In association with the recently published history of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Four Courts Press has been producing a series of supplementary volumes intended to make available in a fuller form some of the important source material used in the history. The seventh, and penultimate, volume in this series is now available.
George Edmund Street and the Restoration of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin contains a number of essential texts relating to the extensive restoration of the cathedral in the 1870s: reports by the architect, George Edmund Street, on the works he proposed to undertake; extracts form the Irish Builder on the progress of the work; correspondence concerning the treatment of memorials and comments on the stained glass. The largest section is a reprint of Street's account of the cathedral's architecture which was published in 1882.
The volume is enlivened by black-and-white plates and illustrations: views of the cathedral as a whole, and parts of its interior; pictures of furnishings, tiles and windows; details of mouldings, capitals and carvings. These, with the text, give the reader a clear sense of how the building which is such a familiar part of the Dublin streetscape came to be.
The book was edited by Mr Roger Stalley, Professor of History of Art in Trinity College Dublin, who has also written a general introduction. Prof Stalley, who wrote the architectural chapters in the Christ Church history, is the leading authority on the architectural history of the cathedral. The book is £30.
This afternoon at Thonlagee, near Brittas Bay, the Dunganstown Redcross and Conary union of parishes will hold a fete.
Tomorrow RTE will broadcast parish communion from St Patrick's Church, Greystones, where the rector is the Archdeacon of Glendalough, the Ven Edgar Swan. In Dublin the services in Christ Church Cathedral will be sung by the choir of St George's Church, Belfast, while in St Patrick's Cathedral, the visiting choir will be the St Edmundsbury Singers, the ladies' choir of St Edmundsbury Cathedral.
The choir of St Andrew's Church, Malahide, directed by Mr Rodney Baldwin, will be in Wales, where they will sing the services in St Deniol's Cathedral, Bangor.
Their repertoire will include the first performance of the Slane Eucharist, composed earlier this year by Mr Andrew Johnstone, assistant organist in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and dedicated to the Malahide choir.
On Monday an international conference of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary begins in Oriel College, Oxford. The Bishop of Meath and Kildare, Dr Richard Clarke, will speak on "The Blessed Virgin Mary, bearer of God, and the politics of Ireland". Evensong in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, on Tuesday will be sung by the Cadence and Continuo, a group of singers from southern England. On Thursday evening the final recital in the 20th Festival of Classical Music in St Barrahane's Church, Castletownshend, Co Cork, will be given by Mr John Gibson (piano) and Mr Johnny McCarthy (flute and fiddle).
The Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, Dr Richard Henderson, has appointed the Rev Aean Ferguson, vicar of Killala, Co Mayo, as rector of Enniscrone, Co Sligo.