Patrick Comerford
Two of us were visiting Croom in east Limerick earlier this week, enjoying the colourful streets and shopfronts, strolling along the banks of the River Maigue, wondering at the ruins of Croom Castle, and visiting the two parish churches: Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland parish church, which stand across the street from each another above the west bank of the river and below the walls of the castle.
The Church of Ireland parish church stands beside Croom House and is on the site of an early mediaeval church, although nothing remains of the older, original church.
The list of priests who have been rectors and vicars of Croom dates back to the early 14th century, when John de Shortmad is referred to as ‘late Vicar of Cromou.’ His successor was known simply as Sir Simon, while in 1376 John Route was referred to as the ‘Parson of Cromit.’
The poet Daibhi O Bruadair, who was living at Springfield Castle In the late 17th century, praised the quality of the beer produced by the Rector of Croom, Canon John Lillys. The Parish of Croom was united with the neighbouring parish of Adare in 1687, when Canon Edward Ingram succeeded Lillys as Rector and Vicar of Croom and Vicar of Adare.
His successor, Canon Stackpole Pery, was the father of both Edmund Sexton Pery, Viscount Pery, and William Cecil Pery, Bishop of Limerick and ancestor of the Earls of Limerick.
For over a century, the Croker family of Croom Castle provided the rectors and vicars in the parishes of Adare and Croom from the mid-18th until the second half of the 19th century: the Revd Richard Croker (1756-1823) was Rector and Vicar of Croom and Adare (1784-1823), the Revd Edward Croker (1787-1863) was Vicar of Croom (1823-1863) and Vicar of Adare (1824-1828), and the Revd Thomas Croker (1800-1872) was Vicar of Adare (1828-1872).
Thomas Bunbury (1829-1907), who was Rector of Croom in 1863-1872, later became Dean of Limerick (1872-1899) and then Bishop of Limerick (1899-1907).
The present church was probably built ca 1780 with a grant from the Board of First Fruits, and in the 1830s the Ecclesiastical Commissioners granted £151 for the repair of the church. Samuel Lewis wrote in 1837 wrote that ‘The church stands on the western bank of the river Maigue, and is a small neat edifice, in the early English style of architecture, with a square tower: it appears to have been erected on the site of a larger building.’
The church has a three-bay nave, slightly recessed single-bay chancel added in 1868 by the Gothic Revival church architect James Edward Rogers (1838-1896), single-bay vestry at the north-east and a three-stage square-plan tower at the west end, with crenelations.
Many details of this church are of artistic merit, including carved stone details such as the label mouldings, copings and limestone door surrounds.
The nave has pointed arch windows with Y-traceried stained-glass windows, the chancel has a pointed arch window with a Y-traceried stained-glass window, and the vestry has a pointed arch window with limestone surrounds. However, I was unable to gain access this week to see these stained-glass windows dating from 1913-1914 and by Ethel Rhind of An Túr Gloine.
The tower has a timber battened door on the south side with a pointed arch, chamfered limestone surround and carved hood-moulding and door. At the second stage, the tower has blind quatrefoil motifs with limestone surrounds, and at the third stage has timber louvered vents.
The architect James Edward Rogers, who added the chancel and vestry, was born in Dublin in 1838, went to school at Guildford Grammar School, and matriculated at Trinity College Dublin in 1855. He then became a pupil of Benjamin Woodward while Woodward was working on the Oxford Museum.
Rogers became a companion of William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who were decorating Woodward’s debating hall at the Oxford Union with scenes from Arthurian legends, and they went ‘hunting in the parish churches on Sunday evenings to find a Guinevere.’
When Woodward was dying from tuberculosis and spending the winter of 1859-1860 in Madeira, Rogers visited him in Algiers or the South of France. JP Mahaffy later described Rogers as ‘Woodward’s favourite pupil.’
Woodward died in May 1861, and Rogers graduated BA from Trinity the following winter. Rogers soon set up his own practice, working from his father’s address at 20 Upper Mount Street, but later worked from 205 Great Brunswick Street and at 179 Great Brunswick Street, working closely with William Stirling and James Franklin Fuller.
Most of his work was with the Church of Ireland, and he was architect to the Diocese of Meath until disestablishment in 1869.
Other works by Rogers include a window for Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford (1864); the Carmichael School of Medicine in North Brunswick Street, Dublin (1864); Saint Mary’s Church, Howth (1864-1866); Saint Patrick’s Church, Monaghan (1865); Saint Paul’s Church, Kilfergus (Glin), Co Limerick (1865-1870); Kenure Church and Rectory, Rush, Co Dublin (1866-1867); Holmpatrick Church, Skerries, Co Dublin (1868); the Caledonian Insurance offices at 31 Dame Street, Dublin (1868-1870), which shows strong influences of John Ruskin; and Saint Bartholomew’s Vicarage, Ballsbridge (1872-1873). He also enlarged Saint John’s Church, Listowel, Co Kerry.
Rogers was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (1864), a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1874), proposed by James Franklin Fuller, James Joseph McCarthy and Thomas Newenham Deane, and an Associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy (1871).
Rogers moved to London in 1876, resigned from practising as an architect in England, but continued to exhibit his paintings at the Royal Hibernian Academy. He illustrated the Revd Sabine Baring-Gould’s Troubadour-Land: A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc (1891). He died in London in 1896.
The churchyard in Croom has ornate gravestones and vaults, including those of the Croker and Dickson families of Croom Castle, and the Lyons family of Croom House. But the most visited grave is that of the Maigue poet, Sean O Tuama.
Croom was united with Bruff in 1922, with Kilpeacon in 1952, and with Adare in 1958, and the Adare Union was united with Kilmallock when Archdeacon Brian Snow retired in 1995.
The last rector to live in the old rectory in Croom, Canon Frederick Knowles (1907-1980), was Rector of Croom in 1937-1952. His son, the Very Revd Philip Knowles, was Dean of Cashel.
Today, Croom is one of the four churches in the Adare Group, which includes Adare (Saint Nicholas), Croom, Kilmallock (Saint Peter and Saint Paul) and Kilpeacon (Saint Beacon, Crecora). The rector is Canon Elizabeth (Liz) Beasley.
No comments:
Post a Comment