Praying with USPG and the music of Vaughan Williams: Saturday 27 August 2022

The enclosed monastery cloisters in Gloucester Cathedral … Vaughan Williams conducted the first performance of his ‘Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis’ in the cathedral in 1910 (Photograph: Paradoxplace)

Patrick Comerford

Today, the Church of England’s calendar in Common Worship remembers Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo (387) with a Lesser Festival.

Before today gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose music is celebrated throughout this year’s Proms season. In my prayer diary for these weeks I am reflecting in these ways:

1, One of the readings for the morning;

2, Reflecting on a hymn or another piece of music by Vaughan Williams, often drawing, admittedly, on previous postings on the composer;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

Saint Monica in a painting once in Orlagh, the former Augustinian retreat house in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Monica was born in North Africa of Christian parents in 332 and she was married to a pagan named Patricius, whom she converted to Christianity. They had three children of whom the most famous was her eldest child, the future Augustine.

Augustine ascribed his conversion to the example and devotion of his mother: ‘She never let me out of her prayers that you, O God, might say to the widow’s son “Young man, I tell you arise”.’ This is why the gospel story of the widow of Nain is traditionally read today as her memorial.

Monica’s husband died when she was 40. Her desire had been to be buried alongside him, but this was not to be. She died in Italy, at Ostia, in 387 on her way home to North Africa with her two sons.

Luke 7: 11-17 (NRSVA):

11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ 15The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’ 17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.



Today’s reflection: ‘Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis’

For my reflections and devotions each day these few weeks, I am reflecting on and invite you to listen to a piece of music or a hymn set to a tune by the great English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958).

This morning [27 August 2022], I invite you to join me in listening to his ‘Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis.’

The word fantasy or fantasia is sometimes used in music to describe a work that does not follow any set form or pattern. It is also used for compositions that are based on another musical work.

Vaughan Williams’s ‘Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis’ is also known as the ‘Tallis Fantasia.’ It was written string orchestra by Vaughan Williams in 1910 and it was performed for the first time on 6 September 1910 in Gloucester Cathedral at the Three Choirs Festival, with Vaughan Williams conducting himself.

That evening, most of the attention that evening was devoted to Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius. Elgar had once declined a request from Vaughan Williams to take him on as a pupil. Most critics present that evening found Vaughan Williams’s work difficult to take. The critic of the Musical Times wrote: ‘It is a grave work, exhibiting power and much charm of the contemplative kind, but it appears overlong for the subject-matter.’

But the audience that evening also included Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney, two organ scholars at Gloucester Cathedral who went on to become celebrated composers.

Vaughan Williams had been cycling round the lanes and pubs of Wiltshire, Somerset and Norfolk since 1903, jotting down tunes and ballads from the countryside that inspired his arrangements for hymns in the English Hymnal in 1905, and the music he was writing at the time, including: In the Fen Country, his Norfolk Rhapsodies, The Wasps and On Wenlock Edge.

However, his contributions to the English Hymnal were still anonymous by 1910, and the ‘Fantasia’ heralded the making of his career as well as a new clarity in his art. His A Sea Symphony would have its premiere two months later in Leeds, and he was soon on the way to composing his second symphony, the London Symphony, as well as embarking on his first opera, Hugh the Drover, and the Five Mystical Songs. Folk music, hymn tunes, visionary literature, Renaissance polyphony and cutting-edge orchestration fused in a potent summoning of the humanist New Jerusalem.

The night after the premiere of this Fantasia in Gloucester Cathedral in 1910, Sir Hubert Parry gave a speech in which he declared music to be a socially inclusive agent ‘to get the people from the slums to be elevated by [its] power.’

Vaughan Williams attended meetings of the Hammersmith Socialist Society at William Morris’s home, along with HG Wells and Gustav Holst. This brought him into contact with a Fabian circle that included George Bernard Shaw and George Trevelyan.

A contributor to the Musical Times that month had commented: ‘It is our idiosyncrasy as a nation to prefer religious sentiment to patriotic and national feeling.’ But for Vaughan Williams, the two were inextricably entwined, and the ‘Tallis Fantasia’ is a perfect expression of that unity. He said later: ‘I feel that I am perhaps beginning to emerge from the fogs at last.’

Vaughan Williams went on revise this work twice, in 1913 and 1919. Yet it was not recorded until 1936.

The work is his homage to the Elizabethan composer, Thomas Tallis (ca 1505–1585). Many of Vaughan Williams’s works were inspired by the music of the English Renaissance. In 1906, he included Tallis’s ‘Third Mode Melody’ in the English Hymnal, which he was editing with Percy Dearmer, as his melody for Joseph Addison’s hymn ‘When Rising from the Bed of Death’ (No 92).

Thomas Tallis was a Catholic given a stay of execution among Elizabeth I’s clergy in order to take part in restructuring the Anglican church. The psalm that Vaughan Williams based his Fantasia on is short: a four-line verse that appears in The Whole Psalter Translated into English Metre, published by Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1567, nine years after Elizabeth’s coronation.

Tallis’s original words for the hymn, based in Psalm 2: 1-2, are:

Why fumeth in fight the Gentile’s
spite, in fury raging stout?
Why taketh in hand the people
fond, vain things to bring about?
The Kings arise, the Lords devise,
in counsels met thereto,
Against the Lord with false accord,
against His Christ they go.

Tallis’s words hover, unvoiced, in the distant background to Vaughan Williams’s ‘Fantasia.’ Tallis and fellow Catholics in the Elizabethan era were entrusted with making church music accessible to untrained congregations while preserving a sense of spiritual wonder. They achieved this by drawing on popular songs and ballads, just as Vaughan Williams did for the English Hymnal.

Although this ‘Fantasia’ was not recorded until 1936, later classic post-war recordings by John Barbirolli, Adrian Boult and Richard Hickox have become bestsellers. It is a regular fixture in the BBC’s ‘Hundred Best Tunes.’

In a recent poll of the most popular classical pieces of music, listeners voted this piece third on the Classic FM ‘Hall of Fame.’ First place has gone consistently to a later Vaughan Williams’s piece, ‘The Lark Ascending.’

Vaughan Williams’s ‘Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis’ is scored for an expanded string orchestra divided into three parts: orchestra I, a full-sized string orchestra; orchestra II, a single desk from each section (ideally placed apart from Orchestra I); and a string quartet.

Vaughan Williams made this configuration resemble an organ in sound, with the quartet representing the swell division, orchestra II the choir division, and orchestra I the great division. The score specifies that the second orchestra should be placed apart from the first. This spacing emphasises the way that the second orchestra several times echoes the first orchestra.

In structure, this piece resembles the Elizabethan-age ‘fantasy.’ The theme is heard in its entirety three times during the course of the work, but the music grows from the theme’s constituent motives or fragments, with variations upon them. A secondary melody, based on the original, is first heard on the solo viola about a third of the way into the Fantasia, and this theme forms the climax of the work about five minutes before the end.

Vaughan Williams’s ‘Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis’ provides a bridge between the Tudors and the early 20th century. It contains many of his trademarks, particularly the way he whets his chord harmonics with the flattened seventh, a staple of English folk, and the minor third, the key feature of Tallis’s setting.

The piece is open to a rich range of readings, even fantasies, not least that it enacts and heals the rupture of English Catholicism and Protestantism. It is not rapturous, like ‘The Lark Ascending,’ composed four years later, but a solemn, controlled release, the product of a mind in visionary mode, and appropriate listening for this Saturday morning.

Sculptures by Bettina Seitz in the grounds of Markree Castle, Co Sligo (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer, Saturday 27 August 2022:

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.

The theme in the USPG prayer diary all this week has been ‘The Pursuit of Justice.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Javanie Byfield and Robert Green, ordinands at the United Theological College of the West Indies.

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:

Let us pray for those who devote their lives to challenging injustice. May they be filled with the Spirit and love for humanity.

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

Praying in Advent with USPG: 26, Thursday 24 December 2020

‘To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death …’ (see Luke 1: 79) … the choirstalls in the private chapel at Markree Castle, Co Sligo (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Throughout Advent and Christmas this year, I am using the Prayer Diary of the Anglican Mission Agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) for my morning reflections each day, and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar produced at Lichfield Cathedral for my prayers and reflections each evening.

I am one of the contributors to the current USPG Diary, Pray with the World Church, introducing the theme of peace and trust next week.

Later this evening, as Advent turns to Christmas, I had hoped to preside at the Christmas Eucharist in Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Tarbert), Co Kerry (6 p.m.) and in Castletown Church, Co Limerick (8 p.m.). But, on the advice of the Bishop, because of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, all public Christmas services have been cancelled throughout the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe.

Before what should be a busy day starts, I am taking a little time this morning for my own personal prayer, to be still, to reflect and for Scripture reading.

The theme of the USPG Prayer Diary this week (20 to 26 December 2020) is ‘Christmas in the Holy Land.’ This week’s theme is introduced by the Very Revd Canon Richard Sewell, Dean of Saint George’s College, Jerusalem.

Thursday 24 December 2020 (Christmas Eve):

Let us pray for safety on the road for all those who are travelling to be with their loved ones for Christmas.

The Collect of the Day (Christmas Eve):

Almighty God,
you make us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as we joyfully receive him as our redeemer,
we may with sure confidence behold him
when he shall come to be our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God for whom we wait,
you feed us with the bread of eternal life:
Keep us watchful, that we may be ready
to stand before the Son of Man, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 1: 67-79 (NRSVA):


67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

68 ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
78 By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

Continued tomorrow

Yesterday’s morning reflection

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

A lockdown ‘virtual tour’ of a dozen hotels in Ireland

Sunrise at the mouth of the River Slaney at the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford; click on image for full-screen view)

Patrick Comerford

The lockdown introduced in response to Covid-19 pandemic is beginning to be eased, and many of us are probably beginning to think about – if not planning – staycations in Ireland as soon as the opportunity arises.

When I was in my late teens, I hitched hiked all over Ireland and England, staying in youth hostels, over pubs and in bed and breakfast guesthouses.

It is left me with a taste for ‘cheap and cheerful’ hotels, rather than the expensive plush hotels I have sometimes found myself staying in during working trips.

But there are some hotels I have stayed in that I have come to regard as worth staying in, no matter where they are, simply because of themselves. And at the tope of this list in Ireland is the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford.

In the spirit of my recent ‘virtual tours’ during this lockdown, I offer this ‘virtual tour’ of a dozen of my favourite hotels in Ireland. Perhaps it might help readers as they think about a ‘staycation’ later this year.

1, The Ferrycarrig Hotel, Wexford:

All bedrooms in the Ferrycarrig Hotel look out onto the River Slaney (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

If there is one hotel in Ireland that I would stay in just for its own sake, then it has to be the Ferrycarrig Hotel, is just 3 km from Wexford Town.

I lived in Wexford almost 50 years ago, and still feel that I am part of Wexford and that Wexford is part of me. In the past, when I returned to Wexford, I wanted to stay in the town, staying with friends or in a variety of hotels and guesthouses. Ferrycarrig seemed to be far out, even though I walked there regularly in my early 20s.

Now I know it is actually very convenient to the town, and I have stayed in the Ferrycarrig Hotel on a number of occasions in recent years. and before dinner last night two of walked around the streets of the old town.

All the bedrooms in the Ferrycarrig Hotel look out onto the River Slaney, and there is nothing comparable to waking up to this sight any morning, any time of the year.

In the corridors of the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the morning, the colours on the Slaney and in the skies slowly can change from greys and dull blues to contrasts of bright orange and silver sparkle and then to bright blues and reflections of the landscape in the water. Time moves on – in history, in life and on river – and each passing phase brings new opportunities and new blessings.

in one of the corridors of the hotel, among a large collection of posters from the Wexford Festival, I came across a poster from the 1994 festival, that is the same as a block-mounted poster in the my house in Knocklyon.

However, unlike my own poster in Dublin, the hotel’s copy is not fading, a reminder of my continuing, harboured and cherished memories of Wexford that never fade.

2, Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan:

Castle Leslie exudes old-world grandeur and hospitality(Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I stayed many years ago in Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan, while I was attending the ordination of four former students. Castle Leslie, at the village of Glaslough, is a country house hotel exuding old-world grandeur and hospitality, and is free from distractions and intrusions.

The 1,000-acre Castle Leslie Estate includes the charming and eccentric Castle Leslie with its own equestrian centre and hunting lodge set in unspoiled countryside, with ancient forests, rolling hills, green fields, lakes and streams. Castle Leslie stands on the site of an earlier castle, and was designed in 1870 by Charles Lanyon and WH Lynn for Sir John Leslie in the Scottish baronial style.

Castle Leslie is beside the pretty village of Glaslough (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The colourful history of the Castle Leslie Estate is a story that is bedecked with politics, royalty and war, with a family that includes much-married bishops, exiled opponents of William of Orange, a woman said to be the granddaughter of George IV and his mistress, cousins of Winston Churchill, prisoners-of-war, and eccentrics who believe we are about to be invaded by flying saucers and UFOs.

Swift wrote many verses about the Leslies, not all of them complimentary:

With rows and rows of books upon the shelves
Written by the Leslies
All about themselves.

3, The Zuni Hotel, Kilkenny:

The Zuni Hotel is close to all the attractions of Kilkenny

I have stayed in many hotels in Kilkenny, at clergy conferences, church meetings, eating in some of my favourite restaurants, or visiting some of my favourite places, including Saint Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny Castle, Rothe House and Ballybur Caste, or exploring the streets, lanes and churches of Kilkenny.

But one of my favourite places to stay in Kilkenny is the Zuni Hotel on Patrick Street, a short walk from Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny Design Centre and Kilkenny’s main shopping district and many fine restaurants and bars.

The Zuni Hotel has its own award-winning restaurant

But, despite all these attractions so close at hand, the Zuni Hotel is a boutique hotel with its own award-winning restaurant.

4, Markree Castle, Co Sligo:

Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo … this was once the coldest place in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I stayed at Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo, during a family wedding in Sligo Cathedral. Markree Castle is a small family-run hotel, owned by the Corscadden family who also own Cabra Castle Hotel, Co Cavan, Ballyseede Castle Hotel, Co Kerry, and Bellingham Castle, Co Louth.

The hymn-writer Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) is said to have written the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful while she was a guest there of the Cooper family in 1848.

The staircase leading into Markree Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Markree Castle, which is partially moated by the River Unshin, is the ancestral seat of the Cooper family. The castle, as we see it today, dates from 1802 with exterior changes by the architect Francis Johnston. Some later changes, mainly to the interior, were made in in the late 1860s and in the 1890s.

Charles Cooper transformed his ancestral castle into a hotel in 1989. The castle’s restoration was featured in a television documentary, and the renewed facilities included a hotel and restaurant.

Markree Castle was run as a hotel by Charles and Mary Cooper, the tenth generation of the family to live there. After four centuries, the castle finally changed hands in 2015 when it was sold for an undisclosed sum after being on the market with an asking price of €3.12 million. The hotel is now run by the Corscadden family.

5, Castle Durrow, Co Laois:

Castle Durrow was built over 300 years ago by the Flower family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Castle Durrow, in the Midlands village of Durrow, Co Laois, is a country house hotel on the N8 old Dublin-Cork road, about an hour from Dublin. The house was built over 300 years ago in 1712-1716 as his family home by Captain William Flower, whose family later held the title of Viscount Ashbrook.

The pre-Palladian design and formal gardens were the height of fashion in those days, and the grey/blue cut stone contrasts with the breath-taking views of the landscape.

In the grounds of Castle Durrow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The banks foreclosed in 1922, and the Flower family were forced to sell up and move to England. The Land Commission divided up the lands and the Forestry department took over many of the woods for plantation, but the great house was left empty. The Parish of Durrow bought the estate for a mere £1,800 and Castle Durrow was transformed into Saint Fintan’s College and Convent.

Peter and Shelly Stokes bought Castle Durrow in the 1990s and began renovating the castle over three years. The Stokes family manage the daily running of the castle and are an intricate part of this charming hotel.

6, Strand Hotel, Dugort, Achill Island:

The Strand Hotel looks out onto the beach at Dugort, below Slievemore, on Achill Island (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Strand Hotel is north coast of Achill Island, Ireland’s largest off-shore island. The hotel is beneath the slopes of Slievemore, Achill's highest mountain, and looks out across the beach at Dugort facing out onto Blacksod Bay.

I first visited Achill Island in 1974, and first stayed in the Strand Hotel around 1979. The proprietor, Billy Scott, was so kind, that in the 1980s it became a regular retreat on occasions when I needed solitude and a place to write in peace and quiet, just a short walk from Saint Thomas’s Church.

On the beach at Dugort, below the Strand Hotel, on Achill Island (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This became a regular venue for family holidays in the 1990s. Although I have been back in recent years for summer schools and seminars, I have not stayed in the Strand Hotel for 15 years or more.

However, the location remains inviting, and the view of the beach in Dugort remains inviting.

7, The Station House Hotel, Kilmessan, Co Meath:

The Station House Hotel, Kilmessan, Co Meath … an old railway station with all the charm of a country house hotel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Kilmessan is a quite village off the M3 and just a short distance from Dunshaughlin, Navan, Trim and Ratoath. The Station House Hotel is a country house hotel and restaurant set in acres of woodlands and manicured gardens, providing an idyllic a country escape, away from the bustle of daily life.

This has been run as an hotel for more than 35 years but was once a train station and the hotel grounds retain some of the original fixtures, including the old railway bridge and turntable.

The old signal cabin still stands at one end of the former station (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Chris and Thelma Slattery, who also owned the Waterside House Hotel in Donabate, Co Dublin, bought the Station House Hotel in 1981, the third family to own the old train station, and transformed it into a guest house in 1983.

The remains of the old station at the Station House Hotel today include the safe made by Milners Safe Company Ltd, London and Liverpool, fireplaces and the platforms, which stand outside the main door of the hotel. The remainder of the turntable lies at the end of the wooded area near the bridge.

8, Mount Wolseley, Tullow, Co Carlow:

Mount Wolseley House near Tullow, Co Carlow … sold in 1925 for £4,500 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I stayed some years ago in Mount Wolseley on the edges of Tullow, Co Carlow, during a family wedding. Mount Wolseley House is the ancestral home of a branch of the Wolseley family from Wolseley in Staffordshire, and the Irish branch included the famous general Viscount Wolseley and Frederick York Wolseley who gave his name to a stylish car.

Mount Wolseley was bought by the Morrissey family in 1994 and has been developed into a four-star hotel. The house and gardens are private and remain the home of the Morrissey family, but they can be viewed in the near distance from the entrance gate beside the hotel.

The hotel at Mount Wolseley retains many memories of the original family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The hotel and the grounds are now owned by Lismard Properties and Enterprises. One wing of the hotel includes Aaron’s Lounge, a name that comes from a misunderstanding of the name of Mount Arran, first given to the estate by the Butler family, Earls of Arran, in the late 17th century. The name of Frederick’s Restaurant is a tribute to Frederick York Wolseley.

However, as the estate was developed over the past 20 or 30 years, the replica site of the Battle of Waterloo in the grounds was turned into an 18-hole championship golf course, and the Duke of Wellington’s battle plan can no longer be traced in the greens, fairways and the willow-lined ponds.

9, BrookLodge, Macreddin Village, Co Wicklow:

Autumn colours at the BrookLodge Hotel … a country spa hotel near the forgotten borough of Carysfort, Co Wicklow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Another recent family wedding took place in Macreddin Village in south Co Wicklow, when I stayed overnight in BrookLodge Hotel, a country spa hotel 6 km north of the village of Aughrim.

The BrookLodge Hotel and Wells Spa opened in 1999, and the resort includes an equestrian centre, golf course, bakery, smokehouse, pub and microbrewery, and food, wine and craft shops. BrookLodge includes the Strawberry Tree, which claims to be Ireland’s only certified organic restaurant, and La Taverna Armento, an Italian taverna.

Macreddin, once known also as Moycreedin, is said to take its name (‘the Valley of Credin’) from Credin, a fifth century local saint chief who is said to have been killed by his enemies and brought back to life by Saint Kevin of Glendalough.

The Strawberry Tree claims to be Ireland’s only certified organic restaurant (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Macreddin was granted to the monastery of Saint Saviour, Glendalough in the 12th century. When the Diocese of Glendalough was merged with the Archdiocese of Dublin, Macreddin was transferred to the Priory of All Hallows in Dublin. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, it was transferred to Dublin Corporation.

Co Wicklow was shired in 1606-1607, and so was the last county to be formed in Ireland, taking in the southern part of Dublin (with the exception of three ‘islands’ or enclaves of church property, and the northern part of what was then ‘Catherlough’ or Co Carlow, including Arklow. Two decades later, when Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland, was Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1625-1628, a fort was built at Macreddin and was named Carysfort in his honour.

10, WatersEdge Hotel, Cobh:

The WatersEdge Hotel in Cork is a special venue in every sense of the word (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The last hotel in Ireland I have stayed in is the WatersEdge Hotel in Cork, which is a special venue in every sense of the word. Nestled in the harbour town of Cobh near Cork and situated on the waterfront, we really had a ‘room with a view.’

This is a boutique hotel that commands breath-taking views, with spacious, comfortable accommodation and bistro-style food. It is an hotel to come to time after time.

A view of Cork Harbour from our room in the WatersEdge Hotel, Cobh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The large balcony rooms are spacious and comfortable with a waterside terrace that is hard to leave.

We had a view right across the harbour with its islands, and we were within walking distance of the see-front museums, restaurants and the sites linked with the stories of the Titanic and the Lusitania.

11, Mustard Seed, Ballingarry, Co Limerick:

The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge … fine dining in a country house setting in Ballingarry, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Mustard Seed, an oasis of countryside bliss surrounded by verdant pastures in the heart of Co Limerick. It is within my own parish in West Limerick, but also on the doorstep to Adare.

This boutique hotel with a restaurant that is legendary with superb food and warm hospitality. Sitting on acres of manicured lawns, an orchard and a working kitchen garden, this hideaway is perfect house for a stopover, romantic nights, lazy days and special occasions.

The Library at the Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge in Ballingarry, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Originally, Echo Lodge was a long, thatched dwelling located in what is now the kitchen garden. This thatched house was a stopping house for the great Daniel O’Connell on his journey from Derrynane to Dublin.

The Revd Timothy Ryan Shanahan built the present Echo Lodge as a parochial house in 1885. Later, it passed to the Sisters of Mercy for one penny. Dan Mullane set up the Mustard Seed restaurant in Adare in 1985, and 10 years later moved the Mustard Seed to Echo Lodge, allowing diners the opportunity to stay overnight.

The Mustard Seed changed hands from Dan to his manager John Edward Joyce in 2016.

12, Charlemont Arms Hotel, Armagh:

The Charlemont Arms Hotel … three and a half centuries of history in Armagh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

In recent years, when I have been in Armagh at General Synod of the Church of Ireland, I have tended to stay in the Charlemont Arms Hotel in English Street, a third-generation, family-run hotel in the centre of the cathedral city.

The motto on the coat-of-arms of the Earls of Charlemont, over the hotel front door, which gives its name to the hotel, proclaims boldly: Deo Duce Ferro Comitante, ‘God is my leader, the sword is my companion.’ The first part of the motto may be appropriate for synod members staying in Armagh – but I have serious problems about the second part.

The hotel, which has thrived throughout the centuries, was originally home to a Dr Atkinson. By the 1760s, it had become a hostelry known as ‘The Caulfeild Arms.’ It was renamed in 1763, when James Caulfeild (1728-1799), fourth Viscount Caulfeild, was given the title Earl of Charlemont.

In the heyday of the Volunteers, there was a Charlemont Arms in every Irish town of note. However, this hotel may be the only one to survive – something that makes the current proprietors very proud.

In Victorian times, the facilities on offer included Turkish, plunge and other baths. It passed to Robert and Elizabeth Forster in 1934. Today, a third generation of the Forster family is involved in running the hotel.

A monument to the Caulfeild or Charlemont family in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The hotel is perfectly located between the city’s two cathedrals and close to the beautiful Mall, the theatre, city centre shops, the Armagh Planetarium and Observatory, the Armagh County Museum and the old Armagh Women’s Gaol. But it is also a short stroll from the synod venue and many synod members stay here, meaning this is often a place where a lot of back-room synod work is done.

There are many other hotels I could have named. During church and clergy conferences, I have stayed in hotels such as the Dunraven Arms in Adare, Arnold’s in Dunfanaghy, the Skelligs Hotel in Dingle, and other hotels in Athlone, Enniskillen Strandhill, and Kilkenny.

Presents and gifts have allowed me to stay in the Wineport Lodge, the Lough Erne Resort, the Ice House in Ballina, Tinnakilly House in Wicklow and the Maritime Hotel in Bantry.

And, of course, there are many more hotels, as well as the wonderful guesthouses I have stayed in across the island. But I thought I would next look at 12 more hotels in England and across Europe.

Some recent ‘virtual tours’:

A dozen buildings in Tamworth (Part 1);

A dozen buildings in Tamworth (Part 2);

More than a dozen Comberford family homes;

More than a dozen Comerford and Quemerford family homes;

A dozen Wren churches in London;

Ten former Wren churches in London;

More than a dozen churches in Lichfield;

More than a dozen pubs in Lichfield;

A dozen former pubs in Lichfield;

A dozen churches in Rethymnon;

A dozen restaurants in Rethymnon;

A dozen churches in other parts of Crete;

A dozen monasteries in Crete;

A dozen sites on Mount Athos;

A dozen historic sites in Athens;

A dozen historic sites in Thessaloniki;

A dozen churches in Thessaloniki;

A dozen Jewish sites in Thessaloniki.

A dozen churches in Cambridge;

A dozen college chapels in Cambridge;

A dozen Irish islands;

A dozen churches in Corfu;

A dozen churches in Venice.

A dozen churches in Rome.

A dozen churches in Bologna;

A dozen churches in Tuscany.

At the Dunraven Arms in Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The meditative sculptures by Bettina Seitz in the gardens at Markree Castle

The sculptures by Bettina Seitz at Markree Castle are worth searching for (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Hidden away from many of the guests at weddings at Markree Castle in Co Sligo, the sculptures by Bettina Seitz are worth searching out in the gardens and courtyards at the home farm courtyard and walled garden at this charming wedding venue.

Bettina Seitz has worked from her studio in Sligo since 1993. Stylising the human form, her sculptures in bronze or stone composite often possess an ethereal and meditative quality.

Bettina Seitz was born in Germany in 1963. She has studied sculpture in Nürtingen, Germany, and Turin, Italy. She has also worked with the Sligo ceramicist Michael Kennedy, and is now based in Sligo.

Aspects of nature and emotion inform her investigation into shape and line, particularly those of the female body. She excels in the stylisation of the female form into flowing and voluptuous curves.

She works mainly in bronze and ceramic sculptures designed for private gardens and public spaces. She has exhibited her work regularly in Ireland and Europe and has worked on many private and public commissions, including portrait commissions.

She has exhibited in many countries, including Ireland, Britain, the US, Germany, France and Italy, and she has worked on many private and public commissions in Ireland and abroad.

Her work can be found in many private and public collections, including the Boyle Civic Collection, the McCann Fitzgerald Collection in Dublin, the Chinthurst Sculpture Garden in Surrey, and collections in Saudi Arabia, Britain, the US, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy and South Africa.

Her commissioned work in Co Sligo includes sculptures at Nazareth House Nursing Home, Sligo, and commission for the Homefarm at Markree Castle in 2002 and 2005.

She also designed the Volta Award for the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in 2007.

Her sculptural practice is concerned with our connection to the other – from how we relate as human beings to each other, to how we relate to the ‘Other’ in the sense of our interconnection with everything and other dimensions.

In her work, Bettina Seitz explores the experience of being, that is aware of and must confront issues such as personhood, mortality and the dilemma or paradox of living in relationships with other humans, while being alone with oneself.

Using a wide range of techniques and materials, including resin, concrete, aluminium and bronze, she strives to evoke a sense of stillness and lightness in her sculpture installations of highly stylised, often life-size human forms.

Her work ‘Ghosts’ – a series of site responsive, life-size sculptures – reflects on our connection to the past and the disempowerment of women in Irish society and recent history.

Using various techniques, including casting over life models, modelling, reinforcing and assembling in Jesmonite acrylic resin, fabric and glass fibre, ‘Ghosts’ ran as a pilot project in December 2016 with temporary installations in public buildings, including The Model, Sligo Courthouse and Sligo Cathedral.

The sculptures by Bettina Seitz at the homefarm and courtyards in Markree Castle were commissioned in 2002 and 2005 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A weekend at a family wedding in Markree Castle

Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo … this was once the coldest place in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

I have been staying at Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo, taking part in a family wedding in Sligo Cathedral.

Markree Castle is a small family-run hotel, owned by the Corscadden family who also own Cabra Castle Hotel, Co Cavan, Ballyseede Castle Hotel, Co Kerry, and Bellingham Castle, Co Louth.

The hymn-writer Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) is said to have written the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful while she was a guest of the Cooper family here in 1848.

But, in the midst of all that is beautiful, this may also be the coldest place in Ireland too. The temperature rose above 9°C this afternoon, but it had been hovering around 3°C here this weekend, and it has been even colder here in the past: Ireland’s lowest officially recognised air temperature, −19.1°C (−2.4°F), was recorded at Markree Castle on 16 January 1881.

Markree Castle, Co Sligo … Cecil Francis Alexander is said to have written ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful here in 1848’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

During the 1830s, the observatory on the grounds of the castle had the largest refracting telescope in the world. What is known today as the asteroid 9 Metis was discovered in the 1840s by the staff at the Coopers family’s observatory.

The Royal Astronomical Society reported in 1851, ‘The Observatory of Mr Cooper of Markree Castle – undoubtedly the most richly furnished private observatory known – is worked with great activity by Mr Cooper himself and by his very able assistant, Mr Andrew Graham.’

The staircase leading into Markree Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Markree Castle, which is partially moated by the River Unshin, is the ancestral seat of the Cooper family. But before that, this was once a fortified castle that belonged to the McDonagh Clan, and it guarded the ford across the River Unsin.

The castle, as we see it today, dates from 1802 with exterior changes by the architect Francis Johnston. Some later changes, mainly to the interior, were made in in the late 1860s and in the 1890s.

Edward Cooper was a cornet or junior officer in a Cromwell’s army in a Cromwellian regiment of horse commanded by his cousin, Colonel Coote. Later, Cooper was allotted the 14th-century Markree Castle and the surrounding lands and moved in here in 1663.

Edward Cooper married Marie Rua O’Brien, widow of Conor O’Brien, who was killed at Limerick during the Cromwellian wars. Later they went to live with her two sons at Dromoland Castle, Co Clare. One son, Donough, inherited Dromoland Castle, while Edward Cooper’s son, Arthur Cooper, inherited Markree Castle.

James II is said to have stayed at Markree Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

During the Williamite wars at the end of the 17th century, the Cooper family fled Markree Castle while it was occupied by the army of James II. They returned to live at Markree Castle after William III’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, and continued to live here until very recently.

Over the generations, the Coopers intermarried with other prominent local families, including the Cootes, Wynnes and Synges, and by the 1720s, Joshua Cooper (1694-1757) was one of the largest landowners in Co Sligo, with over 40,000 acres.

Edward Synge Cooper (1762-1830), MP for Sligo (1806-1830), married Ann, daughter of Henry Vansittart (1732-1770), Governor of Bengal. Their eldest son, Colonel Edward Joshua Cooper (1798-1863), MP for Sligo (1830-1841, 1857-1859), set up Markree Observatory in the castle grounds in 1830, and for a time Cooper’s telescope was the largest in the world.

The observatory remained active until the death of Colonel Edward Henry Cooper (1827-1902), MP for Sligo (1865-1868).

Markree Castle has been home to generations of the Cooper family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The castle was inherited by his son, Major Bryan Ricco Cooper (1884-1930), who was born in Simla in India. He was briefly a Unionist MP for South Country Dublin (1910), and was involved in the Gallipoli landings during World War I.

During the Irish Civil War in the 1920s, Markree Castle was again occupied briefly by the Irish Free State army.

Brian Cooper returned to live at Markree Castle, and was one of the few former Westminster MPs to be elected to Dáil Éireann. He was an Independent and later a Cumann na nGaedheal (Fine Gael) TD for South Country Dublin (1923-1930). He sold most of the 30,000-acre estate surrounding Markree Castle, but lived on at the castle with his family until he died in 1930.

Markreee Castle fell on hard times after World War II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

After World War II, Markree Castle fell on hard times and stood empty and derelict for many years. It featured on the front cover of The Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland in 1988, illustrating the sad state of decay of many great houses at the time.

Charles Cooper transformed his ancestral castle into a hotel in 1989. The castle’s restoration was featured in a television documentary, and the renewed facilities included a hotel and restaurant.

Markree Castle was run as a hotel by Charles and Mary Cooper, the tenth generation of the family to live here. After four centuries, the castle finally changed hands in 2015 when it was sold for an undisclosed sum after being on the market with an asking price of €3.12 million. The hotel is now run by the Corscadden family.

The Markree Castle we see today was built in 1802 over the raised basement stone of the former Cooper family mansion known until then as Mercury, and contains parts of the earlier houses.

The castle today dates mainly from the 19th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The castle is an imposing and impressive example of the Gothic Revival style. It is a 12-bay, three-storey country house, built in stone, with a raised basement. It was designed by Francis Johnston (1760-1825) ca 1802-1805 for Joshua Edward Cooper, incorporating parts of the earlier houses and tower houses on the site.

Francis Goodwin (1784-1835) designed the Gothic gate lodge in 1832.

The castle was extensively enlarged, remodelled and rebuilt from 1866 by the Edinburgh-born architect James Maitland Wardrop (1824-1884) for Colonel Edward Henry Cooper.

Inside the Cooper family chapel in Markreee Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Wardrop’s additions in the late 1860s and early 1870s include the Gothic Revival porte-cochere, the battlemented and machicolated square tower with a two-storey, square profile oriel window, the chapel on the north front, and the two-storey, canted bay window on the west front. The ornamental doorway at the garden front was added in 1896.

The porte-cochére was a fashionable architectural statement at the time. In 1876, Lady Beaumont added one to Drishane Castle at Millstreet, Co Cork, where it is a fine example of theatrical architecture, and there are similar features at Farmeligh House in Dublin, Muckross House in Killarney, and Cahermoyle House in Co Limerick.

The main roof is hidden from view behind a battlemented parapet wall, dressed limestone diagonally-set, corbelled chimney stacks, cast-iron down pipes, and octagonal turrets.

The Cooper family private chapel in Markree Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The entrance contains a monumental staircase that leads to a wonderful hall, from where a second staircase in carved wood leads to the 30 guest rooms. A large stained glass window on the staircase fancifully traces the Cooper family tree from Victorian times back to the reign of King John.

Inside, the castle is opulently decorated in decorated in a florid, classical style, and the castle retains much of its original or early fabric, including fine-stained glass windows. The dining room, where we had dinner last night, is decorated in Louis Philippe-style stucco plasterwork.

The 300-acre estate surrounding the castle is home to an array of wild life including red squirrels, otters, and kingfishers.

A stained-glass window on the staircase fancifully traces the Cooper family tree (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Markree Castle in the sunshine this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)