The Shrewsbury peerage case and how branches of the Talbot family fought over old titles and lands

The Talbot Arms in Rugeley became the Shrewsbury Arms after Lord Talbot became the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1860 … it is now called ‘The Shrew’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I was saying in a posting yesterday how the intricacies in the family trees of the Talbot and Chetwynd families are difficult to untangle, and produce many obstacles and problems for genealogists and family historians.

The Shrewsbury Peerage Case (1858-1860) was a landmark case before the House of Lords in a dispute over the succession to prestigious titles in both England and Ireland and to vast estates in Staffordshire and other parts of England. The decision by the House of Lords in the case established legal precedents in peerage law and estate inheritance.

The Earls of Shrewsbury were the premier earls in both England and Ireland, and their string of titles include Earl of Shrewsbury, Earl of Waterford and Earl of Wexford. The titles dated back to mid-15th century, when the celebrated warrior John Talbot was made the first Earl of Shrewsbury in 1442 and first Earl of Waterford and Wexford in 1445. The earls also held the hereditary title of Lord High Steward of Ireland, an office that traditionally allowed them to carry bear a white staff at the coronation of the monarch.

John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1445 … a detail from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book … note the white talbot at his feet to the left

George Talbot (1719-1787), 14th Earl of Shrewsbury, had succeeded his uncle in 1743. George had no children, and when he died, he was succeeded by his nephew, Charles Talbot, as the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1812, Charles Talbot to lay out the extensive gardens at Alveton Lodge, Staffordshire, which had been in the Talbot family since the 15th century and would become Alton Towers.

When the 15th earl died, the titles were inherited by his nephew John Talbot as the 16th earl. When the principal home of the Talbot family at Heythrop, near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, was destroyed by fire in 1831, he moved to Alton Towers.

John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, who lived at Alton Towers, commissioned AWN Pugin to build many churches in Staffordshire, including Saint Giles’s Church, Cheadle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The 16th earl was a noted patron of the architect AWN Pugin. This John Talbot married Maria Theresa Talbot (1795-1856), daughter of William Talbot of Castle Talbot, Co Wexford, Mary (O’Toole) in Bath on 27 June 1814, and both branches of the Talbot family were patrons of Pugin and his church building programmes in Staffordshire and Co Wexford.

Maria died on 6 June 1856, in Paris, France, at the age of 61, and was buried at Alton Towers. Maria and John were the parents of three children, a son who died in infancy, and two daughters:

1, Lady Mary Althea Beatrix Talbot (1815-1858), born on 29 May 1815, married Prince Filippo Andrea Doria-Pamphili-Landi, and died in Rome on 18 December 1858, aged 43.

2, John Talbot (1816-1817), their only son, born 27 November 1816, died 20 March 1817 in Paris.

3, Lady Gwendoline Catherine Talbot (1817-1840), born on 5 December 1817 in Cheltenham, married Prince Marcantonio Borghese, and died in Rome on 27 October 1840.

John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, died from malaria in Naples on 9 November 1852. Because he had no surviving sons, he was succeeded as the 17th Earl of Shrewsbury by his second cousin once removed and his adopted heir, Bertram Arthur Talbot, according to the rules of male-preference primogeniture. Bertram was the great-grandson of George Talbot, a younger son of Gilbert Talbot (died 1711), second son of the 10th Earl of Shrewsbury.

The Tame of the Talbot family and the Earls of Shrewsbury has gives name to pubs and inns throughout England (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Bertram, who has been described as having a mild disposition, was an invalid with delicate health. He had been informally adopted by the 16th earl and he was a Knight Commander of Malta, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Pope Pius IX. He was also about to be nominated a knight of the Order of Saint Patrick.

When Bertram succeeded to the title in 1852, he was still under age, and when he. Having reached the age of 21, he took his seat in the House of Lords in February 1854, and he began proceedings to claim the office of Hereditary Lord High Steward of Ireland, a claim that was referred to the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords.

Bertram arrived at Lisbon hoping to travel on to Cintra, and accompanied on the trip by Anne Talbot from Castle Talbot, Co Wexford, a sister the late Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, Father Charles Brierley Garside (1818-1876), his domestic chaplain, and Dr Mervyn Crawford, his personal doctor. But their plans were delayed by an outbreak of cholera in Lisbon. Bertram moved into the Hotel Braganza, where his symptoms deteriorated rapidly. Bertram died on 10 August 1856 in Lisbon at the age of 23; he was unmarried and childless, and left no direct Catholic successor.

The arms of the Talbot family, Earls of Shrewsbury, represented on the doors of Saint Giles’s Church in Cheadle, Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Talbot family tree is widespread, with many branches, and when Bertram died it became difficult to disentangle the tree and to identify clearly the heir to the family estates and titles. His will reflected his staunch Catholicism by making the inheritance of the Talbot family estates conditional on the heir being a Roman Catholic.

The 17th earl believed he was the last descendant in the male line of the first Earl of Shrewsbury and so he tried to leave much of his extensive property to a younger son of the Duke of Norfolk. Without a Catholic heir, the terms of Bertram’s will devolved the properties were to devolve to two prominent Catholics, Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps de Lisle (1809-1878) and Lord Edmund Bernard FitzAlan-Howard (1855-1947), a son of the Duke of Norfolk. To conform to the terms of Bertram’s will, Edmund later changed his name by royal licence and was known from 1876 to 1922 as Lord Edmund Talbot.

But Bertram’s will was contested by relatives, and there were four separate contenders for the title of Earl of Shrewsbury, the associated titles and the Talbot family estates:

1, Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 3rd Earl Talbot, the primary contender for the titles and estates, who also held the titles of Viscount of Ingestre and Baron Talbot. Bertram Talbot and Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot were so distantly related that their shared ancestor was nine generations back: John Talbot, who died in 1549. He was a descendant in the male line of Sir Gilbert Talbot (died 1518), third son of the 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury.

2, The Duke of Norfolk, as guardian of the interests of his infant son, to whom Bertram Talbot had tried to bequeath Alton Towers.

3, Lady Mary Althea Beatrix Talbot (1815-1858), known as Princess Doria-Pamphili-Landi, the only surviving child of John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury.

4, Major William Talbot (JP (1789-1861) of Castle Talbot, Co Wexford, who traced his ancestry back to William Talbot, fourth son of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury. His sister, Maria Theresa Talbot (1795-1856), had married John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1814, and he was an uncle of Princess Doria-Pamphili-Landi.

The ‘Great Shrewsbury Case’ was heard by the House of Lords, and hearings began in 1857.

The Shrewsbury Chapel in Sheffield Cathedral was built in the 16th century to house the Tudor monuments of the Earls of Shrewsbury (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

When Earl Talbot’s printed document formally asserting his claims to the earldoms of Shrewsbury, Waterford and Wexford was laid on the table of the House of Lords it ran to 41 pages of genealogical and other matters. The House of Lords referred it to the committee of privileges on 9 May 1857.

After a long and expensive legal case, the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords ruled in 1860 in favour of Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 3rd Earl Talbot, who then became the 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, Waterford and Wexford. He was also awarded much of the family estates. The Committee of Privileges rejected the rival petitions from Major Talbot, the Duke of Norfolk on behalf of his infant son, and Princess Doria Pamphili, who was dead by then, having died in Rome on 18 December 1858.

A further suit was heard in the Court of Chancery for possession of the Talbot estates at Alton Towers and other places in Staffordshire, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire and Berkshire. Legal costs depleted the intended legacies, reducing Phillipps de Lisle’s share to £11,000, and so thwarting the 16th Earl's efforts to preserve Catholic control over his family patrimony.

Saint Michael’s Church, Brereton, was Saint Michael’s Church was built on a site donated by Charles Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot, father of Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 3rd Earl Talbot and 18th Earl of Shrewsbury (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The protracted litigation, lasting many months, resulted in exorbitant costs that eroded intended bequests. Phillipps de Lisle eventually received only £11,000 of his £40,000 legacy after legal expenses.

The other beneficiary, Edmund Bernard FitzAlan-Howard, was the second son of the 14th Duke of Norfolk. He was known as the Hon Edmund Fitzalan-Howard and later as Lord Edmund Fitzalan-Howard until 1876, and then as Lord Edmund Talbot from 1876 and 1921. He was the principal beneficiary in Bertram Talbot’s will, provided he took the surname and arms of Talbot, which he did in 1876. However, the legal litigation and contests over the titles and the terms of the wills, eventually left Edmund with only scattered minor lands.

He was the Conservative MP for Chichester from 1894 to 1921. On 27 April 1921, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the first Roman Catholic to hold the office since 1685 during the reign of James II. His appointment was made possible through the Government of Ireland Act 1920.

He returned to the use of his paternal name in 1921, shortly after being made a peer in his own right with the title of Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, a day after his appointment as Lord Lieutenant. However, he was in office for only a year and a half. The post was abolished when the Irish Free State came into existence in 1922, and he was replaced by the Governor-General of the Irish Free State and the Governor of Northern Ireland. He died on 18 May 1947 at 91, and was succeeded in his titles by his only son, Henry.

Dublin Castle … Lord Edmund Talbot, later Lord Derwent, was the last Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Shrewsbury peerage case drew attention to the tensions the creation of religious stipulations in wills and statutory inheritance rules that seemed to continue to favour Protestant lines of descent in the decades immediately after Catholic Emancipation. The verdict also served to emphasise underscored the legal primacy of bloodline inheritance over testamentary conditions favouring religious affiliation in 19th-century peerage law.

The 18th Earl of Shrewsbury had an eventful naval career. He had been a senior naval office, commanding the Philomel at the battle of Navarino on 20 October 1827, and eventually became an Admiral in 1865 and naval ADC to Queen Victoria. He was also MP for South Staffordshire (1837-1849). With his new titles he also became Hereditary High Steward of Ireland, and took part in the installation of the Prince of Wales as a Knight of Saint Patrick in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, in 1868. As Earl of Shrewsbury, he was also Earl of Waterford, while, interestingly, his wife Lady Sarah Elizabeth Beresford (1807-1884), was a daughter of the Marquess of Waterford.

When the 18th earl died, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles John Chetwynd-Talbot (1830-1877), as the 19th earl. This was the first time in over 200 years, since the death of the 11th earl in 1667, that the title of Earl of Shrewsbury had passed from father to son.

The 20th earl created a scandal in Victorian England by eloping with a married woman, Ellen Miller-Mundy. They were later married, but after he died in 1921, another bitter court battle over the estate was fought by his widow Ellen and his grandson, John Talbot, 21st Earl of Shrewsbury, who claimed his grandfather was not of sound mind when writing his will and won a court settlement.

Today, the titles are held by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 22nd Earl of Shrewsbury, who succeeded his father in 1980. He was suspended from the House of Lords for his part in a lobbying scandal in 2022, and was barred from carrying out his family’s role at the coronation of King Charles in May 2023. Since then, he was suspended again for making false travel expenses claims and using a House of Lords rail season ticket for non-parliamentary business.

Ironically, the present Earl of Shrewsbury is also known for selling off alluring but meaningless titles such as ‘deputy lord high stewardship of Ireland’. Some years ago, Manorial Auctioneers were offering the title of the ‘Barony of Dungarvan,’ Co Waterford. Later, this supposed feudal barony was back on the market again with an online business known as nobility.co.uk. Although the Barony of Dungarvan was granted to the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1446, it is doubtful that the title still survives as any kind of legal entity.

There is no territorial Barony of Dungarvan in Co Waterford, yet the site was offering the ‘Barony of Dungarvan, Ireland,’ along with the titles of ‘Baron and Baroness,’ and said it was ‘once held by Earl of Shrewsbury, Premier Earl of England and High Steward of Ireland.’ Potential buyers were told that ‘the list price’ for this title was once £45,000, but the selling price had been reduced to £20,000.

Lord Shrewsbury also called in recent years for a change of law so daughters can inherit hereditary titles from their parents. If such a change had been made before the ruling in the Shrewsbury case in 1860, Lord Shrewsbury would not hold his present titles, and they might be held by some Italian prince or princess, or by a member of the Talbot family in Co Wexford.

The Talbot Hotel, Wexford … remembering the link between two branches of the Talbot family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in the Kingdom Season: 15, Saturday 15 November 2025

‘Grant me justice against my opponent’ (Luke 18: 3) … a painting by Una Heaton in a pub in Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in the Kingdom Season, the time between All Saints and Advent, and tomorrow is the Second Sunday before Advent.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

There is an emphasis on justice in today’s Gospel reading … the scales of justice depicted on the Precentor’s Stall in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 18: 1-8 (NRSVA):

1 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” 4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming”.’ 6 And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’

‘Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice’ (Luke 18: 5) … the sign at the Wig and Pen near the courthouse in Truro, Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflection:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist this morning (Luke 18: 1-8) offers an opportunity to reflect on what we mean by law and justice. We read the well-known parable of the ‘Unjust Judge,’ a judge ‘who neither fears God nor has respect for people,’ and how he is forced to grant justice to a widow who keeps coming to him, saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’

Does the judge abandon his sense of impartiality when it comes to the administration of justice?

Or is he forced to realise the difference between what is legal and what is just, and the difference between justice and mercy?

We often know this parable as the ‘Parable of the Unjust Judge.’ But we might also call it the ‘Parable of the Persistent Widow,’ for we are told to take this woman and not the judge as our example: an example of how to pray to God, as opposed to an example of how to prey on people.

And yet, let us take some time first to look at the judge.

Are we asked to think that God behaves like an unjust or capricious judge?

Is this a judge who exercises his office without fear or favour?

Is justice about that?

Is justice about seeing that the law is enforced?

Or is it about seeing that justice is done, and is seen to be done?

How many judges implement the law without dispensing justice?

How many judges implement the law without dispensing mercy?

Is this not what happened in Nazi Germany, in apartheid South Africa, or in racist states in the American ‘Deep South’?

How many judges in Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa merely applied the law?

Could a Jewish widow expect justice from a judge in Nazi Germany?

Could a black widow expect mercy from a judge in apartheid South Africa?

Could a woman whose family has been broken up by ICE and who is refused information about her husband’s whereabouts expect justice, mercy and the impartial application of the law in Trump’s America?

The woman in this parable is not asking for what is her legal right. She is not asking for her neighbour to be punished. But she may be asking for something she is not entitled to: justice.

When we find ourselves saying we cannot accept a judgmental God, is that because our image of a judge is of a distant figure who applies the full rigour of the law, rather than an accessible figure who dispenses justice and mercy?

Who are the chosen ones who cry to God day and night? (see verse 7)

Certainly, a widow would fall into that category at the time of Christ. She would have no man to argue her case for her, and so would go unheard. All other cases – commercial, civil and criminal – would take priority in the courts before her request to be heard.

Who is the widow in this story?

We might consider parallels between a people who have turned their back on God or whose covenantal relationship with God has died, and a woman whose covenantal relationship, her marriage, has come to an end with death.

Without love, there is no covenant. Without love there is no true religion, and without love there is no true marriage.

A true relationship with God is marked by love – God’s love for us, our love for God, and our love for others. If that love is the foundation of our Christianity, then justice becomes more important than law, and mercy more important than rules, and God the Judge becomes a loving rather than a tyrannical image.

The Royal Courts of Justice in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 15 November 2025):

The theme this week (9 to 15 November) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Hope for the Future’ (pp 54-55). This theme was introduced last Sunday with Reflections from Laura D’Henin-Ivers, Chief Executive Officer at Hope for the Future, to mark COP30 in Brazil this week.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 15 November 2025) invites us to pray:

Gracious Lord, when we grow weary in this struggle, renew our hope. Remind us that every small act of care – every tree planted, every voice raised for justice, every effort to reduce waste – contributes to your redemptive work in the world. Strengthen our resolve to walk in faith and action.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
whose will is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of all:
govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,
and bring the families of the nations,
divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin,
to be subject to his just and gentle rule;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God of peace,
whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom
and restored the broken to wholeness of life:
look with compassion on the anguish of the world,
and by your healing power
make whole both people and nations;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Additional Collect:

God, our refuge and strength,
bring near the day when wars shall cease
and poverty and pain shall end,
that earth may know the peace of heaven
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of the Second Sunday before Advent:

Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son was revealed
to destroy the works of the devil
and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life:
grant that we, having this hope,
may purify ourselves even as he is pure;
that when he shall appear in power and great glory
we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
where he is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The statue of Justice by John Van Nost (1721) in Dublin Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 108, Tuesday 26 August 2025

‘For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence’ (Matthew 23: 25) … teacups in a painting in a restaurant in Listowel, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began yesterday with the Tenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity X).

After the Summer Bank holiday in England yesterday, summer has probably truly come to an end for many people here. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘You … have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith’ (Matthew 23: 23) … the statue of Justice by John Van Nost (1721) in Dublin Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 23: 23-26 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 23 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practised without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

25 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.’

‘For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law’ (Matthew 23: 23) … two 18th century Sabbath spice boxes, part of the ritual of welcoming the Sabbath, in the Jewish Museum in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

In the Beatitudes at the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says eight groups of people are blessed: ‘the poor in spirit … those who mourn … the meek … those who hunger and thirst for righteousness … the merciful … the pure in heart … the peacemakers … those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness …’ (Matthew 5: 3-10).

Now, as we come close to the end of this Gospel, we have seven groups of people who are condemned as hypocrites and against whom Jesus pronounces seven woes.

In the Gospel reading yesterday, we heard the first three of these seven woes: woe to you who ‘lock people out of the kingdom of heaven’ (verse 13) … who ‘make the new convert twice as much a child of hell’ (verse 15) … and ‘blind guides’ who swear by the ‘gold of the sanctuary’ (verses 16-22).

We hear two further woes today (Matthew 23: 23-26): for those who tithe mint, dill, and cummin but neglect the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith; and these who care about the details of domestic purity but neglect the cleanliness of their hearts and inner thoughts. Then, we hear the final of the seven woes tomorrow (Matthew 23: 27-32): a double woe on those who on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

A ‘woe’ is an exclamation of grief, similar to what is expressed by the word alas. In pronouncing woes, Jesus is prophesying judgment on the religious leaders of the day for their hypocrisy. He calls them hypocrites, blind guides, snakes and a ‘brood of vipers’.

Before Jesus condemns the hypocrisy of religious leaders, they have been following him to test him and try to trick him with questions about divorce (Matthew 19: 3), his authority (Matthew 21: 23), paying taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22: 17), the resurrection (Matthew 22: 23), and the greatest commandment of the law (Matthew 22: 36).

Jesus prefaces his seven woes by explaining to the disciples that they should obey the teachings of the religious leaders – as they teach the law of God – but not to emulate their behaviour because they do not practice what they preach (Matthew 23: 3).

The second grouping of these woes, which we read today, condemns the scribes and Pharisees for tithing mint, dill, and cummin but neglecting the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith, for worrying about clean cups and plates outside, but neglecting the state of their inner thoughts (Matthew 23: 23-26).

The scribes and Pharisees are accused of making a big deal of small things like tithing spices, while they ignore more crucial matters. They diligently count their mint leaves to give every tenth one to the temple, but they neglect the more important matters of the law, such as justice, mercy and faith (verse 23).

Jesus is not saying tithing the mint, dill, and cumin is wrong. He says they should not neglected proper tithing, but it must be done with a good heart. Jewish law and tradition specifies tithes on some produce, generally food. But there was no tithe required for wild herbs, although this is debated in the Mishnah: ‘R. Eliezer says, “Dill is subject to the law of tithes [in regard to its] seeds, leaves and pods.” But Sages say, “Nothing is subject to the law of tithes [in regard to both its] seeds and leaves save cress and field rocket alone”.’ (m. Ma’as. 4: 5).

There is an issue of justice here. If a tithe that is not required in the law is demanded, then it not only deprives them of what is lawfully theirs, but in this case it may even deprive them of fully enjoying the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath, it is said, the ‘Sabbath Queen’ or the ‘Sabbath Bride’ descends from Heaven to heal the sufferings of the Jews. The arrival and departure of ‘Her Majesty’ is marked by ceremonies. When she enters, everybody is happy; when she leaves, there is a strange sadness. But people take comfort in a symbolic tradition that includes inhaling the aroma of spices contained in an ornamental box, often made of silver, the spice box.

Spice-boxes are an essential part of Havdalah (הַבְדָּלָה, ‘separation’), the ceremony marking the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushering in the new week. The spices are usually kept in decorative spice-boxes to beautify and honour the mitzvah and are handed around so that everyone can smell the fragrance. In many Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, branches of aromatic plants are used for this purpose, while Ashkenazim have traditionally used cloves.

A special braided Havdalah candle with more than one wick is lit, and a blessing is recited. If a special Havdalah candle is not available, two candles can be used, and the two flames joined when reciting the blessing. The traditional prayers include: ‘Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, Creator of all kinds of spices.’

Turning to hyperbole, Jesus says the religious leaders can strain out a gnat when they are drinking but can swallow a camel (verse 24). In other words, they were careful to avoid offence in minor things of little importance, but ignore things that are much more difficult to swallow.

In the fifth woe, Jesus compares them to cups and plates that are scrupulously cleaned on the outside but left dirty inside. Their religious observances make them appear clean and virtuous, but inwardly, in their hearts, they are full of ‘greed and self-indulgence’ (verse 25).

It is not that washing my hands or cutlery and crockery before I eat is a bad idea, or that I am a hypocrite if I do so. If I habitually fail to wash my hands and the cups and plates before I eat, I am going to get sick, quickly and often.

But if I forget why I have to wash them, I am a hypocrite if I then expect others to do so. Indeed, sometimes we leave ourselves in danger of going hungry if we insist on everything being spotless before we eat: those facilities are not always to hand on a long train journey or a long flight, for flight, or while I’m at an all-day cricket match or at a rugby fixture.

The Pharisees had their own rituals, and I would be silly to think that only they had these problems. We all have our own rituals associated with eating and cleanliness.

It is said one of the principal causes of domestic arguments in the kitchen is about what way to stack the dishwasher, and how to empty it. Should the knives stand up or down? Which sides do you place the glasses and the cups on? Do you rinse the plates before they go in? To tell the truth, it probably does not matter. But it is still irritating to open the dishwasher and to find someone else has packed it.

The level of questioning of the Pharisees is about a ritual that is probably more important than how to stack the dishwasher. And the level of criticism from Jesus is not as rude as we might first think.

But when he says the Pharisees are hypocrites, Jesus is challenging them to drop the mask and to own the words they speak and to own the reasons for those rituals.

Can you imagine how much more positively people at large would view the churches if every parish and church put as much care into seeing that our children are not abused or infected with racism or discrimination or hatred as much as we put into seeing that the cups are clean for the tea and coffee after church, or as much as we attend to the cleanliness of the sacred vessels used for the Eucharist or Holy Communion?

If we are worried about how clean the patten and chalice are at Holy Communion, how clean the church is, how clean the coffee cup is when it comes out of the dishwasher, how much more should be worried about how clean the Church is as an institution, how worthy it is to be called – for us to be called – the Body of Christ.

How we stack the dishwasher can be a domestic ritual of cleanliness … and the cause of many domestic arguments (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 26 August 2025):

The theme this week (24 to 30 August) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is been ‘From Strangers to Neighbours’ (pp 32-33) This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from the Right Revd Antonio Ablon, Chaplain of Saint Catherine’s Anglican Church, Stuttgart, Germany.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 26 August 2025) invites us to pray:

God of compassion, comfort families divided by migration. Strengthen the bonds of love between parents and children, husbands and wives, and friends separated by distance. May they be reunited in joy or find peace in their sacrifices.

The Collect of the Day:

Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions
make them to ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of our pilgrimage,
you have willed that the gate of mercy
should stand open for those who trust in you:
look upon us with your favour
that we who follow the path of your will
may never wander from the way of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Lord of heaven and earth,
as Jesus taught his disciples to be persistent in prayer,
give us patience and courage never to lose hope,
but always to bring our prayers before you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

‘For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin’ (Matthew 23: 23) … there are two large tithe barns at Passenham Manor, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

‘For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate’ (Matthew 23: 25) … a cup of coffee at Pavlos Beach in Platanias, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Broadcasting House in London, a controversial sculpture by Eric Gill, and an Irish architect’s designs

xxx (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. It is one of the first purpose-built broadcast buildings in the world and was completed in 1932. The first radio broadcast from the building was on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May 1932.

The main building is in the Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland stone over a steel frame. Broadcasting House is a Grade II* listed building and over the years, has been extensively renovated and extended. A new wing added in 2005 is now known as the John Peel Wing.

Broadcasting House was designed by the architect George Val Myer (1883-1959), in collaboration with the BBC’s civil engineer, Marmaduke Tudsbery. The interiors were mainly the work of the Australian-born Irish architect Raymond McGrath (1903-1977).

Val Myer and Francis James (‘FJ’) Watson-Hart (1880-1953) had been working in 1927 for a consortium headed by Lord Waring that owned sites at the bottom of Portland Place. The BBC identified the sites as the location for its new building, and Val Myer, who began as the landlord’s architect, came to undertake the leaseholder’s bespoke design.

Myer named his original design ‘the Top Hat design’. With its clean-cut lines and allusions to New York Art Deco, and its accentuated front section with its clock tower and aerial mast, Myer’s design has often been compared with the streamlined liners of the 1930s.

Inside, the reception has Art Deco light fittings and a mosaic floor, while the decoration matches the 1930s colours. The interior designs for Broadcasting House were the first major commission for Raymond McGrath. He was a Cambridge-educated architect, illustrator, printmaker and interior designer and for the greater part of his career he would live in Dublin, where he was the principal architect for the Office of Public Works in Ireland.

The gilded Latin inscription on the ceiling arch of the main reception area describes Broadcasting House as a ‘temple of the arts and muses’ and welcome workers and visitors alike to a palace of art and creativity: ‘This temple of the arts and muses is dedicated to Almighty God by the first Governors in the year of our Lord 1931 John Reith being Director-General, and they pray that good seed sown may bring forth good harvest, that all things foul or hostile to peace may be banished hence, and that people inclining their ear to whatsoever things are lovely and honest, whatsoever things are of good report, may tread the path of virtue and wisdom.’

Broadcasting House links emphatically to the rest of Regent Street with its use of Portland stone. But it was modernistic in spirit, and the building showcases works of art, most prominently Eric Gill’s statues of Prospero and Ariel, from The Tempest by Shakespeare. The reception area also has a statue of ‘The Sower’ by Gill, and there are additional carvings of Ariel in many bas-reliefs on the exterior, some by Gill and others by Gilbert Bayes (1872-1973).

Gill was among the most prominent sculptors of the 20th century. The choice of Prospero and Ariel was seen as fitting at the time as Prospero was a magician and scholar and Ariel was a spirit of the air, representing in some way radio waves.

Prospero and Ariel by Eric Gill in the niche above the main entrance to Broadcasting House (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The most important group by Gill is in the niche above the main entrance and shows Prospero, Ariel’s master, sending him out into the world. Gill accepted the BBC’s suggestion that the literary subject of the carvings should be Shakespeare’s Ariel, who, as the invisible spirit of the air, might well serve as a personification of broadcasting.

The two panels by Gill on the west front show ‘Ariel between Wisdom and Gaiety’, and ‘Ariel hearing celestial music’, and a panel on the east side represents ‘Ariel piping to children’.

Directly above this group, at the seventh floor level, is a rectangular clock that is without chimes but that uses an amplifier and loudspeaker to reproduce the chimes of Big Ben.

The great surface area of the west face is relieved partly by vertical breaks in the massing of the windows, and partly by a carved balcony on the third floor, the BBC coat of arms between the third and fourth floors, and groups of sculpture at appropriate places on the level of the first floor. The carving of the BBC coat of arms and the frieze of the ‘birds of the air’ and ‘waves’ or ‘rays of light’ on the balcony front were designed by the architect.

Inside, Gilbert Bayes was commissioned to create 12 friezes for the walls of the Concert Hall, later the Radio Theatre. His carvings on the west wall are of classical scenes such as poetry, dancing and music; those on the opposite wall depict modern scenes. Bayes is best-known for his ‘Queen of Time’ (1908), which supports the clock above the main entrance at Selfridge’s on Oxford Street.

The great surface area of the west face on Portland Street with a carved balcony on the third floor (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Gill carved his statue of Prospero and Ariel onsite in 1931 and 1932, and it was one of his many high-profile commissions. He later said he did not understand why the Shakespearean characters were relevant and that his statue actually depicted God and Jesus. Other reports said Gill had sculpted them as God and Man, rather than Prospero and Ariel, and that there is a small carved picture of a beautiful girl on the back of Prospero.

From the beginning, some features of the statue were controversial, including the size of the sprite’s genitalia. A question was tabled in the House of Commons, but the popular story that Gill was ordered to modify the statue is not substantiated.

The statues of Prospero and Ariel have become controversial once again in recent years with revelations from Gill’s diary that he engaged in paedophilia and questions about whether the statue reflect his sexuality.

Despite his keen interest in religion and pious appearance, Gill’s private diaries revealed a life of sexual deviancy. After his death in 1940, his diaries revealed he had sexually abused his two eldest daughters, documented an incestuous relationship with at least one of his sisters, and gave accounts of sexual activity with the family dog.

Since all this was revealed in Fiona MacCarthy’s biography of Gill in 1989, calls for the removal of his public artworks have grown. But the BBC has declined to remove his work from Broadcasting House, saying he is one of the pre-eminent British artists of the 20th century.

Gill’s statue of Prospero and Ariel was vandalised in January 2022 by a man using a hammer and who wrote on the statue: ‘Time to go was 1989’ and ‘noose all paedos’. The statue was damaged a second time in May 2023 by a man with a hammer. BBC staff reportedly heard him shouting ‘paedophile’ as he struck the statue.

The Grade II*-listed statue was restored and unveiled in April (2025). The estimated total costs of the restoration and protective work in line with the building’s Grade II* status was put at £529,715. A protective screen was installed in front of the sculpture ‘to avoid future damage’.

At the time, a spokeswoman said the BBC ‘in no way condones Gill's abusive behaviour’ but that it ‘draws a line between the actions of Gill, and the status of these artworks’. The head of BBC History, Robert Seatter, said: ‘Gill’s abusive behaviour and lifestyle are well documented and the BBC in no way condones his behaviour. So while it is right that the fabric of the building is restored, we must also ensure people are fully informed about the history connected to it.’

The BBC coat of arms and the frieze of the ‘birds of the air’ and ‘waves’ or ‘rays of light’ on the balcony front at Broadcating House (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

As for Raymond McGrath, the architect who designed the interiors for Broadcasting House, he moved to Dublin in 1940 when he was appointed Senior Architect at the Office of Public Works. He was appointed Principal Architect in 1948, and held that post until 1968.

His first major work for the OPW was the decoration of the interior of Áras an Uachtaráin. After a fire in the state apartments at Dublin Castle in 1941 he took charge of the team responsible for the restoration work.

McGrath is credited with giving a recognisable ‘look’ to Ireland’s state buildings. These included specially designed woollen carpets, Waterford glass chandeliers and Irish silk poplin hangings, along with fittings that included 18th-century chimney-pieces and ornamental plasterwork. He supervised and co-ordinated the decor as well as the architecture, drawing on his extensive knowledge of Irish Georgian architecture.

In the 1950s, he worked on a series of specially-woven carpets that became the hallmark of his government work. They were installed in public buildings in Ireland and in Irish embassies around the world, most notably in Paris, Rome, Washington and Ottawa.

McGrath also designed the Royal Hibernian Academy building in Ely Place, and in 1968 he became the RHA’s professor of architecture. For many years, he also championed a new National Concert Hall. He died in Dublin on 2 December 1977 at the age of 74.

The clock uses an amplifier and loudspeaker to reproduce the chimes of Big Ben (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 109, Tuesday 27 August 2024

‘For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence’ (Matthew 23: 25) … teacups in a painting in a restaurant in Listowel, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began on Sunday with the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Monica (387), the mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo, who is commemorated tomorrow (28 August).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘You … have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith’ (Matthew 23: 23) … the statue of Justice by John Van Nost (1721) in Dublin Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 23: 23-26 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 23 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practised without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

25 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.’

‘For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law’ (Matthew 23: 23) … two 18th century Sabbath spice boxes, part of the ritual of welcoming the Sabbath, in the Jewish Museum in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

In the Beatitudes at the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says eight groups of people are blessed: ‘the poor in spirit … those who mourn … the meek … those who hunger and thirst for righteousness … the merciful … the pure in heart … the peacemakers … those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness …’ (Matthew 5: 3-10).

Now, as we come close to the end of this Gospel, we have seven groups of people who are condemned as hypocrites and against whom Jesus pronounces seven woes.

In the Gospel reading yesterday, we heard the first three of these seven woes: woe to you who ‘lock people out of the kingdom of heaven’ (verse 13) … who ‘make the new convert twice as much a child of hell’ (verse 15) … and ‘blind guides’ who swear by the ‘gold of the sanctuary’ (verses 16-22).

We hear two further woes today (Matthew 23: 23-26): for those who tithe mint, dill, and cummin but neglect the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith; and these who care about the details of domestic purity but neglect the cleanliness of their hearts and inner thoughts. Then, we hear the final of the seven woes tomorrow (Matthew 23: 27-32): a double woe on those who on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

A ‘woe’ is an exclamation of grief, similar to what is expressed by the word alas. In pronouncing woes, Jesus is prophesying judgment on the religious leaders of the day for their hypocrisy. He calls them hypocrites, blind guides, snakes and a ‘brood of vipers’.

Before Jesus condemns the hypocrisy of religious leaders, they have been following him to test him and try to trick him with questions about divorce (Matthew 19: 3), his authority (Matthew 21: 23), paying taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22: 17), the resurrection (Matthew 22: 23), and the greatest commandment of the law (Matthew 22: 36).

Jesus prefaces his seven woes by explaining to the disciples that they should obey the teachings of the religious leaders – as they teach the law of God – but not to emulate their behaviour because they do not practice what they preach (Matthew 23: 3).

The second grouping of these woes, which we read today, condemns the scribes and Pharisees for tithing mint, dill, and cummin but neglecting the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith, for worrying about clean cups and plates outside, but neglecting the state of their inner thoughts (Matthew 23: 23-26).

The scribes and Pharisees are accused of making a big deal of small things like tithing spices, while they ignore more crucial matters. They diligently count their mint leaves to give every tenth one to the temple, but they neglect the more important matters of the law, such as justice, mercy and faith (verse 23).

Jesus is not saying tithing the mint, dill, and cumin is wrong. He says they should not neglected proper tithing, but it must be done with a good heart. Jewish law and tradition specifies tithes on some produce, generally food. But there was no tithe required for wild herbs, although this is debated in the Mishnah: ‘R. Eliezer says, “Dill is subject to the law of tithes [in regard to its] seeds, leaves and pods.” But Sages say, “Nothing is subject to the law of tithes [in regard to both its] seeds and leaves save cress and field rocket alone”.’ (m. Ma’as. 4: 5).

There is an issue of justice here. If a tithe that is not required in the law is demanded, then it not only deprives them of what is lawfully theirs, but in this case it may even deprive them of fully enjoying the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath, it is said, the ‘Sabbath Queen’ or the ‘Sabbath Bride’ descends from Heaven to heal the sufferings of the Jews. The arrival and departure of ‘Her Majesty’ is marked by ceremonies. When she enters, everybody is happy; when she leaves, there is a strange sadness. But people take comfort in a symbolic tradition that includes inhaling the aroma of spices contained in an ornamental box, often made of silver, the spice box.

Spice-boxes are an essential part of Havdalah (הַבְדָּלָה, ‘separation’), the ceremony marking the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushering in the new week. The spices are usually kept in decorative spice-boxes to beautify and honour the mitzvah and are handed around so that everyone can smell the fragrance. In many Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, branches of aromatic plants are used for this purpose, while Ashkenazim have traditionally used cloves.

A special braided Havdalah candle with more than one wick is lit, and a blessing is recited. If a special Havdalah candle is not available, two candles can be used, and the two flames joined when reciting the blessing. The traditional prayers include: ‘Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, Creator of all kinds of spices.’

Turning to hyperbole, Jesus says the religious leaders can strain out a gnat when they are drinking but can swallow a camel (verse 24). In other words, they were careful to avoid offence in minor things of little importance, but ignore things that are much more difficult to swallow.

In the fifth woe, Jesus compares them to cups and plates that are scrupulously cleaned on the outside but left dirty inside. Their religious observances make them appear clean and virtuous, but inwardly, in their hearts, they are full of ‘greed and self-indulgence’ (verse 25).

It is not that washing my hands or cutlery and crockery before I eat is a bad idea, or that I am a hypocrite if I do so. If I habitually fail to wash my hands and the cups and plates before I eat, I am going to get sick, quickly and often.

But if I forget why I have to wash them, I am a hypocrite if I then expect others to do so. Indeed, sometimes we leave ourselves in danger of going hungry if we insist on everything being spotless before we eat: those facilities are not always to hand on a long train journey or a long flight.

The Pharisees had their own rituals, and I would be silly to think that only they had these problems. We all have our own rituals associated with eating and cleanliness.

It is said one of the principal causes of domestic arguments in the kitchen is about what way to stack the dishwasher, and how to empty it. Should the knives stand up or down? Which sides do you place the glasses and the cups on? Do you rinse the plates before they go in? To tell the truth, it probably does not matter. But it is still irritating to open the dishwasher and to find someone else has packed it.

The level of questioning of the Pharisees is about a ritual that is probably more important than how to stack the dishwasher. And the level of criticism from Jesus is not as rude as we might first think.

But when he says the Pharisees are hypocrites, Jesus is challenging them to drop the mask and to own the words they speak and to own the reasons for those rituals.

Can you imagine how much more positively people at large would view the churches if every parish and church put as much care into seeing that our children are not abused or infected with racism or discrimination or hatred as much as we put into seeing that the cups are clean for the tea and coffee after church, or as much as we attend to the cleanliness of the sacred vessels used for the Eucharist or Holy Communion?

If we are worried about how clean the patten and chalice are at Holy Communion, how clean the church is, how clean the coffee cup is when it comes out of the dishwasher, how much more should be worried about how clean the Church is as an institution, how worthy it is to be called – for us to be called – the Body of Christ.

How we stack the dishwasher can be a domestic ritual of cleanliness … and the cause of many domestic arguments (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 27 August 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is the ‘Theological Education Executive Leadership Programme in Africa.’ The course is expected to start in August 2024 and run until December 2025, and this theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Fran Mate, Regional Manager Africa, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 27 August 2024) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for all the principals, leaders, teachers and staff of TEIs. May God bless them in their important work.

The Collect:

Faithful God,
who strengthened Monica, the mother of Augustine, with wisdom,
and through her patient endurance encouraged him
to seek after you:
give us the will to persist in prayer
that those who stray from you may be brought to faith
in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name,
your servant Monica revealed your goodness
in a life of tranquillity and service:
grant that we who have gathered in faith around this table
may like her know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
and be filled with all your fullness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

‘For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin’ (Matthew 23: 23) … there are two large tithe barns at Passenham Manor (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

‘For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate’ (Matthew 23: 25) … a cup of coffee at Pavlos Beach in Platanias, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Iveagh Gardens, one of the best-kept secrets in Dublin, and the challenge to defend human rights

The Iveagh Gardens in Dublin were designed by Ninian Niven in a mixture of the ‘French Formal’ and the ‘English Landscape’ styles (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Tucked away behind the south side of Saint Stephen’s Green and National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace, the Iveagh Gardens are among the finest, but least known, of Dublin’s parks and gardens. I only got to know the gardens in recent years, and so it was a pleasure to have time to explore them with Charlotte when we were back in Dublin for a quick overnight visit at the end of last week.

The Iveagh Gardens claim to be Dublin’s best-kept secret. They were designed by Ninian Niven in 1865 as the grounds for the Dublin Exhibition Palace – a space ‘where the citizens might meet for the purposes of rational amusement blended with instruction’. But for too long, this open area close to Harcourt Street and Hatch Street was a private garden, owned at different times by the Guinness family, when they also owned Iveagh House, and then by University College Dublin, with its main building on Earlsfort Terrace, now the National Concert Hall.

The Iveagh Gardens are an oasis of tranquillity and beauty near the city centre, close to Saint Stephen’s Green and Grafton Street. They include cascades, rustic grottos, sunken lawns, fountains, woodlands, a maze, a rose garden, rockeries and archery grounds.

The Maze in the Iveagh Gardens is a miniature copy of the maze at Hampton Court in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Iveagh Gardens is a national property, rather a municipal park, almost completely surrounded by buildings making the place a little difficult to find. I was staying on Harcourt Street on Friday night, opposite the former site of the High School, and entered the Iveagh Gardens from Upper Hatch Street and left at Clonmel Street.

The site was known as Leeson’s Fields in 1756, when it was owned by Joseph Leeson (1701-1783), 1st Earl of Milltown. He gives his name to Leeson Street and built Russborough House, near Blessington, Co Wicklow. Some years later, Lord Milltown leased the land to John Hatch (1720-1797), MP for Swords and the principal developer of Harcourt Street and Hatch Street in 1777-1784.

Hatch, who was an ancestor of the playwright John Millington Synge, sold the site to John Scott (1739-1798), 1st Earl of Clonmell, as his private gardens, and it became known as Clonmell Lawns. Scott was the Attorney General and then Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and due to his heavy drinking he was known as ‘Copper-Faced Jack’ – remembered in the name of a night club in the area, Copper Face Jack’s.

He gave Clonmel Street its name and his subsidiary title of Lord Earlsfort gives Earlsfort Terrace its name. An underground passage brought Lord Clonmell Earl from his house on Harcourt Street to the gardens without him having to walk on Harcourt Street or Clonmel Street.

There was a plan to continue Clonmel Street through the site of the gardens, linking Harcourt Street to the newly-built Earlsfort Terrace. But this plan never materialised; nor was Lord Clonmell’s tunnel found during archaeological explorations when the Luas line was being built.

Lord Clonmell’s house on Harcourt Street later became the National Children’s Hospital, and is now modern offices. Meanwhile, when he died in 1798, his title and his properties, including Clonmell Gardens, were inherited by his 14-year-old son, Thomas Scott (1783-1838), as the 2nd Earl of Clonmell. The estate was sold in 1810 and when the gardens were opened for public use in 1817 they were named Coburg Gardens after the royal family of Saxe-Coburg.

The entrance to the Coburg Gardens was then from the south side of Saint Stephen’s Green, known as the Royal Horse Bazaar. Several Orangemen were badly injured during a major riot in the park in August 1835. The gardens had fallen into disrepair by 1860, when they were used for grazing sheep and dumping waste.

The Iveagh Gardens were acquired by the Guinness family in 1862 and opened to the public in 1992 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness (1798-1868) acquired the 17-acre site when he co-founded the Dublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Garden Company in 1862 to provide a permanent exhibition of Irish arts and manufactures as well as public reading rooms, flower gardens, and a gas-lit winter garden, modelled on the Crystal Palace in London. He transferred the site to the company, and it was the venue for the Dublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Garden, officially opened by Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1865.

The Iveagh Gardens were designed by Ninian Niven in 1865, as an intermediate design between the ‘French Formal’ and the ‘English Landscape’ styles. A large sunken lawn near the Earlsfort Terrace entrance is one of only two purpose-built archery fields in Ireland. At its east end was a pond and boating tower, now inside the walls of Iveagh House. The cascade, or waterfall flows over an immense rockery, with rocks from each of the 32 counties. The maze is a miniature copy of the maze at Hampton Court in London.

The horticulturist and landscape gardener Ninian Niven (1799-1879) worked for most of his life in Ireland, but was born in Kelvingrove, Glasgow. He came to Ireland in 1827 as the head gardener of the grounds of the official residence of the Chief Secretary for Ireland in the Phoenix Park. Over the course of eight years, he developed his landscaping skills and remodelled the garden.

He became the curator of the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin in 1834. Four years later, visitor numbers had risen from 7,000 a year to over 20,000, and he established the first horticultural training courses. In 1838, he established the Garden Farm nursery in Clonturk Lodge, Drumcondra.

Niven designed the gardens of many Irish country houses, influenced by his visit to France in the 1830s. In the Phoenix Park, he designed the gardens of the Viceregal Lodge, now Áras and Uachtaráin, the Chief Secretary’s Lodge, and the Under-Secretary’s Lodge, as well as the People’s Garden.

A large sunken lawn near the Earlsfort Terrace entrance is one of only two purpose-built archery fields in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Sir Benjamin’s sons, Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927), later Lord Iveagh (1891), and Arthur Edward Guinness (1840-1915), later Lord Ardilaun (1880), bought back the Iveagh Gardens and the buildings in 1870. The site hosted an exhibition of Irish arts and manufactures in 1872. However, this was not a success, the Winter Gardens were sold and removed to England in 1882, and the gardens returned to private ownership and the Guinness family.

Lord Iveagh sold the buildings in 1883 to house the new Royal University of Ireland, but the Guinness family continued to own the gardens. The buildings were adapted after University College Dublin (UCD) was set up in 1908, and the present façade on Earlsfort Terrace was designed by the architect Rudolph Maximilian Butler and built in 1918.

When Éamon de Valera was both Taoiseach and chancellor of UCD, he began talks with Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh, about the state acquiring Iveagh House at 80 Saint Stephen’s Green and the Iveagh Gardens. The request was turned down in 1937, but Lord Iveagh offered the house and gardens as a gift to the nation in 1939, insisting the Iveagh Gardens must not be built on and must remain a ‘lung’ for Dublin. His gift was accepted and Iveagh House became the Department of Foreign Affairs, while the Iveagh Gardens were re-united with UCD’s buildings on Earlsfort Terrace.

With growing student numbers, UCD had plans in 1961 to build on the Iveagh Gardens. Instead, however, UCD moved to Belfield, the gardens were saved, and eventually they were placed under the management of the Office of Public Works (OPW) in 1991. The OPW aimed to conserve and restore the park, maintaining Ninian Niven’s layout. The Iveagh Gradens opened to the public in 1992, the waterfall or cascade was restored in 1996, and a new entrance from Upper Hatch Street opened in 2003.

Elizabeth O’Kane’s sculpture of Count John McCormack, close to the National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

In the north-east corner and – appropriately – beside the National Concert Hall, is Elizabeth O’Kane’s 2008 sculpture of Count John McCormack (1884-1945). His voice and charisma made him the most successful concert performer of the early 20th century. He was the first artist to record the World War I song ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’. Later, the French Government awarded him the Légion d’Honneur and he was made a papal count by Pope Pius XI in 1928.

Nearby, close to Iveagh House and the Department of Foreign Affairs, a memorial commemorates the lives of human rights defenders who have been killed because of their work.

The memorial was inaugurated on International Human Rights Defenders Day, 9 December 2020, by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, and the Front Line Defenders Executive Director, Andrew Anderson.

The memorial, designed by Grafton Architects, is an Ogham garden with five standing stones, etched with ancient Irish Ogham script, each representing a native Irish tree. The space is enclosed by a crafted metal screen with plaques, bearing the words of people who gave their lives for their causes. They include Bety Cariño, who spoke at a gathering of human rights defenders I attended in Dublin Castle in 2010, and who was shot dead two months later during a peaceful protest in Mexico.

On this side of the Iveagh Gardens, a gate leads into the Readers’ Garden and the Museum of Literature Ireland in Newman House. But more about these tomorrow, hopefully (see HERE.

The memorial commemorating international human rights defenders was inaugurated in 2020 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)