Cork Churches

The parish of St. Finbarr is a rectory, appropriate to the dean and chapter and vicars choral. The tithes under the composition act amount to £990 per annum, of which £690 constitute the greater portion of the economy fund of the cathedral under the control and management of the dean and chapter, and £300 are payable to the vicars choral: a residentiary preacher with a stipend of £100, of which £50 is from the economy fund, and £50 from the respective members for discharging their turns of preaching; a reader, with a stipend of £75 paid by the vicars choral out of their estates, and a curate, who also acts as librarian, with a fixed stipend of £21 from the economy fund, are appointed for the ordinary performance of the ecclesiastical duties.

The parish church, which is also the cathedral of the see of Cork, and is dedicated to the saint whose name it bears, was rebuilt between the years 1725 and 1735, and for defraying the expense a duty of 1s. per ton was imposed by act on all coal and culm imported into Cork for five years, from May 1st, 1736: it was newly roofed in 1817 at an expense of £617 from the economy fund. The new structure is of the Doric order, except the tower, supposed to be part of the ancient building, erected by Gilla-Aeda O'Mugin, in the 12th century, and is surmounted by a lofty octangular spire of hewn stone under which is the principal entrance; on the south is the chapter hall, where the consistorial court is held, on the north the vestry room; the choir is lighted by a fine Venetian window; the bishop's throne, of black Irish oak, and the prebendal stalls, are handsomely finished, and well arranged: a beautiful monument of white marble, erected to the memory of Chief Baron Tracton, whose body is interred in the cathedral, has been recently transferred from St. Nicholas' church to a conspicuous position in it.

Near the cathedral is the bishop's palace, built between 1772 and 1789, during the prelacy of Dr. Mann, a large and well-constructed edifice, on the southern bank of the river Lee, surrounded by pleasure grounds and gardens, and containing some fine paintings, among which is a portrait of Dr. Lyons, concerning whose preferment to the see a traditionary story, but wholly unsupported by documentary evidence, relates, that having received a promise from Queen Elizabeth to be promoted to the first vacancy in her gift, in consequence of his gallant conduct as captain of a ship in several actions with the Spaniards, he applied for the bishoprick of Cork on the death of the bishop, and notwithstanding the objections made in consequence of his former profession, by urging his reliance on the royal promise, he was appointed to the see.

On the south side of the cathedral is Dean's Court, a good modern house, the residence of the Dean. A chapel of ease to this parish has been erected at Blackrock, for the description of which, see Blackrock. The living of the parish of Christ-Church is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Bishop; the rectory constitutes the corps of the prebend of the same name in the cathedral church, and is in the gift of the Crown: the prebendary derives his income from lands at Blackrock, averaging in rent and renewal fines, £396. 18. 5 ¾ per annum; the endowment of the vicarage, arising solely from houses assessed to minister's money, amounts to about £650 per annum: it has neither glebe nor glebe-house.

The old church was taken down in 1716, and rebuilt in 1720 by a tax of 1s. per ton on coal imported for 15 years: the steeple having afterwards sunk on one side so as to swerve 3 ½ feet from the perpendicular, though without any fissures, thus presenting a very singular appearance, was lowered to the level of the roof and ultimately wholly removed, and the church rebuilt by the Messrs. Pain. The new structure is 97 feet by 57, its richly panelled ceiling rests on ranges of Ionic pillars of scagliola continued across the eastern end; along the northern and southern walls are galleries supported by Doric pilasters. Several of the lower columns, with parts of the floor, having been destroyed by the dry rot, Richard Beamish, Esq., civil engineer, in 1831, replaced the whole lower range of columns with pillars of cast iron without the smallest derangement of the upper columns, thus effectually securing the stability of the entire edifice. Several gravestones, some of the 16th century, and bearing emblematic devices, were discovered during the progress of the alterations.

The living of St.Peter's is a rectory, united from time immemorial with the entire rectories of Nohoval, Kilmonogue, Dunbullogue, and Dunisky, together constituting the union and corps of the archdeaconry, in the patronage of the Bishop. The archdeacon's gross income is about £1000, arising from minister's money assessed on St. Peter's parish, from the tithes of the four rural parishes, and from reserved rents of houses, out of which he pays a perpetual and four stipendiary curates. The church, one of the most ancient in the city, formerly had as a steeple a tower detached from it considerably to the west, which once defended the city wall; its site is now occupied by an alms-house: the altar is ornamented with fluted Corinthian pilasters, and on its south side was a monument to the memory of Sir Matthew Deane and his lady, of the date of 1710, now removed to the further end of the church.

The living of St. Mary's Shandon is a rectory and vicarage, with the rectory of St. Catharine, near Shandon, which has merged into it, united from time immemorial, and in the alternate patronage of the Duke of Leinster, and the Rev. Robert Longfield. There is neither glebe nor glebe-house: the tithes amount to £25, under the composition act, and the minister's money to £40 per ann., in addition to which the rector receives a rental of £95. 10. 9., from 7 houses in Shandon-street. This income is charged with the stipend of £75 per annum to a licensed curate. The church of the ancient parish of Shandon, which comprised the present parishes of St. Mary, St. Anne, and St. Paul, occupied the site of St. Anne's church, and from its proximity to Shandon castle, was several times damaged by contending factions and ultimately destroyed by the Irish about 1690: the present church, a neat edifice, was built in 1696, on a new site, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £198. 19. 4. for its repairs.

St. Anne's Shandon is a rectory, in the alternate patronage of the Duke of Leinster, and the Rev. Robert Longfield. It has neither glebe nor glebe-house. The tithes under the composition act amount to £240. 3. 5 ½., and the minister's money is about £370 per annum. The church, a large and handsome edifice, with a tower of several stories, 120 feet high, was built by subscription in 1772, on the site of the old church of Shandon, and being erected on an eminence, is prominently conspicuous from most parts of the city: the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have granted £259. 9. 10. for its repairs. A chapel of ease to this parish was erected in 1836, near the Brickfields, in the later English style of architecture, from a design of Messrs. Pain, with a western tower surmounted by a light and elegant spire and two lofty pinnacles at the east end; capacious school-rooms have been formed below the level of the floor at the same end where the ground declines rapidly; the late Board of First Fruits granted £1000, and an equal sum was raised by subscription for the erection of this building.

The living of St. Paul's is a rectory, in the alternate patronage of the Duke of Leinster, and the Rev. Robert Longfield. The parish was formed, in 1726, out of the districts of the East Marsh, in the parish of St. Mary Shandon, and Dunscombe's Marsh, in that of Christ-Church: the income, amounting to about £200 per ann., is derived solely from assessments of minister's money: there is neither glebe nor glebe-house. The church is a neat edifice in the Grecian style, built by subscription on the formation of the parish, and on ground granted by the corporation.

The living of St. Nicholas' is a rectory, united by act of council in 1752 with those of St. Bridget, St. John of Jerusalem, St. Stephen, St. Mary de Narde, St. Dominic, and St. Magdalene, which together constitute the corps of the chancellorship, in the patronage of the Bishop. The income of the union is £293. 18. 0., arising from houses assessed to minister's money, the tithes of St. Magdalene amounting to £21, the tithes of St. Nicholas and houses producing £5. 18. 0. per ann. The church, formerly a chapel of ease to St. Finbarr's, was built in 1723 by contributions from Bishop Browne and others, and is a small neat edifice, situate in the southern part of the city. A free church, near the South Infirmary, is now nearly completed, and above St. Patrick's bridge the hulk of an old vessel forms the Bethel or Mariner's church. The church of St. Brandon, which was situate on the north side of the river, on the road to Youghal, has been entirely destroyed, but the cemetery is still in use.