Irish cathedrals, churches and abbeys are some of Ireland's most extraordinary and beautiful buildings and are inextricably linked with the history of the nation. They are some of the most visited buildings in the land. This book features a concise history of each of the major cathedrals and includes contemporary and historical images of the exteriors and interiors. The interiors feature items such as stained glass windows, and the exterior would also show details such as gargoyles.

Dublin is an unusual city in having two Anglican cathedrals within a few hundred yards of each other, St Patricks cathedral and the diocesan cathedral of Christ Church. This volume chronicles the history of St Patricks cathedral over the millennium of its existence, the first work to do so for almost two hundred years. It charts the impact of events such as the Reformation in the sixteenth century and disestablishment in the nineteenth century as well as chronicling the evolution of a local community through the architecture of the cathedrals buildings and the music of its worship. As such the book casts into relief not only the life of the church but also the workings of the city and the country as a whole through their turbulent histories.--from publisher description.

The cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Dublin - commonly called Christ Church - is, by Irish standards, rich in archival and architectural remains, and so it comes as something of a surprise to learn that this book - now in paperback - is the first full-scale history of the cathedral to be written. That the time has now come for the situation to be redressed owes much to the attention that has been paid in recent years to the records and the architecture of Christ Church. The painstaking work of scholars - from the different academic disciplines of history, music, literature, and art - have distilled from the evidence much that had previously been hidden. Christ Church has reflected the changing face of Ireland, in its architecture, administration, worship, and in the people who made those things possible. It has experienced the trauma of the Reformation, and, centuries later, of disestablishment and of political independence. Whether pre-Reformation as an Augustinian priory, or post-Reformation as the monarch's Chapel Royal in Ireland, 'where the government came to church, ' or indeed from the late 19th Century as metropolitan cathedral for the Church of Ireland dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough, Christ Church has played a prominent part in national and civic life. Furthermore, the cathedral archives throw intriguing light on many aspects of everyday life in Dublin

This is the first book devoted to churches in Ireland dating from the arrival of Christianity in the fifth century to the early stages of the Romanesque around 1100, including those built to house treasures of the golden age of Irish art, such as the Book of Kells and the Ardagh chalice. � Carrag�in's comprehensive survey of the surviving examples forms the basis for a far-reaching analysis of why these buildings looked as they did, and what they meant in the context of early Irish society. � Carrag�in also identifies a clear political and ideological context for the first Romanesque churches in Ireland and shows that, to a considerable extent, the Irish Romanesque represents the perpetuation of a long-established architectural tradition.

This is the first full-length study of the perception and treatment of Gothic church architecture in Ireland in the period between 1789 and 1915. The book considers three main areas: the perception of Gothic architecture; the development of a tradition of scholarship on Irish Gothic; and the actual changes wrought to the fabric of the buildings, as well as the social and legal framework for those changes. Shifting the focus from high-status monuments, such as the medieval cathedrals of Dublin, the book considers the treatment of smaller medieval buildings. These include the ruined monastic buildings and cathedral buildings outside of Dublin, but also smaller parish churches that were being restored for reuse as places of worship, such as those at Adare, County Limerick and at Ballintober, County Mayo. It examines the increasingly political interpretation of these monuments throughout the 19th century and the role of these buildings as sites of memory within devotional landscapes. The evolving professionalization of architectural restoration in this period is also charted, and is considered within the developing legal framework for the protection of what was seen as ancient and national heritage. [Subject: History, Medieval Studies, Irish Studies, Architecture, Religious Studies]

Thomas Wentworth landed in Ireland in 1633 - almost 100 years after Henry VIII had begun his break with Rome. The majority of the people were still Catholic. William Laud had just been elevated to Canterbury. A Yorkshire cleric, John Bramhall, followed the new viceroy and became, in less than one year, Bishop of Derry. This 2007 study, which is centred on Bramhall, examines how these three men embarked on a policy for the established Church which represented not only a break with a century of reforming tradition but which also sought to make the tiny Irish Church a model for the other Stuart kingdoms. Dr McCafferty shows how accompanying canonical changes were explicitly implemented for notice and eventual adoption in England and Scotland. However within eight years the experiment was blown apart and reconstruction denounced as subversive. Wentworth, Laud and Bramhall faced consequent disgrace, trial, death or exile.