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Divine Dublin
MALCOLM ROGERS pays a visit to Dublin’s two oldest
cathedrals.
 Among
the many consequences of Ireland’s baleful history is a curious
architectural phenomenon — throughout the island the most imposing
building in almost all towns will be a Protestant (usually Church of Ireland)
church.
Tourists must surely believe they’ve missed a chapter in the Bible
when this becomes apparent to them. Somewhere which contains the lesson
of the Holy Tape Measure of Antioch which decrees that all “ye Protestante
churches of Ireland must standeth several cubits higher than ye Taig churches
and not a bother on it”.
Ireland’s ecclesiastical centre, Armagh, has done its best in this
respect. St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Catholic) is an impressively Gothic-decorated,
mid-19th century building whose twin spires dominate a hill to the north
of the city. However, it still stands in the lee of the older, higher
and more substantial St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Protestant).
The situation is Dublin is even more pronounced, where the two main cathedrals
— within half-a-mile of each other — are both Church of Ireland;
this in a city which is roughly 95 per cent Catholic.
The oldest surviving building in Dublin, Christ Church — or the
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity as it prefers to call itself on formal occasions
— was begun in 1038 by Sitric Silkenbeard. The first Bishop of Dublin,
Donat or Donagh, contracted the non-national to do the job. But Sitric
(aka Sitruic) was no immigrant labourer; he was Danish Viking King of
Dublin. The admirably named Dane — if you have to have a king, then
you might as well have one with an exotic name — wanted to secure
control of his new fiefdom, and religion always comes in handy in that
sort of endeavour.
The Vikings held sway in the city from about 1000 AD and although eventually
given their marching orders, it was their preferred Irish name for the
city ‘Dubh Linn’ or Black Pool, which stuck. Fortunately the
Vikings didn’t want to put up a huge tower, open a holiday camp
or light the place with huge Black Pool illuminations. But they did know
the value of a good cathedral — partly thanks to Sitric’s
previous pilgrimage to Rome. Evidently a Dane who liked to get about,
then.
From the off, Christ Church was Ireland’s national place of worship,
from Viking times onwards. The 16th century saw the first real change
in its management structure. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries
in the 16th century, the Augustinian priory in possession of the church
was replaced by a new Anglican clergy. Once the centre of Catholicism,
it was now, effectively, the focal point of the invaders’ religion.
Most of the current building was constructed after the Norman conquest.
From the outside it appears largely as a Victorian shell, but inside much
of the medieval fabric remains, both Gothic and Romanesque. Ireland’s
tortuous history is writ large within the cathedral’s old walls.
The southern aisle has a monument to the legendary Strongbow, leader of
the Anglo-Normans. It’s unlikely that the tomb actually contains
the remains of the Norman knight who many see as ‘the beginnings
of Ireland’s troublin’.
It’s reckoned to be more likely the earthly remains of the Earl
of Drogheda but more than likely Strongbow’s internal organs are
here (namely, his bowels). Splitting up a body for multi-burials was common
enough for the main movers and shakers of medieval times, which explains
why Dublin’s St. Lawrence O’Toole’s heart hangs on the
wall in an iron casket.
But it’s not all invaders and oppressors in Christ Church. The cathedral
has a memorial to the earl of Kildare whose grandson Lord Edward Fitzgerald
was a member of the United Irishmen and died in the 1798 Rising.
Since the first wooden building appeared in the 11th century, Christ Church
has been rebuilt many times. The last substantial restoration was undertaken
by whiskey-producer Henry Roe in 1871, a task which regrettably bankrupted
him.
For more information on Ireland’s medieval history, the Synod Hall
of Christ Church houses the Dvblinia heritage centre. Run by The Medieval
Trust, a charitable organisation, the exhibition provides a fascinating
insight into Dublin in the rare very ould times. An academic, though entertaining
retrospective takes you through the various ages of the place called by
Thackeray ‘the chief city of the Aliens’.
The exhibition guides the visitor in graphic detail through several famous
episodes in Dublin’s history — such as the crowning of Lambert
Simnel, pretender to the English throne. The first floor houses life-size
reconstructions of medieval interiors, fully equipped with genuine artefacts
from the Wood Quay excavations.
Much of what is now known about life in medieval Dublin has been gleaned
from these archaeological digs and artefacts unearthed at Wood Quay, Fishamble
Street and Christchurch Place — all right beside the site of Dvblinia.
A meticulous reconstruction of a 13th century dockside, a leather worker
outside his timber-frame house and a 15th century merchant’s kitchen
give a vivid idea of what life was like for a Dub in days of yore.
Wine from Bordeaux, pottery from Saintonge, and spices from the Orient
demonstrate that medieval Dubliners could also appreciate the finer things
in life, despite having to use moss as toilet paper.
Dvblinia highlights the turbulent history of medieval Dublin — as
well as concentrating on the lot of the ordinary person — the average
Dublin merchant, artisan and jackeen.
n St. Michael’s Hill, Christchurch, Dublin 8
01 679 4611
11am-4pm Mon-Sat
10am-4pm Sun
www.dublinia.ie
?3.50 (incl Christ Church Cathedral)
?3 (excl Christ Church Cathedral)
If Christ Church was saved by whiskey then St. Patrick’s Cathedral
was preserved by Guinness. Benjamin Lee Guinness was the grandson of Arthur
and eventually took sole control of the business, becoming the richest
man in Ireland.
In 1860 he undertook, at his own expense, the restoration of St. Patrick’s
Cathedral. A statue of Ben now stands in the grounds of the Cathedral,
while a stained glass window commemorates this stout fellow.
Of course, St. Patrick’s was in business long before the Guinness
business. A church has stood on this site since the 5th century —
Patrick himself is said to have baptised Dublin’s sinners at a well
in what is now the park adjacent to the main building. Most of what stands
today however, dates back to 1191, making it younger than Christ Church
by 153 years.
It seems likely that the cathedral was intended to replace Christ Church
as the city’s main cathedral but the older church stubbornly refused
to be usurped. Separated only by the city walls (with St. Patrick’s
outside) each continued to possess the rights of cathedral of the diocese.
Despite it’s youth, every nook and indeed cranny, holds some curio
of interest. The phrase ‘chancing your arm’ is said to have
originated here in the awesome surroundings of Ireland’s biggest
cathedral. Near the north transept is a door which helped settle a dispute
between the earls of Kildare and Ormond in 1492.
A feud had raged for years, and during one particularly fierce clash,
fighting spilled into the cathedral. With the battle going badly, the
Earl of Ormond barricaded himself into a room. Although offered peace
by the Earl of Kildare, Ormond refused to leave his sanctuary. To prove
that he meant well, Kildare hacked a hole in the door and stuck his arm
through the opening in a gesture of reconciliation. The door with the
hole can still be seen.
Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, would undoubtedly
have called the two argumentative aristocrats a couple of yahoos, seeing
as how he made up the word. Swift was Dean of St. Patrick’s 1713-1345,
and is buried, along with his main squeeze Stella, just to the right of
the entrance. His epitaph reads: “Where fierce indignation can no
longer rend the heart.
Go, traveller, and imitate if you can
This earnest and dedicated
Champion of liberty.”
Somewhat less magnanimous than Swift, the scientist Robert Boyle also
takes his eternal rest within the majestically proportioned confines of
the cathedral. Boyle, a man known as “the son of the Earl of Cork
and the father of chemistry” revolutionised science with his eponymous
law concerning gases, but he seems to have been somewhat less than magnanimous
towards his fellow man — he left a legacy to fund eight sermons
a year to combat the beliefs of “Atheists, Theists, Pagans, Jews
and Mohammedans”.
St. Patrick’s Choir School was founded in 1432, and many of its
members took part in the world’s first performance of Handel’s
Messiah in Dublin in 1742.
The Cathedral also contains memorials to the last of the great harper-bards,
Turlough O’Carolan, Douglas Hyde, Ireland’s first president,
the composer William Balfe, and a testimony to the fact that the Huguenots
once worshipped here. The Cathedral, once used as a stable by Cromwell
is, in short, a tour of Irish history’s meandering byways, set within
divine architecture.
n St. Patrick’s Cathedral
St. Patrick’s Close, Dublin 8
01 453 9472 or 01 475 4817
9am-6pm Mon-Fri (Feb)
9am-5pmSat (Feb)
10-11am & 12.45-3pm Sun (Feb)
9am-6pm Mon-Sat
9-11am, 12.45-3pm & 4.15-6pm Sun
?4.50/concs ?3.50/families ?10
www.stpatrickscathedral.ie |
