Marking the anniversaries of James Comerford (1775-1825) from Bunclody, a witness to the events in the 1798 Rising

James Comerford (1775-1825) … believed to be a miniature portrait by John Comerford of my great-great-grandfather (Comerford Family Collection)

Patrick Comerford

I have been writing in recent weeks and months about key anniversaries this year in the history of the Comerford and Comberford families, including the tercentenary of the Comberford plaque, erected by Joseph Comerford in Saint Editha’s Church (1 April 2025); the tercentenary of the formal issuing in Spain of the death certificate of Major-General John Comerford on 18 May 1725; and the possible anniversary of Nicholas Comberford's map that named the Bay or Mexico or Gulf of Mexico in the mid-17th century.

I should also have noted that this year marks the 200th anniversary of the death in 1825 and the 250th anniversary of the birth in 1775 of my great-great-grandfather, James Comerford (1775-1825), of Ballyminane, Newtownbarry (Bunclody), Co Wexford.

When I was growing up, two aunts who lived in my grandmother’s house in Terenure reminded me on many occasions that I would grow up being able to say my grandfather could say his grandfather witnessed the events in 1798 in the Killanne and Bunclody areas of north-west Co Wexford.

They said he had seen the executions on Wexford Bridge, and had subsequently hidden by the banks of the Slaney near Bunclody to save his own life before the Rising came to end. When I was in my early 40s, I was presented with a hollowed walking stick with a blade that was said to be his during that eventful and revolutionary era.

I was told too that his portrait had been painted by the Kilkenny-born miniaturist John Comerford, who had also painted James’s uncle and aunt, James Comerford (1720-1809) and Anne (Langton) Comerford when he was their guest at the Butterslip in Kilkenny. However, many of the stories I was told about James, although part of oral tradition in the family, were without documentary support or evidence that could be verified in primary sources.

James Comerford, my grandfather’s grandfather, was born ca 1775, a son of Edmond Comerford (1722-1788), who in turn was a son of William Comerford of Langton House, The Butterslip, Kilkenny. Edmund may have moved to the Newtownbarry (Bunclody) area in north Co Wexford through connections with his aunt, Margaret O’Neal (ca 1705-1763), and other members of the Comerford family living in the area.

James Comerford, my grandfather’s grandfather, may have been named after Edmond Comerford’s brother, James Comerford of the Butterslip, Kilkenny.

By the 1790s, James Comerford was employed by Thomas Bates of Lermount or Lyrmount House, at Askinvillar, near Killanne, Co Wexford. James knew many of the local people in the Killanne and Kiltealy who were active in the 1798 Rising.

After the 1798 Rising, as James Cummerford, he was called as a witness in the trial of three rebels from the Killanne and Kiltealy area in Newtownbarry (Bunclody) on 5 November 1798. The evidence at the court martial stated that James knew the prisoners and had frequently seen them associating with the rebels, armed with firearms.

James Comerford, whose portrait was painted by the Kilkenny-born miniaturist John Comerford around 1808 [see Comerford Profiles 13: John Comerford (1770-1832), artist],was 50 when died on 6 November 1825. He is buried in the Church of Ireland churchyard at Saint Colman’s Church, Templeshanbo, Co Wexford with his father Edmond, his son Richard and his brother Thomas.

The grave of James Comerford (1775-1825) in Templeshanbo, where he is buried with his father, Edmond Comerford, and his son Richard Comerford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

James Comerford was the father of:

1, Richard Comerford (ca 1796-1848), of Newtownbarry.
2, Robert Comerford (ca 1806-1864), of Wexford and Newtownbarry.
3, Michael Comerford (ca 1808-1868), of Ryland Lower, Newtownbarry, who is buried in Saint Colman’s Church of Ireland churchyard, Templeshanbo.
4, James Comerford (ca 1817-1902), of Wexford and Dublin, my great-grandfather.
5, Catherine, who married Philip Murphy of Mullawn, Kiltealy. In 1868, she erected a gravestone in Templeshanbo for her brother Michael and her uncle Thomas Comerford.
6?, Ellen, who married Michael Rowe in Saint Aidan’s, Enniscorthy on 24 September 1847. They first lived in Enniscorthy and later in Newtownbarry.

The brothers Richard, Robert and later James Comerford, my great-grandfather, worked throughout Co Wexford on the Gothic Revival churches built in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s by the Wexford-born architect Richard Pierce and the English architect, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. These churches included Saint Aidan’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy, Saint Peter’s College, Wexford, and Wexford’s twin churches in Rowe Street and Bride Street.

My great-great grandfather James Comerford was a first cousin and a contemporary of James Comerford (ca 1788/1789-1859) of Clohamon and Newtownbarry (Bunclody), Co Wexford, and Brown Street, Carlow. He was born ca 1788, the first son of John Comerford (1760-1823) of Clonmullen and Newtownbarry.

This James Comerford moved to Carlow, where he was a pawnbroker at 11 Brown Street, Carlow, in 1842. He also owned property close to the Methodist Church in Charlotte Street, Carlow. He died in Carlow on 2 November 1859, and was buried beside his son John J Comerford (1827-1854) at Saint Aidan’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy.

Another son, the Right Revd Michael Comerford (1831-1895), was Coadjutor Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. An archaeologist and historian of repute, he was a co-founder of the Ossory Archaeological Society and author of the definitive history of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

This James Comerford had another interesting link with the 1798 Rising: his eldest sister Eleanor (1783-1841) married James Whitty (1775-1863) of Tomgarrow, a first cousin of the rebel priest Father John Murphy of Boolavogue (1753-1798).

Kyle Glebe in Oulart Village … James Comerford was killed here on 27 May 1798; his widow Elizabeth and their children were then taken to Castle Annesley and on to Wexford Town (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

These two James Comerfords, first cousins, were namesakes and contemporaries of James Comerford (ca 1763-1798), one of the first people killed during the 1798 Rising in Co Wexford. This James Comerford was one of the four Protestants killed in the attack on Kyle Glebe in Oulart Village, along with Samuel Judd, Thomas Earl and Joseph Aston after the Rector of Kilmuckridge, the Revd Robert Burrowes, was murdered in front of the house prior to the Battle of Oulart Hill on Sunday 27 May 1798.

In his narrative of the 1798 Rising in Co Wexford, Sir Richard Musgrave indicates that James Comerford was a parishioner of Robert Burrowes, although the local historian, Brian Cleary from Oulart, states he was also a Yeoman.

James Comerford’s widow Elizabeth and their five children, who were at Kyle Glebe that morning, survived those horrifying events. They were probably taken with the Burrowes family to Castle Annesley, the home of the Clifford family in Kilmuckridge – Sally Clifford was a niece of Robert Burrowes.

From Castle Annesley in Kilmuckridge, it appears, the Comerford and Burrowes family were taken to Wexford town.

The ruins of Castle Annesley, behind a farmyard between Kilmuckridge and Castle Annesley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Colman’s Church, Kilcolman: a 20th century church with an earlier story

Saint Colman’s Church, Kilcolman, Co Limerick … built in 1913 on the site of an earlier chapel built in 1827 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Kilcolman is a small village in west Limerick, just off the R521, between Ardagh and Shanagolden. The name of Kilcolman is from Cill Cholmáin, ‘the church of Saint Colman,’ and the Catholic parish church, like the ruined mediaeval church on the opposite side of the street, is dedicated to Saint Colman of Templeshambo, Co Wexford.

Father Darby Egan built the first church on this site in Kilcolman as a chapel of ease in 1827. It was built on land donated to the parish by the local landlord, John FitzGibbon (1792-1851), 2nd Earl of Clare, who also donated £50 towards the building costs. Lord Clare also leased land in the townland of Knockboheen in the late 1830s for building a schoolhouse.

Lord Clare lived apart from his wife, the former Elizabeth Burrell, who lived on the Isle of Wight. Yet, it is interesting to note, that Lady Clare built a Catholic church at Ryde and a Priory at Carisbrooke. Lord Clare became Governor of Bombay later that year, and when he returned to Ireland, he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Co Limerick and Lord Lieutenant of Limerick.

Inside Saint Colman’s Church, designed by Brian Sheehy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The old chapel was demolished in 1911-1912, the site was lowered from its original elevation and a new church was built in Kilcolman while Father Jeremiah Murphy (1860-1936), originally from Dromcollogher, was the Parish Priest.

Bishop Edward O’Dwyer (1842-1917) of Limerick laid the foundation stone on 10 August 1913. The inscription on the foundation stone names Brian Sheehy as the architect and John Ryan & Sons as the builders.

Brian Sheehy (1870-1930) practised as an engineer and architect from 57 O’Connell Street (formerly George’s Street), Limerick. His other works in this area include the Parochial House, Askeaton (1911), also built by John Ryan.

Inside Saint Colman’s Church, facing towards the gallery and the liturgical west end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

This is a cruciform, gable-fronted Gothic Revival church, built on a north-south axis instead of the traditional east-west liturgical axis. All the material for the church was brought by train to Ardagh and then transported to Kilcolman by horse and cart.

There are examples of fine craftsmanship in the details both outside and inside the church. The outside walls are enlivened by the rich textural effects of the rusticated concrete, which is an early example of the use of this material.

The walls were built with rock-faced cavity blocks. Each block was carefully handcrafted on the site by Mike Somers from Carrons. The blocks were made by placing a mould around them to give a rough textured design. The sand for these blocks came from Peter Culhane’s quarry.

The marble reredos above the original High Altar has been retained(Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The church has a four-bay nave, with the chancel at the north end, two-bay single-storey extensions at the east and west sides, a lean-to at the north side and a cut limestone open work bellcote above the south front with a cast-iron cross finial. The rusticated concrete walls have buttresses at the nave and the south sides.

Inside, there are Y-tracery stained glass windows and quarry glazed coloured glass windows, a timber scissors truss ceiling, concrete corbels, a timber porch, timber panelled double-leaf doors. The wood was hand cut on the site by Jack Bresnihan and the Sheahan brothers from Foynes.

The marble reredos above the original High Altar has been retained despite recent renovations in line with Vatican II changes. The three-light stained-glass window above the main altar was given by the women of parish. The window depicts (from left to right) Saint Joseph, Christ as the Sacred Heart and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The wooden altar from the early 19th century church, once kept in the sacristy, was reinstated in the chancel when the church was celebrating its centenary in 2013.

The octagonal baptismal font, with an unusual interior double segmentation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The octagonal baptismal font, with an unusual interior double segmentation, is said to have come from the 1827 chapel of ease.

The limestone font inserted in the south-east interior wall dates from 1746. This is said in some accounts to have come from the mediaeval church across the road, but other accounts say it is the baptismal font from Dunmoylan Church. It is inscribed with the name Maurice Rahilly, perhaps Murtough Rahelly or Maurice Rahilly who was parish priest of Coolcappa and Kilcolman between 1704 and 1737.

A cast-iron spiral staircase beside the porch leads to the gallery above.

A cast-iron spiral staircase leads to the gallery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Two stained glass windows in the gallery above the porch at the south or liturgical west end of the church are by Franz Mayer and Company. They are in memory of a local teacher, George McNamara and depict Saint Colman and Saint Ita, both carrying episcopal or abbatial crosiers.

Saint Colman of Templeshambo is the patron saint who gives his name to the parish; Father Jeremiah Murphy, who inspired the building of this church, had revived the annual on 15 January pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Ita while he was parish priest of Killeedy and built a shrine on the site of her monastery.

The priests buried in the church grounds include: John K Fitzgerald (1912), John Casey (1966), William O’Connell (1971) and Michael Kelly (1988). Father Darby Egan, who built the first chapel of ease in Kilcolman in 1827, is buried in the church at Coolcappa.

The limestone font dating from 1746 is said to be the baptismal font from Dunmoylan Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Prominent clergy from this parish include Denis Hallinan (1849-1923), Bishop of Limerick (1918-1923), who was originally from the townland of Graigue and went to school in Kilcolman. He trained for the priesthood at the Irish College in Rome and was ordained in 1874.

His first appointment was as a curate in Newcastlewest until 1886, when he was transferred to Saint Michael’s Church, Denmark Street. He went to Saint Mary’s in 1896, and returned to Newcastlewest as parish priest in 1898. He was appointed Bishop of Limerick in 1918.

As Bishop of Limerick, he dedicated the windows depicting Saint Colman and Saint Ita. When he died in 1923, two of his chalices were given as gifts to the parish of Coolcappa and Kilcolman and are still in use today.

The two stained glass windows by Mayer in the gallery depict Saint Colman and Saint Ita, both carrying episcopal or abbatial crosiers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Finding one Saint Colman after another, and then a third Saint Colman

Saint Colman of Cloyne depicted in a window in Saint Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Today (24 November) is the feast of Saint Colman of Cloyne, who gives his name to both Saint Colman’s Cathedral in Cloyne in the Church of Ireland, and Saint Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh in the Roman Catholic Church.

But when I was visiting Saint Colman’s Church and monastic site in Kilcolman, west Limerick, I was told that the Saint Colman honoured there is Saint Colman who is associated with Templeshambo, Co Wexford, and whose feastday is on 27 October.

Indeed, there is at least one more Saint Colman among Irish monastic saints, Saint Colman Mac Duagh, who is associated with Kilmacduagh, Co Clare, a diocese that is incorporated along with Kilfenora, into the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe in the Church of Ireland and, along with Kilefenora into the Diocese of Galway in the Roman Catholic Church.

Saint Colman of Cloyne (left) among the saints in a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Buttevant, Co Cork … the window is the work Franz Mayer & Co in 1886 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Saint Colmán of Cloyne (530-606), also known as Colmán mac Léníne, was a monk, founder and patron of Cluain Uama, now Cloyne, Co Cork, and one of the earliest-known Irish poets to write in the vernacular.

Irish genealogies generally agree that this Saint Colmán was the son of Lénín, and descended from the Rothrige, a people who lived in the Déisi or present-day Co Waterford. Irish genealogies also try to associate him with the Éoganachta, the leading ruling dynasty in Munster.

He is said to have been educated as a bard or file, and became attached to the court of Cashel where he remained until he was about 48 years. He and Saint Brendan of Clonfert are said to have settled a dispute in 570 between rival claimants to the throne of Cashel. Aodh Caomh was acknowledged as king, becoming the first Christian king of Cashel, and was enthroned by Saint Brendan.

Saint Brendan then ordained Colmán, giving him his name which is a diminutive of Colm, derived from the Latin columba (dove). According to tradition, Colmán is named as one of the three ‘ex-laymen’ (athláich) of Ireland, along with Énna of Aran and Móchammac of Inis Celtra, suggesting that Colmán was ordained at a later age than was usual at the time.

After some time in Saint Jarlath’s monastery in Tuam, Co Galway, Colman returned to east Co Cork. He is described as a ‘religious and holy priest, who afterwards became a famous bishop.’

Saint Colmán is remembered as the founder of the monastery at Cloyne (Cluain Uama), Co Cork, on land given not given by the local king, but by the King of Munster. The Prince of the Déise, in Co Waterford, presented his child to Colman for baptism. Colman baptised him the child who became Saint Declan of Ardmore.

Saint Colman is also said to have founded a monastery at what became Killagha Abbey in Co Kerry, and many places in Co Cork and Co Limerick are associated with his name.

Many accounts describe him as the ‘royal poet of Munster,’ and his poems include a metrical panegyric on Saint Brendan. His surviving verses date from the period 565 and 604, and are among the earliest examples of Irish writing in the Latin alphabet.

He died on 24 November, ca 600, and was probably buried in Cloyne.

Saint Colman of Templeshambo depicted in a window in Saint Colman’s Church, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

However, the people of Kilcolman in West Limerick insist that bith the mediaeval church and modern church there take their name from Saint Colman of Templeshambo or Templeshanbo, near Bunclody, Co Wexford.

This saint was from Connacht, the son of Eochaidh Brec, and Fearamhla, but lived and laboured mainly in wat is now Co Wexford. He was a contemporary of Saint Máedóc or Saint Aidan of Ferns, who appointed him Abbot of Templeshambo, originally called ‘Shanbo-Colman’ or Saint Colman’s booth.

There are many legends about Saint Colman and of his holy well with its sacred ducks. He is said to have laboured zealously at the foot of Mount Leinster. He died ca 595 on 27 October, according to the Martyrology of Donegal.

Saint Colman’s Church of Ireland Parish Church in Templeshambo, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The third saint, Saint Colman mac Duagh (ca 560-632), was born at Corker, near Kiltartan, Co Galway, the son of Duac, a local chieftain, and Queen Rhinagh. He initially lived as a recluse, living in prayer and prolonged fastings, first at Saint Enda’s monastery on Inismore on the Aran Islands, then in a cave at the Burren in Co Clare.

With the support of his kinsman, King Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin of Connacht, who lived at Dungaire Castle, Kinvara, he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh, (‘the church of the son of Duac’) in 610, and became its abbot-bishop. His monastery became the centre of the tribal Diocese of Aidhne, practically coextensive with the later Diocese of Kilmacduagh.

Local legend says Saint Colman declared that no person nor animal in the Diocese of Kilmacduagh would ever die of lightning strike. His abbatial crozier was used through the centuries for the swearing of oaths. It was in the custody of the O’Heyne family of Kiltartan and later the O’Shaughnessy family, and is now the National Museum in Dublin.

Other legends tell of Saint Colman and his love for birds and animals, and how he kept a pet rooster to call him in the morning, a pet mouse to call him to prayer in the middle of the night, and a pet fly who served as a bookmark.

When they died, he wrote about his loss to his friend Saint Columba, who replied: ‘You were too rich when you had them. That is why you are sad now. Trouble like that only comes where there are riches. Be rich no more.’

He died on 29 October 632. Although the Martyrology of Donegal assigns his feast to 2 February, tradition in the Diocese of Kilmacduagh pointed to 29 October, and an annual pilgrimage to his hermitage was associated with 21 October.

Saint Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh … he is the patron saint of the Diocese of Cloyne, and his feast day is on 24 November (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Saint Colman’s Church ruins and a mediaeval Augustinian foundation in Kilcolman

Saint Colman’s Church, Kilcolman, Co Limerick, dating from the 13th century and ruins since 1641 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Kilcolman is a small village between Shanagolden and Ardagh, east of the R521, and south-west of Creeves and Askeaton. Some old manuscripts refer to it as ‘Kilcolman Inferior.’

The few buildings in this small villages include Saint Colman’s Church, a small shop that was once a post office, a school, and the ruins of a mediaeval church that is said to have once been served by Augustinian friars.

Saint Colman who gives is name to this village is the same Saint Colman associated with Templeshambo, near Bunclody in Co Wexford.

The church ruins are in Kilcolman graveyard, across the street from the present-day Saint Colman’s Church.

The church is first mentioned in records that say it was repaired in 1253 by the monks and abbots of Athassel Abbey in Co Tipperary.

The church is said to have been served by a house of Augustinian monk or friars, and it said to have been burned beyond repair and destroyed during the wars of 1641.

There is a separate list of Church of Ireland Rectors of Kilcolman after the Restoration, from 1663 until 1844. From 1663 to 1781, the list overlaps with the list of the Rectors of the neighbouring Kilbraderan, but they were probably never resident in parish, nor is it likely that they ever provided Sunday services in the ruined church or the parish, instead using the appointment to collect the tithes and supplement their income.

The last Rector appointed to Kilcolman was the Revd Henry Gubbins (1785-1845) who was the Rector and Vicar of Kilcolman in 1816-1845. At the same time, he was a curate of Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas, Limerick (1809-1836), a vicar choral of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (1829-1845) and Vicar of Clonelty and Cloncagh, Co Limerick (1840-1845).

The Church of Ireland parish was abolished after Gubbins died on 22 August 1845.

John O’Donovan measured the ruins of Saint Colman’s Church in 1840 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Meanwhile, in 1840, John O’Donovan had measured the church as 45 ft long and 18 ft high. He noted that the walls were about 10 ft high and 4 ft thick, of hammered limestone, of regular size and regularly laid in courses, cemented with lime and sand mortar.

A plaque was erected in November 1999 to commemorate the priests and monks who served the area during the years from the early 13th century to 1641.

The grounds of old Kilcolman church are now used as a graveyard and Saint Colman’s Stone in the graveyard is said to cure headaches. Some of the headstones date back to before the 19th century. The oldest legible headstone, dated 1 February 1767, is in memory of Jeremiah Shea.

The graveyard has many Cypress trees was extended in recent years with the addition of a new section.

About 400 metres north of the graveyard, Saint Colman’s Well is also referred to a Tobercolman or Tubberchullemaun. A slab at the well states ‘St Colman’s Well, enclosed 15th August 1868.’ The well was roofed and enclosed by a wall erected by the McCoy family in 1868 when their daughter was cured after been seriously ill.

Local lore says the well moved when it was cursed. According to the legend, the well has moved three times. The well was first in the cemetery beside the old church. During heavy snow in a bad winter, someone died and was mistakenly buried near the well. The moved to in a field in Ardagh, but it moved again after two old women using the well to fetch water argued over the well. One of the women washed clothes in the well and, it is said, the well then moved to its present location.

At one time, a pattern was held at the well on 29 October to mark the end of the harvest season.

Across the street from the church ruins stand across the street, Saint Colman’s Catholic Church was built in 1913 on the site of an earlier chapel of ease built in 1827.

Saint Colman’s Catholic Church, built in 1913, seen from the ruins of the mediaeval Saint Colman’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Church of Ireland and its identity in Ireland today

Saint Mogue’s Cottage, Ferns, Co Wexford, with Saint Edan’s Cathedral in the background

Patrick Comerford:

The Church of Ireland and its identity in Ireland today

Ferns Diocesan Ecumenical Society

Saint Mogue’s Cottage,

Ferns, Co Wexford,

8 p.m., 24 October 2012

Personal introduction

Saint Colman’s Church, Templeshanbo, Co Wexford … generations of Comerfords of Bunclody are buried in the this Church of Ireland churchyard and in Old Kilmyshall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

It is a pleasure to be here this evening. I worked for some years in Wexford as a journalist with the local newspapers. But my links with Co Wexford go back many generations, through the Comerfords of Bunclody. The earliest family connection with Ferns itself is Bishop Edmond Comerford, the last pre-Reformation Bishop of Ferns, who died in 1509.

I still consider this my home county, I return regularly throughout the year, and thank you for invitation this evening.

To say a little about myself, I am a former journalist, I am a priest of the Church of Ireland, I lecture at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and I am a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

Think Time

Just to allow me to place some of what I say in context – or, theologically, to be incarnational about what I say – could I ask some questions that might help as an opening discussion?

How many people here this evening are members of the Church of Ireland?

How many of you have been in a Church of Ireland parish church or cathedral?

How many have Church of Ireland family connections?

Can you name three famous members of the Church of Ireland, living or dead?

Introduction: who we are today

Saint Mary’s Church of Ireland parish church, Bunclody, Co Wexford … the backbone of many rural parishes is small shopkeepers and small farmers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A new analysis of last year’s census figures (2011) by the Central Statistics Office was described in The Irish Times last week [Friday, October 19, 2012] as providing us with a “Portrait of a population growing in diversity” in the Republic of Ireland.

Alison Healy’s report says that analysis paints a picture of “an increasingly diverse population with a significant growth in people who say they have no religion, while also recording the largest congregation of Catholics since records began.”

Just five religious affiliations were mentioned half a century ago in the 1961 census, but the 2011 Census refers to more than 20 religious affiliations, and also has a category for “other religions,” which was ticked by 56,558 people.

This latest census shows that the proportion of the population who are [Roman] Catholic reached its lowest point last year at 84.2 per cent, but the number of [Roman] Catholics, 3.86 million people, is the highest since records began.

This is partly explained because the number of [Roman] Catholic immigrants living in the Republic of Ireland: 8 per cent of the [Roman] Catholic population is non-Irish last year, with Polish people the biggest group at 110,410 Catholics, followed by those born in the UK, at 49,761 – which may include many people born in Northern Ireland.

Of the 3.8 million [Roman] Catholics in the state, 92 per cent are Irish, while the remaining 8 per cent belong to a range of nationalities. Among the non-Irish, Poles are the biggest group (110,410), followed by the UK (49,761) and between them they accounted for over half of all non-Irish [Roman] Catholics.

Interestingly, there are also 64,798 divorced [Roman] Catholics –27,468 males and 37,330 females.

So, now that we have the statistics, what about the Church of Ireland?

As for the Church of Ireland, there are 129,039 members of the Church of Ireland, or 2.89 per cent of the population, an increase of 6.4 per cent in the five years since 2006 (118,948). This includes 13,667 primary school aged children and 8,809 of secondary school age.

One in 10 Church of Ireland members in the workforce has an occupation in agriculture and related activities. The figures in analysis last week show The Church of Ireland population has a much higher proportion involved in “Farming, Fishing and Forestry” (7.1 per cent) than the population as a whole (3.6 per cent).

Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, is the town with the highest percentage of Church of Ireland residents (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Here in Co Wexford, the Church of Ireland population is 5,046 (3.5% of the total population), which is proportionately higher than the national percentage figure. Co Wicklow remains the county with the largest Church of Ireland percentage of the overall population (6.7 per cent). Co Cavan is the second largest (5.8 per cent). Greystones, Co Wicklow, with 8.5 per cent Church of Ireland population, has been overtaken by Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, at 9.1 per cent, as the town with the highest percentage of Church of Ireland residents.

The overall number of people employed in “religious occupations” has declined, from 6,618 in 2006 to 5,817 in 2011. But, interestingly, the numbers of Church of Ireland members employed in “religious occupations” has increased, from 308 in 2006 to 316 in 2011.

Saint Maelruain’s Church, Tallaght …. There are parishes with substantial working class backgrounds (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Despite the RTÉ soapbox image of the Church of Ireland, not all of us are plumy rectors or from the landed gentry. There are strong working class parishes in parts of Dublin, including Finglas, Irishtown and Tallaght. And the backbone of many rural parishes is the same as Roman Catholic parishes: small shopkeepers, small farmers ... people like your parents.

These census figures help to show that the popular perception of a Protestant decline has been arrested if not reversed. But, to be honest, we do not know why.

Among other Christians, there are now 45,223 Orthodox Christians in Ireland – more than double the number in 2006 (20,798) and more than four times the number recorded in 2002 (10,437).

The members of Apostolic and Pentecostal churches rose in numbers from 8,116 in 2006 to 14,043 in 2011. Over 60 per cent (8,486) have African ethnicity, while 18.1 per cent (2,546) are from “any other White background.”

There are 24,600 Presbyterians, up marginally on 2006 and continuing a pattern of increasing numbers since 2002 following long periods of decline up to 1991.

The other Christian groupings are the Methodists (6,842), Lutherans (5,683), Evangelicals (4,188), and Baptist (3,531). Other Christian groups include Quakers (925), Brethren (336), the Salvation Army, and so on.

On the fringes of Christianity, there are Jehovah’s Witness (6,149), Mormons (1,284), Christian Scientists, and so on.

In terms of ecumenical relations at an inter-church level, this is certainly challenging. In past, we have traditionally spoken of the four main churches, meaning the [Roman] Catholics, the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterians and the Methodists. But the combined total of Presbyterians and Methodists at 31,442 is now eclipsed by the total number of Orthodox, and the Methodists have slipped behind the Apostolic and Pentecostal churches in numerical terms.

As for the non-Christian religions, there are 49,204 Muslims, making them numerically the third religious grouping in the state after [Roman] Catholics and the Church of Ireland, and marginally ahead of the Orthodox Christians.

Other religions in total account for 98,643 persons (2.1 per cent). The largest single religion in this group is Buddhist (8,703), and over one-third (37.9%) are Irish by nationality. There are 1,984 Jewish people, up from 1,930 in 2006. The total of those with no religion, atheists and agnostics has increased more than four-fold in the 20-year period between 1991 and 2011 to 277,237 in 2011.

Some present pressing issues:

These census figures show that all churches and religious or faith groupings are living in a very different and a changing Ireland. We face new issues and challenges, changing social situations, and different expectations and demands.

For all religious groupings there is a change in understanding of authority. No longer are things accepted because the parish priest or the rector says so. But we share this change in the understanding of authority with many other institutions, including other past figures of authority such as politicians, the banks, teachers (less so), the BBC and even the GAA.

Some of the present pressing issues facing the Church of Ireland today include:

1, Ecumenical relations:
2, Political identity
3, Education
4, Immigration and cultural change
5, Organisational and structural changes
6, The future of ministry
7, Human sexuality

1, Ecumenical relations:

Fethard Castle reflected in a window in Saint Mogue’s Church, Fethard-on-Sea …. We have come a long way in the 60 years since the Fethard-on-Sea boycott (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The changes reflected in the statistics show we need to have a new relationship with both our Orthodox neighbours and our Presbyterian and Methodist neighbours. But I also think that while in the past members of the Church of Ireland once identified with a common Protestant identity shared with Methodists, Presbyterians and Quakers, we are more likely to identify with our Roman Catholic neighbours today.

We have a special arrangement with the Methodist Church, a Covenant or agreement that commits us to seeking unity. Some of our bishops come from Methodist families and backgrounds, but an interesting number of priests in the parishes come from Roman Catholic backgrounds.

Like many of you, I grew up in the shadows of the Fethard-on-Sea boycott, listening to it being talked about it in hushed tones. Later in life I was blessed to get to know Sean and Sheila Cloney. But Inter-church marriage is no longer seen as the same threat to “Protestant identity” it was once perceived to be. The old matching making institutions like the Adelaide Hall and the YMCA have lost those functions in Dublin and most have disappeared. The weekend disco at Old Wesley means something very different today than it did in my teenage days over 40 years ago.

The Roman Catholic parish church in Bunclody … a symbol of hospitality and welcome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the south, many Church of Ireland clergy will feel closest theologically and emotionally to their [Roman] Catholic neighbours. The comfort and closeness is reflected in the exchanges of sacred space and hospitality between the two parish churches in Buclody and in Wexford between Saint Iberius’ Church and the Friary Church.

Indeed, there are many doctrinal agreements over the last few decades between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, worked out through the process known as ARCIC. Every family in the Church of Ireland has an experience, usually a positive experience, of inter-Church marriage. And we all have our own preferences. I know some clergy will go on retreat to Catholic monasteries or convents: I have stayed in Benedictine and Augustinian houses for retreats, and I have preached in a convent chapel and in parish churches.

And so, the reasons used to defend separate educational and youth bodies are beginning to collapse. Indeed, in recent years, the two separate scouting organisations have merged to form one body.

Saint Iberius’ Church, Wexford … the Church of Ireland is comfortable about being heirs to the same Church of early Irish saints (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the Church of Ireland, we too see ourselves as Catholic too. We are both Catholic and Protestant, we confess the same Creeds – the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed, we have the same faith, and we do not see ourselves as having “broken away” from Catholicism. We are comfortable about seeing ourselves as the heirs to and part of the same Church that dates back to those early Irish saints, Patrick, Brigid, Colmcille, Iberius and Aidan (Edan).

But for the Church of Ireland our ecumenical relations are more than how we get on with our fellow Christians on this island. We are in Communion with other Anglican Churches, such as the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in the US.

Being in communion with those churches means, by and large (but not in all cases) that their priests and our priests can move from parishes in one church to the other.

But holding together the Anglican Communion proved to be one of the most difficult tasks for Rowan Williams during his time as Archbishop of Canterbury. And that is reflected in the different bilateral relations bishops and dioceses of the Church of Ireland have entered into.

For example, the Bishop of Kilmore and his diocese have a partnership with the Diocese of South Carolina. But the Diocese of South Carolina, at the urging of its bishop, recently voted to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and earlier this month Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina was “certified for his abandonment of the Episcopal Church by an open renunciation of the discipline of the Church.”

The pull between the different “parties” in the wider Anglican Communion is reflected in the affections and affinities that have developed within the Church of Ireland.

As a Church, we are also in communion too in the same way with the Lutheran churches of Northern Europe that have bishops, such as the Churches of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, and the Lutheran churches in the Baltic member states of the EU.

But, while we have more members of the Church of Ireland from Lithuania (1,589), than from Nigeria (1,534), we have yet to appoint a priest for the Lithuanian community, which would be living up to our responsibilities under the Porvoo Agreement.

2, Political identity

The contribution of Irish Protestants to creating Irish identity was recognised fully in this county during the 1798 commemorations in 1998, but needs to be reaffirmed once again as we face a potentially contentious decade of commemorations from 2012 to 2022, marking a series of centenaries for events from 1912 to 1922.

Members of the Church of Ireland can be found in all political parties today, including TDs Jan O’Sullivan (Limerick) and Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid-West) of the Labour Party, Independent TD Shane Ross (Dublin South), Independent Senator David Norris. And, in social and cultural life, many of the members of U2 were brought up in Church of Ireland families on the north side of Dublin.

In the past, they have included: Lord Edward FitzGerald; Archibald Hamilton Rowan; Henry Monoroe and Betsy Grey, the Harveys, Grogans and Boxwells, Robert Emmet and Thomas Russell, William Smith O’Brien, Charles Stewart Parnell, Countess Markievicz, Sean O’Casey Ernest Blythe, Douglas Hyde, and Erskine Childers.

The Church of Ireland is also the Church of Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels and Drapier’s Letters; George Berkeley, philosopher and bishop; and hymn writers such as Henry Lyte, of Taghmon, Co Wexford, and Cecil Frances Alexander.

The Church of Ireland and its members were intimately associated with the Gaelic revival and the literary renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th century. The Church Ireland is the Church of great poets, dramatists and literary figures, including Nobel Prize winners. Think of Sean O’Casey, George Bernard Shaw, WB Yeats and Samuel Beckett.

But I am concerned by the recent comments of Robert Ballagh at a Tom Barry commemoration. The 1916 centenary commemorations in four years time are in danger of being hijacked in a narrower and more divisive way than the commemorations in 1966.

3, Education:

Trinity College Dublin … the image of the Church of Ireland as a people set apart has disappeared (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

There are 26 post-primary or secondary schools and colleges under Protestant management, and at least 18 of these have direct Church of Ireland links. In addition, one is Methodist-managed (Wesley); one is Presbyterian (Saint Andrew’s); and two are Quaker-managed (Newtown and Drogheda).

Most parishes have their own primary schools. Primary school teachers are trained at the Church of Ireland College of Education, where they are students of Trinity College Dublin and receive TCD degrees.

Traditionally the clergy were trained at Trinity College Dublin, but they are now trained at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, where they study for a master’s degree (MTh) from TCD. In addition, one of the main ways of handing on the faith is through Sunday schools and confirmation classes, which are normally organised in the parish rather than in the schools.

The image from the past of Protestants in Ireland as a people set apart has disappeared in recent decades. The traditional system of separate education is collapsing within both groupings. For example, many of the pupils at Kilkenny College, which is the diocesan secondary school and boarding school for this diocese, and in similar schools such as the High School or Wesley College in Dublin, Wilson’s Hospital in Co Westmeath, or Villiers School in Limerick and Bandon and Middleton in Co Cork, have at least one [Roman] Catholic parent, and this is true in many Church of Ireland national schools here in Co Wexford too.

In many parts of provincial Ireland, an increasing number of Church of Ireland families, including clergy families, are sending their children to the nearest local schools, especially at National School level.

The threat to private fee-paying schools is seen as a threat to the “Protestant identity” in Ireland, where, without grants and state funding, many Church of Ireland parents would not be able to send their children to Protestant secondary schools. It is a threat that is further compounded by the danger of the Church being seen as running only schools for well-heeled parents.

Similar the proposals for the minimum size for national schools pose a threat first of all to the viability and survival of Church of Ireland schools in rural Ireland. But this is a battle that needs to be fought in partnership with our [Roman] Catholic neighbours who want to maintain the ethos and accessibility of many schools, including those with a more liberal ethos. It is as much a threat to the Gonzagas, Glenstals and Gormanstons as it is to Kilkenny College and Newtown School.

4, Immigration and cultural change

The Discovery programme and the Discovery Gospel Choir are part of the Church of Ireland’s work with immigrants in inner-city Dublin

In terms of cultural or ethnic background, 90,701 members of the Church of Ireland are of Irish nationality, and 30,464 are classified as non-Irish. The 14 largest minority backgrounds in this second group are:

UK, 21,474; Lithuania, 1,589; Nigeria, 1,534; Poland, 1,235; Other African, 590; Germany, 438; South Africa, 420; Latvia, 335; USA, 333; China, 303; India, 279; Australia, 239; Canada, 162; and Netherlands, 155. After that, it is down to double and single figures, but we even have one each from Bulgaria, Greece, Luxembourg and Malta.

Once again, the figures from the UK may represent many people born in Northern Ireland, and not just people from England.

There are more Lithuanians than Nigerians in the Church of Ireland, yet, while we have appointed a Nigerian priest to work with the African population, we have not appointed a priest to work with the large number from the Baltic and Nordic countries who are members of the Church of Ireland.

What has this to say about our mission priorities?

There are 976 Church of Ireland members of the Travelling Community (3.3% of the total) – interestingly this is a higher proportion within the Church of Ireland than the proportion of the Church of Ireland population in the population as a whole (2.75%), or the proportion of the Traveller community in Co Wexford as a whole (1,504, or 1.1 per cent), and more in number that the Travellers living in either Carlow, Kilkenny or Wicklow, for example.

But what has this to say to the Church of Ireland? Travellers are more likely to be unemployed, to live in poor housing conditions or in mobile or temporary accommodation, to have no sewerage facilities, to have ended their education at primary school, and to suffer from ill-health and disabilities. Yet the number of Travellers is as large as many a Church of Ireland, and our neglect of Travellers in the Church of Ireland is as much an indictment of our attitude to social justice as it is a test of our pastoral values.

5, Structural and organisational problems:

The Dioceses of the Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is organised in a similar way to the [Roman] Catholic Church, with bishops and dioceses that have the same names, with a few exceptions: Kerry is Ardfert and Aghadoe, the old name, in the Church of Ireland; there is no Diocese of Galway, which is anew creation in the Roman Catholic Church; and while the Pope is the Bishop of Kilmacduagh in the Roman Catholic and the diocese is administered for him by the Bishop of Galway, in the Church of Ireland the Bishop of Kilmacduagh is the Bishop of Limerick.

There are 12 bishops, including two Archbishops: the Archbishop of Armagh, soon to be Dr Richard Clarke, and the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson.

The bishops remain independent in their own dioceses, so the archbishops’ positions are ones of honour rather than authority.

They meet as the House of Bishops, but the highest authority rests with the General Synod, which is composed of all the bishops, and representatives of the clergy and the laity, with the proportion laity:clergy 3:1.

Similarly, in the dioceses, each diocesan synod is chaired by the bishop, includes all the clergy, and three lay persons (men or women) for every member of the clergy.

The Diocese of Ferns is now part of a united diocese that includes Cashel, Waterford, Lismore, Ossory and Leighlin too. The Bishop, Bishop Michael Burrows, lives in Kilkenny, and there are six cathedrals, one for each of the old, historic named dioceses, and each with its own dean.

Many of the organisations that keep the Church going are effectively run by the lay members of the Church, including mission societies, social agencies, policy committees, school boards, and the parish vestries and committees. And, of course, the laity has a clear voice in the election of bishops in all the dioceses, except Armagh, where the Archbishop is elected by the other bishops of the Church.

But the structures are top heavy. All 12 bishops are expected to sit both on the Representative Church Body, which is the trustee body for the Church of Ireland, and on the Standing Committee, as well as sit on a number of central committees. The sizes of the dioceses are disproportionate, and diocesan structures are often top heavy: there are more cathedral dignitaries for both Waterford and Lismore than there are resident incumbents in the parts of the diocese associated with those cathedrals.

Indeed, it is meaningless to think of a bishop having more than one cathedra and the reason for maintaining these cumbersome structures is more fictional fantasy than historic affection.

6, The future of ministry:

The Very Katharine Poulton is Dean of Saint Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny ... but do women face a glass ceiling in ministry in the Church of Ireland

Traditionally we have insisted that a bishop is consecrated by at least three other bishops. Our clergy are trained for three years in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and then spend one further post-graduate year as deacons before being ordained priest.

For over 20 years, we have agreed that women can become not only priests but also bishops. Although we have no women bishops yet, it could happen, and women occupy every other position among the clergy: cathedral deans and canons, parish rectors and curates, hospital and school chaplains, and all in this diocese.

A large proportion of the clergy work in secular employment. For two years after my ordination, I continued working as a journalist with The Irish Times. Others are teachers, vets, doctors, shopkeepers, schoolteachers, housewives and homemakers. About one-third of the clergy are what you might call “worker priests.”

We are beginning a debate about the fuure shape of diaconal ministry too ... an agenda that has been introduced to us by our partner churches in the Porvoo Communion, but one that is also there for [Roman] Catholics too.

We have increased the standard of training and education for the clergy, but there is still a problem about encouraging the voice of the working class, the immigrant, and even women’s voice to be heard in the pulpit and their presence to be seen at the altar.

There are two, perhaps even more, episcopal elections taking place over the next few months. It will be interesting to see if, at last, a woman breaks through the glass ceiling.

7, Human sexuality

When we talk about human sexuality in the Church of Ireland, we are no longer talking about marriage, divorce and remarriage or contraception.

The remarriage of in church of someone who has been divorced has been long accepted in the Church of Ireland, and there is provision too for the blessing of a wedding that has taken place in a non-church situation.

In the past, Anglicans had a similar attitude to contraception to that held by Roman Catholics. But that attitude has changed over the decades too.

In May, by a 2-1 majority, the General Synod of the Church of Ireland today passed a motion affirming what was described as the Church’s traditional teaching on marriage, but repeating its welcome to all people as members of the Church.

The motion also asks the Standing Committee of the Church to progress work on the issue of human sexuality in the context of Christian belief and to bring proposals to next year’s General Synod for the formation of a select committee with terms of reference and including reporting procedures.

The motion was proposed by Archbishop Michael Jackson of Dublin and Bishop Harold Miller of Down and Dromore. Those who voted against it included the bishop of this diocese, Bishop Michael Burrows of Cashel and Ossory, and Bishop Paul Colton of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

The voting was by division for the first time since voting in 1990 at the General Synod on women priests and bishops.

The debate in May followed a two-day conference in March on human sexuality at the Slieve Russell hotel in Co Cavan.

The trigger for this debate is said to have been the disclosure that the Dean of Leighlin (Carlow), the Very Rev Tom Gordon, and his male partner of 20 years had entered a civil partnership in July last year, despite the fact that there have always been – and always will be – gay clergy in the Church.

The reaction among gay members of the Church of Ireland – and among many others – was predictably strong, and they were hurt.

David McConnell of Changing Attitude Ireland said the motion had been presented with “unnecessary haste” and the decision by the General Synod to accept it in controversial circumstances had “added to, not reduced, the hurt and exclusion caused by the Church to its gay and lesbian members.”

Gerry Lynch said: “Both the way the motion on sexuality was submitted and the vote itself confirmed many LGBT persons’ experience of the Churches as the last bastion of homophobia.”

The debate continues in the current issue of Search (Autumn 2012), the Church of Ireland journal on theology and education. Bishop Michael Mayes charts his journey through the territory in relation to the biblical texts and the community issues; the Revd Ron Elsdon poses questions from the conservative side of the agenda; and Dean Gordon speaks from his own personal experience and provides a social analysis from recent surveys.

Saint Edan’s Cathedral, Ferns … Saint Mogue’s Cottage next door is this evening’s venue (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Closing comments:

So, what do I think is the future for the Church of Ireland?

Unfortunately, I think the future depends on how we handle this debate on human sexuality. There are some rectors who are hinting at wanting alternative episcopal oversight or “flying bishops” and trying to force the agenda on this item.

We are refusing to listen to each other. In a letter to the Church of Ireland Gazette last week [19 October 2012], Canon Charles Kenny points out that although one bishop offered himself as focal point for dialogue, Changing Attitude Ireland has been refused permission to have a stall at his diocesan synod.

The language we are using to one another, on both sides of this debate, becomes less than Christian when we accuse people of being homophobic bigots or of being unbiblical.

For standing on a principle enshrined in the 39 Articles during the General Synod debate, I was labelled in an apparently demeaning way for holding liberal views … in other words, I was not to be listened to.

There are bishops who refuse to receive Holy Communion from other bishops – I hasten to add that the Bishop of this diocese is a most generous bishop – and there are bishops who are happy to licence clergy from schismatic groups outside Ireland but not priests who have been ordained in the Church of Ireland.

Frankly, these divisions and fissures reflect the present state of the Anglican Communion. Things are no different in Australia or parts of the United States, for example.

But I am reminded of an old aphorism that is found in Patristic writings: Schism is worse than heresy.

Those who make the loudest claims about the truth of Scripture are least likely to have read the relevant passages in Biblical Greek or to be able to explain them within their cultural and social contexts. Indeed, any talk of “cultural and social contexts” is dismissed as relativism. Yet if these people believe Scripture is the inspired word of God, then they carry a serious obligation to understand what God is saying in Scripture and not reduce God’s message to shoddy translations or mistranslations and their own slipshod interpretations of those translation.

Similarly, people with a more accommodating view need too to show that they can accommodate, with a respect beyond tolerance, those whose views they do not agree with.

Perhaps I am being too dismal. In the past, the Anglican Communion has not only changed its attitude to contraception … it has done a complete volte face.

Perhaps the Holy Spirit is still waiting to surprise us in new ways.

Note: I am grateful to Garrett Casey, Synod Officer, the Representative Church Body, for drawing my attention to the latest analysis of the 2011 Census figures.

Canon Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, Dublin, and a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. This lecture was delivered in Ferns, Co Wexford, on 24 October 2012, at a meeting of the Ferns Diocesan Ecumenical Society.

Searching for Pugin on the banks of the Slaney

Early morning on the Slaney … looking from the Ferrycarrig Hotel across to Park (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Patrick Comerford

I awoke on Saturday morning [6 March 2011] to the most breath-taking scene I have ever been greeted with from any hotel room.

I was staying in Liam Griffin’s Ferrycarrig Hotel after visiting the Pugin chapel in the former Presentation Convent in Waterford, and Saint James’s Church in Ramsgrange, an early Pugin church in south Co Wexford.

The Ferrycarrig Hotel is built on the north banks of the Slaney just below the bridge at Ferrycarrig, with sweeping views across the river as it opens out into an estuary-like lake of water, before narrowing again at Wexford to enter the sea at Wexford Harbour.

The hotel has 102 bedrooms, each with a stunning waterfront view. This has long been a strategic location. Nearby, Ferrycarrig Castle is one of the earliest Norman castles built in Ireland, and the first Norman stronghold in Ireland. The castle was built by Robert FitzStephen in 1169 to guard the ferry and river passage. Excavations indicate extensive occupation during the 13th century, although the present 15th century square tower house was probably built by the Roche family.

I awoke as the dark was beginning to fall away to the sound of early songbirds and the flapping of the cormorants on the edge of the water. As the mist slowly cleared and the morning gently dawned, the fields and houses at Park, on the south side of the river, were shining in a reflected glow below. I sat for an hour or more, reading a little but for the most part enjoying the tranquillity and basking in the view.

After breakfast, two of us took another stroll around the waterfront, before heading off again in search of some more Pugin churches in Co Wexford.

From Ferrycarrig, we turned up past the Irish National Heritage Park, along the western banks of the Slaney, through Polehore and Killurin to Ballyhoge, and then turned east to find Bellvue, looking down on the river, where about two dozen swans were resting in the morning sunshine.

The burned-out ruins of Bellvue, built by the Ogle and Cliffe families and torched in 1923 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

George Ogle built the first mansion at Bellvue in 1737, and it passed to the Cliffe family at the beginning of the 19th century. Anthony Cliffe rebuilt Bellvue, and Daniel Robertson designed a magnificent portico formed by eight Ionic columns and approached by a flight of steps that extended the entire length of the central block, and fine, boldly projecting wings extending on either side of the two-storey house.

The Cliffe family stirred local controversy when they changed their membership from the Church of Ireland, becoming Roman Catholics in 1856. They built a new chapel adjacent to Bellvue in 1858-1860, and although the chapel was designed by J.J. McCarthy, he used earlier plans by Pugin. The Building News reported in 1859: “A new church has lately been erected by A. Cliffe ... from the designs of A. Welby Pugin; it is designed in the Early Decorated period and it is well executed by a local builder.”

The Cliffe chapel in Bellvue … built ‘from the designs of A. Welby Pugin’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

In an act of political vandalism, Bellvue was burned to the ground early in 1923. It is amazing that the chapel survived. The roof, in a style typical of Pugin, separates the nave at the west end from the chancel at the east end. The north side betrays how the chapel was once attached to the Cliffe manion, whose forlorn and scattered ruins stand nearby.

From Bellvue, we drove back into Ballyhoge, and north past Macmine Castle to cross the river at Edermine and to visit Edermine House.

Pat Doyle was busy at the time with the laying of a new drive, and invited us to return after lunch. And so we took an hour and a half out to visit Templeshanbo, where a small babbling brook separates the old monastic site associated with Saint Colman from the Church of Ireland parish church and its small churchyard. Here are buried my great-great-grandfather, James Comerford (1775-1825) and his father, Edmond Comerford (1722-1788).

Edermine House … built in 1838 by the Power family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

We returned through Enniscorthy to Edermine House, which was built by Sir John Power, of Power Distillery fame, in 1838. This impressive collection of buildings has been described as “possibly the most interesting domestic architectural ensemble in County Wexford.”

Edermine House, a fine example of the Greek revival style, is a two-storey, three-bay Italianite villa designed by John B. Keane, with a handsome portico formed by Doric columns. There is a five-bay side elevation with a Venetian window.

Pat Roche of Rochfort House bought Edermine House in 1977 and now owns many of the properties in the surrounding countryside. He has taken great pride in Edermine and has spent a vast amount on maintaining, preserving and restoring the house.

The Pugin Chapel and the once splendid Victorian iron conservatory at Edermine House (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

He welcomed us into Edermine, to see the house, the chapel and the once splendid Victorian iron conservatory designed by Richard Turner and James Pierce – an extraordinary curvilinear conservatory with a central semi-dome, flanked by plant houses that once housed a grapery and a peachery.

But we were here to see the chapel commissioned by Sir James Power and his wife, Jane, built in the 1850s. Lady Power was a daughter of Pugin’s Irish patron, John Hyacinth Talbot, and the Power family later intermarried with the Cliffe family of Bellvue.

The extended collegiate seating provides a sedilia … further evidence of Pugin’s hand in the chapel at Bellvie (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

A plaque on the door and a second inside the chapel has led many to believe that the chapel is too late to have been designed by AWN Pugin, and they have ascribed it to either his son, Edward Welby Pugin, or to JJ McCarthy. However, Pat Doyle has long believed that the chapel is an original work by Pugin and that McCarthy merely supervised its later construction, and many contemporary writers believe the intermarriages between the Talbot and Power families underpin the supposition that the chapel was originally designed by the elder Pugin and that the project was supervised either by his son or by McCarthy.

the interior of the chapel in Edermine is remarkably similar to the interior of the Pugin chapel in the former Presentation convent in Waterford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

The interior of the chapel is well-preserved, and on first sight it looks remarkably similar to the interior of the Pugin chapel we visited on Friday in the former Presentation convent in Waterford. The chapel in Edermine retains Pugin’s rood screen, and the walls are embellished with Pugin’s decorative “diaper work.” Here too is his typical mediaeval-style hammer-beam roof. The reredos, rood screen, chancel tiles and collegiate-style seating all point to this as an original Pugin work.

Phoebe Stanton points out: “The window of the chapel is exactly like various drawings in the early Pugin notebooks.” Further evidence of Pugin’s original design of this chapel is provided by the extension of the chapel seating from the nave into the chancel to provide three extra places for a sedilia – for priest, deacon and subdeacon, a liturgical insistence that could only be Pugin’s.

Pat Doyle is proud of his role as the custodian of a Pugin chapel. He told us how he also rescued the original pulpit and cathedra from Saint Aidan’s, Pugin’s cathedral in Enniscorthy. However, the paintwork in the chapel is peeling, some of the stonework is crumbling, there are signs of the onset of damp and the whole building is in urgent need of tender conservation and restoration work. This is a task that should not be left to Pat Doyle alone, as this is a beautiful, unique part of the architectural heritage of Ireland.

Neither Bellvue nor Edermine is listed by Rosemary Hill as a Pugin building, so we left Edermine feeling we had made some exceptional discoveries during our weekend tour of “Pugin-Land.”

From Edermine, we drove back into Enniscorthy and on along the banks of the Slaney to Bunclody, for a stroll through the village that had once been home to generations of the Comerford family, and for a late lunch in the Millrace. It was dark by the time we got back to Dublin.

The nave window in Edermine … ‘exactly like various drawings in the early Pugin notebooks’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)