tradition it was even used for a

'coronation' ceremony, when Perkin

Warbeck, a pretender to the English

throne, was pronounced Richard IV

of England. A native of the

Netherlands, the seventeen-year-old

Warbeck, who styled himself Duke of York, had been brought

to Cork in 1491 by a Breton merchant, to learn English. The

merchants of Cork, who supported the house of York, were

delighted with this arrival and encouraged him to seek to over

throw the King. Warbeck was later hanged, in London, after

an unsuccessful attempt to lead a rebellion in Cornwall.

Many of the prominent families of mercantile Cork wor

shipped and were buried at Christchurch, among them

Skiddys, Hodders, Coppingers, Whites, Galways, Roches,

Ronans and Fagans. The best-known tombstone within the

church is called 'The Modest Man' and is inscribed with the

name of Thomas Ronan, who served as mayor in 1537 and

again in 1549. Depicting a skeletal figure within a shroud, the

tomb dates from 1554. There were probably two side chapels

at Christchurch, a Lady Chapel dating from the 15th century,

to the north, and another, dating from a century later and ded

icated to St James, to the south. Both are mentioned in the will

of a Cork merchant John de Wynchedon in 1306, but nothing

remains of them today and the only part of the building that

pre-dates the 18th century, is likely the extensive crypt.

Wynchedon left money so that each year 'a representation of

the Crucifixion in wax, gilt, and five pounds in weight, should

be provided for the church, and two candlesticks for the great

altar.' According to tradition, the poet Edmund Spenser (1552

1599) married Elizabeth Boyle here on 11 June, Midsummer

Day, in 1594, a union recorded in passionate lines in his

Amoretti and Epithalamion of 1595. In this long poem, based

on the Classical form of the 'epithalamium', praising a bride on

her wedding day, Spenser goes on to describe the church:

Open the temple gates unto my love,

Open them wide that she may enter in,

And all the postes adorne as doth behove,

And all the pillours deck with girlands trim, For to receyve this Saynt with honour dew,

That commeth in to you.

Although Spenser's description of the garlanded pillars, organ

and choristers, gives a vivid picture of the marriage ceremony,

there are only fleeting records of how Christchurch appeared

during this period. In 1665, the craftsman John Poynts was

paid fifteen pounds for painting the Ten Commandments in

the church, with 'effigies of Moses and Aaron', and for also

painting the rails and coat of arms. However none of this dec

orative painting work now survives, apart from a coat of

arms, which is probably later.2 Alongside the church stood a

college, which has also long since disappeared, although the

chimneypiece from the college, carved with figures and bear

ing the date 1585 was transferred, in the early 20th century,

to the Crawford Art Gallery (Fig 3). Along with representa

tions of trumpeters and roses, and apple, laurel and oak trees,

the chimneypiece bears the inscription 'soli deo honor et glo

ria amen'. This is the motto of the Huddleston family, who

protected Mary I of England (1553-1558) during her re

establishment of Roman Catholicism, and who were also

associated with Cork. However, it is not known if the chim

neypiece, or indeed the college, was endowed by the

Huddleston family. The rose symbolizes the reuniting of the

houses of York and Lancaster after the Wars of the Roses.

During the 1690 siege of Cork, Protestants were impris

oned in Christchurch, and after the defeat of the Jacobite

defenders of the city, several hundred Roman Catholics were

in turn imprisoned within its walls. However, the fabric of the

building had been badly damaged by cannon balls, so much

so that in 1716 it was finally demolished. Not long after

wards it was replaced by a fine Classical structure, built of

Cork's characteristic white limestone. The foundation stone

of the new church, designed by John Coltsman, was laid in

1718, and the new church was completed eight years later.

The rebuilding was overseen by Rector Philip Townsend and

funding was provided by a city tax, imposed by the

122 IRISH ARTS REVIEW I AUTUMN 2011

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as designed by Coltsman in the early 18th century. These

oval windows have now been restored and on the north side

have become internal architectural features within the new

glazed structure connecting the Triskel Arts Centre and

Christchurch (Fig 2). Above the oval windows, a line of large

round-headed windows provides light to the upper galleries

and nave (Fig 6). A talented stone-mason and builder, John

Coltsman also designed the North and South Gate bridges

and prisons in Cork. Although the former has disappeared,

the South Gate bridge, built in 1713 with three arches, still

carries traffic over a branch of the river Lee.' In 1740,

Coltsman also designed the nearby Corn Market, a building

with Classical arcading, the first storey of which still sur

vives. Perhaps the most famous landmark building associ

ated with Coltsman is the church of St Anne's Shandon,

which was completed in 1722. Coltman's entrepreneurial

activities brought him wealth and it is likely that it was his descendant John Coltsman who had lands in the 19th cen

tury at Glenfesk in Kerry and also in Portugal.

Christchurch ceased to function as a place of worship in

1978 and the building was acquired a year later by Cork

City Council. Occupied by the Cork Archives Institute until

2005, it remained unoccupied until the refurbishment pro

gramme was initiated three years later by Cork City Council,

with assistance from EU funding Structural Funds Programme.

Cork City Council was awarded €2.18 million under the

National Spatial Strategy Gateways and Hubs European

Regional Development Fund. The Triskel Arts Centre is now

an architectural ensemble of very high quality, comprising

the original art centre, housed in an 18th-century mill build

ing, and now connected to Christchurch via a glass and steel

link building with lifts and staircases. A viewing window on

the ground floor enables visitors to see into the old crypt. Up

to recent years the vaults were full of ancient moldering

leather-bound coffins, but they have now been sanitized and

cleaned up, and the remains of Cork's once good and great

have been transferred to more suitable accommodations.

The complex of buildings now providing a home for Plugd

In Records, Corcadorca Theatre Company as well as exhibi

tion galleries and a cinema run by the Irish Film Institute.

The main body of the church, with its 19th-century pews

still in place, makes an excellent auditorium, and where the

high altar once stood, there is now a stage for choirs and

musicians (Fig 5). The completion of the renovation pro

gramme was celebrated in March 2011 with a specially com

missioned work by composer John Gibson, while an

exhibition of glass sculptures by Vivienne Roche captured

the light flooding into Christchurch and ushering in a new

and exciting phase in this building's long history. ■

Photography by Helen Devitt.

Peter Murray is the Director of the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

1 James Ware The Antiquities and History of Ireland, p. 32 2 The Register of the Parish Church of the Holy Trinity (Christ Church) Cork. 3 Cork Corporation Council Minutes 21 October 1710 to 28 September 1732.

THE MAIN PART OF THE BUILDING, DISTINGUISHED BY LINES OF EIGHT OVAL WINDOWS ALONG EACH SIDE, IS STILL VERY MUCH AS DESIGNED BY COLTSMAN IN THE EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Parliamentary Coal Act of 1719. Coltsman's design included

a tower at the western end of the church, but as this began to

sink due to the marshy ground below the foundations, it was

eventually removed in 1820. At this time also, the western

end of Christchurch was affected by an outbreak of dry rot and

was replaced. The new facade, designed by George Richard

Pain, was completed by 1828, and the panelled interiors also

mainly date from this period, or shortly afterwards. The apse,

pulpit and organ date from a later renovation, in 1878.

However the main part of the building, distinguished by

lines of eight oval windows along each side, is still very much

6 South elevation showing new storm glazing to restored lead windows

7 Restored decorative plaster ceiling supported by twelve ionic scagliola columns, above the refurbished pews

8 Restored light leaded windows flank the side aisles to the original nave and refurbished timber pews

AUTUMN 2011 I IRISH ARTS REVIEW 123

6 South elevation showing new storm glazing to restored lead windows

7 Restored decorative plaster ceiling supported by twelve ionic scagliola columns, above the refurbished pews

8 Restored light leaded windows flank the side aisles to the original nave and refurbished timber pews

1 James Ware The Antiquities and History of Ireland, p. 32 2 The Register of the Parish Church of the Holy Trinity (Christ Church) Cork. 3 Cork Corporation Council Minutes 21 October 1710 to 28 September 1732.

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