2014 Dublin: Christ Church Cathedral #10
St Mary
Christ Church Cathedral (or more formally, The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity) is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the Ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the Church of Ireland.
It is situated in Dublin, Ireland and is the elder of the capital city's two mediæval cathedrals, the other being St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Christ Church is officially claimed as the seat (cathedra) of both the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic archbishops of Dublin. In practice, it has been the cathedral of only the Church of Ireland's Archbishop of Dublin, since the English Reformation. Though nominally claimed as his cathedral, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin uses St Mary's in Malborough Street in Dublin, as his pro-cathedral (acting cathedral).
Christ Church Cathedral is located in the former heart of medieval Dublin, next to Wood Quay, at the end of Lord Edward Street. However a major dual carriage-way building scheme around it separated it from the original medieval street pattern which once surrounded it, with its original architectural context (at the centre of a maze of small buildings and streets) lost due to road-building and the demolition of the older residential quarter at Wood Quay. As a result the cathedral now appears dominant in isolation behind new civil offices along the quays, out of its original medieval context.
The cathedral was founded probably sometime after 1028 when King Sitric Silkenbeard, the Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin made a pilgrimage to Rome. The first bishop of this new Dublin diocese was Dúnán or Donat, and the diocese was at that time a small island of land surrounded by the much larger Diocese of Glendalough, and was for a time answerable to Canterbury rather than to the Irish Church hierarchy. The church was built on the high ground overlooking the Viking settlement at Wood Quay.
The cathedral was originally staffed by secular clergy. The second Bishop of Dublin introduced the Benedictines. In 1163, Christ Church was converted to a Priory of the Regular Order of Arrosian Canons (Reformed Augustinian Rule) by the second Archbishop of Dublin, later Saint, Laurence O'Toole, who adhered to the rule himself; it was subsequently headed by an Augustinian Prior, who ranked as the second ecclesiastical figure of the diocese, and not a Dean, until re-establishment in 1541. This priory, the Priory of the Holy Trinity, became the wealthiest religious house in Ireland, holding over 10,000 acres (40 km2) of property in County Dublin alone, most notable of which were the three home farms held at Grangegorman, Glasnevin and Clonken or Clonkene, now known as Deansgrange.
Henry II attended the Christmas service at the cathedral in 1171. This was supposedly the first time Henry took Holy Communion since the murder of Thomas Beckett by Henry's knights in Canterbury.
in the 1180s, Strongbow and other Norman magnates helped to fund a complete rebuilding of Christ Church, initially a wooden building, in stone, comprising the construction of a choir, choir aisles and transepts, the crypt, and chapels to St. Edmund and St. Mary and St. Lô.
A chapel to St. Laurence O'Toole was added in the 13th century and much of the extant nave was built in the 1230s. Its design was inspired by the Architecture of the English western school of Gothic, and its wrought stones- of a Somersetshire oolite- were sculpted and laid by craftsmen from the same area.
By 1358, the nave of the cathedral was partly in use for secular purposes, and a "long quire" was added, extending the old choir area by around 10 metres.
In 1493, the Choir School was founded.
Queen Mary I of England, and later James I of England, increased Christ Church's endowment. Meanwhile, in 1551, divine service was sung for the first time in Ireland in English instead of Latin. In 1560, the Bible was first read in English.
The cathedral was extensively renovated and rebuilt from 1871 to 1878 by George Edmund Street, with the sponsorship of distiller Henry Roe of Mount Anville.
At the west end of the cathedral is a fully-integrated stone bridge, leading to the former Synod Hall. This Synod Hall, which incorporates the old St Michael's tower, was formerly used for hosting General Synods, and Diocesan Synods for Dublin, Glendalough and Kildare.
It is now home to the Dublinia exhibition about medieval Dublin.
2014 Dublin: Christ Church Cathedral #10
St Mary
Christ Church Cathedral (or more formally, The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity) is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the Ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the Church of Ireland.
It is situated in Dublin, Ireland and is the elder of the capital city's two mediæval cathedrals, the other being St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Christ Church is officially claimed as the seat (cathedra) of both the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic archbishops of Dublin. In practice, it has been the cathedral of only the Church of Ireland's Archbishop of Dublin, since the English Reformation. Though nominally claimed as his cathedral, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin uses St Mary's in Malborough Street in Dublin, as his pro-cathedral (acting cathedral).
Christ Church Cathedral is located in the former heart of medieval Dublin, next to Wood Quay, at the end of Lord Edward Street. However a major dual carriage-way building scheme around it separated it from the original medieval street pattern which once surrounded it, with its original architectural context (at the centre of a maze of small buildings and streets) lost due to road-building and the demolition of the older residential quarter at Wood Quay. As a result the cathedral now appears dominant in isolation behind new civil offices along the quays, out of its original medieval context.
The cathedral was founded probably sometime after 1028 when King Sitric Silkenbeard, the Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin made a pilgrimage to Rome. The first bishop of this new Dublin diocese was Dúnán or Donat, and the diocese was at that time a small island of land surrounded by the much larger Diocese of Glendalough, and was for a time answerable to Canterbury rather than to the Irish Church hierarchy. The church was built on the high ground overlooking the Viking settlement at Wood Quay.
The cathedral was originally staffed by secular clergy. The second Bishop of Dublin introduced the Benedictines. In 1163, Christ Church was converted to a Priory of the Regular Order of Arrosian Canons (Reformed Augustinian Rule) by the second Archbishop of Dublin, later Saint, Laurence O'Toole, who adhered to the rule himself; it was subsequently headed by an Augustinian Prior, who ranked as the second ecclesiastical figure of the diocese, and not a Dean, until re-establishment in 1541. This priory, the Priory of the Holy Trinity, became the wealthiest religious house in Ireland, holding over 10,000 acres (40 km2) of property in County Dublin alone, most notable of which were the three home farms held at Grangegorman, Glasnevin and Clonken or Clonkene, now known as Deansgrange.
Henry II attended the Christmas service at the cathedral in 1171. This was supposedly the first time Henry took Holy Communion since the murder of Thomas Beckett by Henry's knights in Canterbury.
in the 1180s, Strongbow and other Norman magnates helped to fund a complete rebuilding of Christ Church, initially a wooden building, in stone, comprising the construction of a choir, choir aisles and transepts, the crypt, and chapels to St. Edmund and St. Mary and St. Lô.
A chapel to St. Laurence O'Toole was added in the 13th century and much of the extant nave was built in the 1230s. Its design was inspired by the Architecture of the English western school of Gothic, and its wrought stones- of a Somersetshire oolite- were sculpted and laid by craftsmen from the same area.
By 1358, the nave of the cathedral was partly in use for secular purposes, and a "long quire" was added, extending the old choir area by around 10 metres.
In 1493, the Choir School was founded.
Queen Mary I of England, and later James I of England, increased Christ Church's endowment. Meanwhile, in 1551, divine service was sung for the first time in Ireland in English instead of Latin. In 1560, the Bible was first read in English.
The cathedral was extensively renovated and rebuilt from 1871 to 1878 by George Edmund Street, with the sponsorship of distiller Henry Roe of Mount Anville.
At the west end of the cathedral is a fully-integrated stone bridge, leading to the former Synod Hall. This Synod Hall, which incorporates the old St Michael's tower, was formerly used for hosting General Synods, and Diocesan Synods for Dublin, Glendalough and Kildare.
It is now home to the Dublinia exhibition about medieval Dublin.