Georgian and Regency doorcases recall Rathkeale’s elegant past

Strolling the streets of Rathkeale, I am impressed by the surviving, elegant doorcases from the Georgian and Regency period (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

I spent much of Sunday and Monday in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, with the parish Eucharist in Holy Trinity Church on Sunday, visiting the school on Monday, bringing schoolchildren to visit the parish church, and visiting the Rathkeale Social Cohesion Project. These two days have been like warm, bright summer days, and strolling through the streets of Rathkeale I am impressed each time by the number of houses and shopfronts with Georgian and Regency doors, with doorcases, columns and fanlights that have survived throughout the town for 200 years or more.

Many of these doors date from around 1800-1820, but some are older, and at times I have to have a second look at the them to decide whether they date from the early 19th century or they are modern imitations.

Here are some of the doors and doorcases I have spotted in recent weeks:

And here is a door that is in a sad and neglected state:

Finally, this surviving portion of stucco work from a doorcase, seen on Main Street, Rathkeale, is a reminder of how much of Rathkeale’s elegant past has been lost in recent years:

Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2017

Praying in Lent 2017 with USPG, (31) Tuesday 28 March 2017

‘Give thanks for Creation and for the beauty of all creatures’ … by the River Deel in Rathkeale, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

The Lent 2017 edition of the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) follows the theme of the USPG Lent study course, ‘Living an Authentic Life.’

I am using this Prayer Diary for my prayers and reflections each morning throughout Lent. Why not join me in these prayers and reflections, for just a few moments each morning?

In the articles and prayers in the prayer diary, USPG invites us to investigate what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The Lent study course, ‘Living an Authentic Life’ (available online or to order at www.uspg.org.uk/lent), explores the idea that discipleship and authenticity are connected.

This week, from Sunday (26 March) until Saturday (1 April), the USPG Lent Prayer Diary is following the topic ‘A World of Injustice.’ The topic was introduced on Sunday in an article in the Prayer Diary by Professor Mathew Koshy Punnackad, Honorary Director of the Department of Ecological Concerns of the Church of South India Synod.

Tuesday 28 March 2017:

Give thanks for Creation and for the beauty of all creatures. Pray that the church might lead by example and show the world how to be good stewards of the environment .

Continued tomorrow.

Yesterday’s reflection.