Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 20, Tuesday 13 January 2026

‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words,’ Saint Francis of Assisi … ‘The Vision of Saint Francis’ (ca 1590-1595) by El Greco in the National Gallery of Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). This week began with the First Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany I, 11 January 2025), with readings that focus on the Baptism of Christ.

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Hilary (367), Bishop of Poitiers and Teacher of the Faith; Kentigern or Mungo (603), Missionary Bishop in Strathclyde and Cumbria; and George Fox (1624-1691), founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers).

The commemoration of Saint Hilary today (13 January) explains Hilary Term, the second academic term at the University of Oxford and Trinity College Dublin. The other terms are Michaelmas term and Trinity term. These terms originated in the mediaeval legal system when courts in England, Wales and Ireland divided the legal year into four terms: Hilary, Easter, Trinity and Michaelmas. Lent term is the equivalent of Hilary term in Cambridge.

Later this evening, I have a meeting of a town council committee in Stony Stratford that is involved with public art and sculpture on the streets of Stony Stratford. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read 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.

‘When the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught’ (Mark 1: 21) … the Old Synagogue in Krakow, built in 1407, is the oldest Jewish house of prayer in Poland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 1: 21-28 (NRSVA):

21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ 26 And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching – with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

‘When the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught’ (Mark 1: 21) … on Synagogue Street in Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Mark 1: 21-28) is the story of Christ’s visit to Capernaum, where he preaches and teaches in the synagogue. When he speaks, all are astounded at his teaching. But when he actually puts what he says it into practice, they are all amazed.

Christ not only teaches, but he puts it into practice, he teaches not just with knowledge, but with authority; not only can he say, but he can do.

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist yesterday, we heard how Christ called his first disciples, Andrew and Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee, James and John. Now, this morning’s Gospel reading tells us how Christ’s authority, in both word and deed, are first recognised.

Christ and his new disciples go to Capernaum, a prosperous town on the Sea of Galilee. It was the practice in the synagogue on Saturdays for the scribes, who specialised in the interpretation and application of Mosaic law to daily life, to quote scripture and tradition.

On this Saturday, however, Christ does not follow this practice. Instead, he speaks directly, confident of his authority and of his very essence. The Greek word here, ἐξουσία (exousía), has the same roots as the word in the Nicene Creed that is translated as ‘being’ or ‘substance’: ‘of one substance with the Father’ (ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί, homoúsion to Patrí).

The ‘man with an unclean spirit’ (verse 23) was, we might say, possessed, or under the influence of evil forces. In the understanding of the time, he was under Satan’s direction, separated from God.

The devil is heard speaking through this man (verse 24), asking what Christ is doing meddling in the domain of evil. He recognises who Christ is and that his coming spells the end of the power of the devil. He understands the significance of the coming Kingdom. Wonder-workers of the day healed using ritual or magic, but Christ exorcises simply through verbal command (verse 25), so clearly he is divine.

The crowd now acknowledges Christ’s ‘authority’ in word and deed (verse 27).

The parallel reading of this story in Saint Luke’s Gospel (Luke 4: 31-37) follows the story of Christ preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4: 16-30), when he proclaims the foundational text for his ministry, almost like a manifesto:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

These are high ideals and, if put into practice, threaten social stability and the ordering of society. This threat is realised by those who hear him, and they drive him out of the synagogue in Capernaum.

Driven out of that synagogue, Christ has three options:

1, To allow himself to be silenced.

2, To keep on preaching in other synagogues, but to never put into practice what he says, so that those who are worried have their fears allayed and realise he is no threat;

3, To preach and to put his teachings into practice, to show that he means what he says, that his faith is reflected in his priorities, to point to what the Kingdom of God is truly like.

Christ takes the third option. He brings good news to the poor, he releases this poor captive, he can now see things as they are and as they ought to be, the oppressed may go free, and all are amazed.

There is a saying attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: ‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.’

Christ preaches with authority. But in this Gospel reading we are not told what he said. We are only told what he did.

In his actions he demonstrates the love of God and the love of others that are at the heart of the Gospel, that should be at the heart of every sermon I preach. For the love of God and the love of others are the two commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets.

‘At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region’ (Mark 1: 28) … spreading fame and news, newspapers at a kiosk near the marina in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 13 January 2026):

The theme this week (11-17 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Gaza Crisis Response’ (pp 18-19). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update from the Diocese of Jerusalem.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 13 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, grant the Diocese of Jerusalem courage and resources to bring life-saving support and hope to those most in need through its healthcare facilities.

The Collect:

Everlasting God,
whose servant Hilary
steadfastly confessed your Son Jesus Christ
to be both human and divine:
grant us his gentle courtesy
to bring to all the message of redemption
in the incarnate Christ,
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 truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Hilary to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region’ (Mark 1: 28) … the good and the famous in a line of sculptures on the campus of the University of Limerick (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

‘How long will you keep us in suspense?’ … ‘I give them eternal life, and they will never perish’

‘My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10: 27) … street art in Carlingford, Co Louth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 12 July 2020

The Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V)

9.30 a.m. The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2): Castletown Church, Kilcornan, Co Limerick

11.30 a.m. The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2): Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick

Readings: I Peter 2: 1-10; Psalm 121; John 10: 22-29

‘Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the Temple-like portico at Plassey House in the University of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Last week, we reopened the churches in Askeaton and Tarbert, and this morning we are back in Castletown and Rathkeale. This is our second Sunday as we reopen our churches this morning, and, perhaps, we are beginning to cope with this new stage in the Covid-19 pandemic.

I know, many of us have mixed feelings. As the statistics rise again, the weekend behaviour of many people must leave us wondering whether, in fact, things are getting better.

Is this just a temporary relaxation of the lockdown?

Is everything going to be all right?

We are conscious of those who are not here this morning, because they are feeling vulnerable, even fearful.

If you were not in church last week, then you are going to find the restrictions this morning strange and off-putting: wearing masks, leaving contact details for tracing, sitting in pews that are not of your choice, wondering about the markings.

Like last week, there are things that are different this morning: fewer readings and hymns, so we spend less time in a closed space; listening to but not singing hymns; not sharing the peace; the strange way of administering the Holy Communion … We are trying to make ourselves safe, but many of us are still feeling awkward, uncomfortable and vulnerable.

Is this the ‘new normal’?

Hopefully, we can return to living out the ideal of the Church as community, the church as the living body of the Christ … ‘we being many are one body, for we all share in the one bread.’

How do we balance the joy of reopening our churches with the obvious restraints we must respect?

How do we balance our celebrations with the real mourning and grieving that our families, our parish, our community, our diocese, our nation, all need to acknowledge?

It is difficult to balance the joy of reopening this church with the obvious restraints surrounding everything we do.

No wonder many people are going to ask where God has been in the midst of this crisis. Has God been present in the church? Has God heard our prayers? Is God going to answer our prayers?

Our psalm this morning, Psalm 121, promises us that God will guard us and look after our well-being, our health, and our lives, both day and night.

The Lord will keep us from all evil. ‘The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.’

In the New Testament reading (I Peter 2: 1-10), we are told we have come out of darkness into God’s light, and have received God’s mercy. We are asked to put behind us all the problems that marked previous ways of living and to enjoy being in the presence of God.

We are reminded that the Church is not just bricks and mortar. The Church is – or should be – a living presence in the world today, and we are like living stones, being built into a spiritual house.

The cornerstone of this house is Christ himself. Although he has been rejected by others (the builders), he has become the very cornerstone of this new edifice that is the Church.

As for us, we are the Church because we are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.’

If we have been waiting in suspense for many months for this church to open once again, then Christ in the Gospel reading (John 10: 22-29) reminds us what all our waiting has been for.

He promises us not immediate satisfaction but eternal life: ‘I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.’

No matter what fears we may continue to have in the weeks and months to come, Christ in his love for us ensures that we cannot be separated from God’s love for us and God’s care for us.

The Dean of Lichfield Cathedral, the Very Revd Adrian Dorber, concluded his weekly letter on Friday with this thought:

‘Tough times are ahead but we live by hope. Bishop David Jenkins of Durham used to say, “you can’t keep a good God down”. I agree. It’s time for renewed confidence in his love and purpose.’

And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

‘Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house’ (I Peter 2: 5) … a cross carved into a corner stone at the church in Vlatadon monastery in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I Peter 2: 1-10 (NRSVA):

1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation – 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:

‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’

7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner’,

8 and

‘A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

John 10: 22-29 (NRSVA):

22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ 25 Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.’

‘Jesus was walking in the Temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the portico of the Duomo di Sant’Andrea in Amalfi (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introductory prayer:

Lord, be with us as we open the door.
Come in with us, go out with us.
Do not sleep when we sleep,
but watch over us, protect us and keep us safe,
our only help and maker. (cf Psalm 121)

The Collect:

Almighty God,
we praise you for the many blessings
you have given to those who worship you here:
and we pray that all who seek you in this place may find you,
and, being filled with the Holy Spirit,
may become a living temple acceptable to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
Hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Introduction to the Peace:

Peace to you from God our heavenly Father.
Peace from his Son Jesus Christ who is our peace.
Peace from the Holy Spirit the Life-giver.
The peace of the Triune God be always with you.
And also with you.

Preface:

You have revealed your glory
as the glory of your Son and of the Holy Spirit:
three persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendour,
yet one Lord, one God,
ever to be worshipped and adored:

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father in heaven,
whose Church on earth is a sign of your heavenly peace,
an image of the new and eternal Jerusalem:
grant us in the days of our pilgrimage
that, fed with the living bread of heaven,
and united in the body of your Son,
we may be the temple of your presence,
the place of your glory on earth,
and a sign of your peace in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Concluding Prayer and Blessing:

Heavenly Father,
you have not made us for darkness and death,
but for life with you for ever.
Without you we have nothing to hope for;
with you we have nothing to fear.
Lift us from anxiety and guilt
to the light and peace of your presence,
and set the glory of your love before us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Liturgical colour: Red. Green is the colour for Ordinary time, Red symbolises both the Holy Spirit and the witness of the Church in the lives of the great saints and martyrs.

Hymns:

330: God is here! As we his people (CD 20)
374: When all thy mercies, O my God (CD 22)

‘Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the Temple-like portico built by the Williamson brothers at Emo Court in Co Laois (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

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

The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

Material from Common Worship is © The Archbishop’s Council, the Church of England.

The Limerick roots and legacy of JD Bernal, radical Irish scientist

The Bernal Institute at the University of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Earlier this week, after visiting the Bernal family grave in a quiet corner of the churchyard at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, I paid a brief visit in the afternoon to the Bernal Institute on the campus of the University of Limerick.

My exploration of the Sephardi ancestry of John Desmond Bernal (1901-1971), through the Genese and Bernal families, was another interesting journey through the stories of many interesting Sephardi families on these islands.

But these two interesting visits this week also reminded me of the fascinating story of JD Bernal, one of the most interesting Irish-born scientists of the last century who was born near Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and who had strong family roots in 19th century Limerick.

John Desmond Bernal, crystallographer, molecular physicist, social scientist, committed Communist and campaigner for world peace, was born in Brookwatson, Nenagh, on 10 May 1901. He was the eldest child of Samuel George Bernal (1864-1919) and his wife Elizabeth ‘Bessie’ Miller, who had married the previous year.

Samuel Bernal’s father, John Bernal Elizabeth (Bessie). Samuel’s father, JD Bernal’s grandfather, John Bernal (1819-1898) of Albert Lodge, Laurel Hill, Limerick, was born Jacob de Isaac Haim Genese, His ancestors had been Sephardic Jews who lived in Venice from at least the mid-17th century. The family moved through Amsterdam to London, and he arrived in Ireland in the 1840s from London.

When Jacob de Isaac Haim Genese settled in Ireland, he changed his name to John Bernal and joined the Church of Ireland. He married Catherine Maria Carroll in Dublin in 1841, and she brought up their children as Roman Catholics.

The Bernal family grave near the south porch of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Samuel Bernal was born in Limerick on in Limerick on 22 May 1864. At the age of 20, he ran away from Limerick to Australia in 1884, and worked on a sheep farm. When his father died in 1898, he returned to live in Ireland and at first stayed with his sister Margaret Riggs-Miller at Tullaheady, just outside Nenagh.

Later that year, he bought the farm in Brookwatson on the Portumna road and built the present house. On a visit to the continent, he met his future wife, Elizabeth ‘Bessie’ Miller (1869-1951), in Belgium. Bessie was an energetic, educated and much-travelled woman, the daughter of an Irish-born Presbyterian minister from Co Antrim, the Revd William Young Miller of Illinois. She became a Roman Catholic before they married on 9 January 1900.

They were the parents of five children, three sons and two daughters:

1, John Desmond Bernal (1901-1971), born Nenagh 10 May 1910, died in London 15 September 1971.
2, Kevin O’Carroll Diaz Bernal (1903-1996), who continued to run the family farm. He was born Nenagh on 22 January 1903, married Margaret Mary Sinnott (1913-1995) and died on 17 January 1996.
3, Catherine Elizabeth Geraldine (1906- ), born Nenagh.
4, Fiona Laetitia Evangeline (1908-1908), died at the age of nine weeks.
5, Godfrey Francis Johnston Bernal (1910-2005), born Nenagh, married Ellen Marie Rose McCarthy, died January 2005.

There was less than two years between John Desmond and Kevin and as boys they were very close for many years. At first, they both went to the local convent school, but they later went to the Church of Ireland national school in Barrack Street, Nenagh.

However, the young John Desmond was a devout Catholic throughout his school days.

Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where JD Bernal was an undergraduate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In 1910, Samuel Bernal decided to send his two eldest sons to Hodder Place and Stonyhurst, a Jesuit-run public school in Lancashire. At Stonyhurst, he worked his way through the school library each Sunday after Mass. After a short time at Bedford, he went on to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1919 for an undergraduate degree in Natural Science.

There he developed a strong interest in the developing science of X-ray crystallography. At Cambridge too he became an active Marxist, beginning a lifelong commitment to Communism.

From Cambridge, he joined WH Bragg in his research at the Royal Institution (RI) in 1923. In 1927, he became the first lecturer in structural crystallography at Cambridge, and he was appointed the assistant director of the Cavendish Laboratory in 1934. However, he was refused fellowships at Emmanuel College and Christ’s College and tenure by Ernest Rutherford, who is said to have disliked him.

Bernal remained at Cambridge until 1937, when he obtained a chair in Physics at Birkbeck College, University of London, and was the head of the newly established department of crystallography.

His research included the first X-ray diffraction pattern of a protein and ground-breaking work on the structure of viruses and proteins that lead to the foundation of molecular biology. This development fundamentally changed the focus of biochemical research and the understanding of biological activity as it allowed for the 3-D chemical structure of the component species to be examined.

At Birkbeck, founded the Biomolecular Research Laboratory in 1948, and it later became the internationally renowned Crystallography Department. As Chair of Physics at Birkbeck College, London, and later as Professor of Crystallography, he presided over a centre of excellence that was celebrated worldwide. After graduating from Cambridge, he spent most of his life at Birkbeck College, London, as a research scientist.

Bernal specialised in the identification of new fields to explore but rarely stayed long enough to fully civilise the area, which he left to trusted colleagues. He wrote several books, mainly on the role of science in society. He also published 224 scientific papers and almost 400 articles of a non-scientific nature. He lectured regularly on scientific and political topics at conferences worldwide and was involved in the foundation of UNESCO.

During World War II, Bernal worked on operational research, contributing to the planning of the D-day landings and was awarded the US Medal of Freedom in 1945. Later he become interested in rebuilding Britain and initiated research into the structure and properties of metal hydroxides and the silicate components of cements.

Bernal had a reputation as a selfless supporter of young scientists, and his peers referred to him affectionately as ‘Sage.’ Two of his former students, Dorothy Hodgkin and Max Pertuz, received Nobel prizes for pioneering work in protein crystallography for the first structural determination of vitamin B12 and haemoglobin, respectively. In addition, one of Max Perutz’s students, Francis Crick, received the Nobel Prize for unravelling the structure of DNA.

John Desmond Bernal … it is remarkable that he never received a Noble Prize

As a scientist, it is remarkable that he never received a Noble Prize, although three of his students did. Conventional wisdom would have it that he spread himself too wide and was too involved in other matters, to achieve this ultimate accolade.

Bernal was driven by a belief that science and technology would improve the living standards of humanity if properly focused and was a frequent campaigner for peace and demilitarisation in the years after World War II.Although he had supported the Allied war effort and was centrally involved in the planning the Normandy landings, he was often ostracised by the Western powers, with both the US and France refusing him visas in later years.

Over half a century, he met many world leaders including Nehru, Khrushchev, Mao and Ho Chi Minh. He was the first president of the Cambridge Scientists Anti-War Group, president of the World Peace Council and drafted the constitution for the World Federation of Scientific Workers.

An interesting story is told of Bernal’s meeting with Pablo Picasso in 1950. Picasso had come to England to attend a peace conference that Bernal was instrumental in organising.

When the British government refused visas to the delegates from Eastern Europe, the conference was cancelled and some of those present retired to Bernal’s flat in London for a ‘peace party.’ That evening, Picasso painted a mural on the wall of the flat. The house was demolished later, but the mural survived and is now on display at Birkbeck College, where it is known as ‘Bernal’s Picasso.’

He became somewhat disillusioned with the Soviet Union after the invasion of Hungary in 1956, but he never renounced his socialist beliefs. He was to remain a thorn in the side of Western governments until the end of his days.

He married Alice Eileen Sprague in 1922, a day after receiving his BA at Cambridge. They had two sons, Mike (1926-2016) and Egan (born 1930). He also had two children with the artist Margaret Gardiner (1904-2005) and a daughter with the writer Margaret Heinemann (1913-1992).

John Desmond Bernal suffered a stroke in the summer of 1963, followed by a second stroke in September 1965. He retired in 1968 and died on 15 September 1971.

His legacy was the development of crystallography as a central tool across the sciences. The Bernal Project at the University of Limerick is named after John Desmond Bernal – one of the most influential Irish-born scientists of the 20th century.

Brookwatson, the Bernal family home at Nenagh, Co Tipperay (Photograph: John Finney, Creative Commons Licence BY 4.0 International)

Unravelling the story of JD Bernal’s Sephardic Jewish family in Limerick

The Bernal family grave near the south porch of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

In a quiet corner in the churchyard of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, early yesterday [7 March 2019], I found the grave of John Bernal (1819-1898), a Limerick auctioneer, city councillor and grandfather of one of the leading scientists of the 20th century.

John Bernal had been a member of the city council for over a quarter a century as a councillor for the Dock Ward. He had auction rooms in George Street and later at 9 Thomas Street in Limerick, and when he died on 17 September 1898, he was living at Albert Lodge in Laurel Hill.

As his funeral moved from his home at Laurel Hill to Saint Mary’s Cathedral along George Street (now O’Connell Street), all the city businesses remained shut as a mark of respect. The Mayor, Michael Cusack, attended in full regalia, along with mace and sword bearers and all members of the City Council.

Canon James Fitzgerald Gregg (1820-1907), who officiated at the funeral, was later Dean of Limerick (1899-1905).

At least three generation of the Bernal family are buried with John Bernal in the churchyard at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, as well as his wife Catherine Maria Carroll, who had died over 17 years earlier in 1881. They had been married in Dublin in 1841, and they had a large family of 11 children – eight daughters and three sons.

His best-known grandson was Professor John Desmond Bernal (1901-1971), and the Bernal Institute at the University of Limerick is a tribute to one of Ireland’s most influential 20th century scientists.

JD Bernal’s reputation means the name of the Bernal family is forever identified with Limerick. In her biographical notice of Bernal, the Nobel chemist, Dorothy Hodgkin, provides considerable detail about the Bernal family, tracing the earliest records back to Spanish accounts of a family of Sephardic Jews. She begins with a Bernal who was an apothecary who travelled with Columbus on his third voyage to America in 1502. In 1654, Abraham Nunez Bernal was burned alive in Cordoba, and his brother is supposed to have fled first to Holland and then to England. A descendant of this family included Ralph Bernal (1783-1854), a prominent Whig politician, and his son, also Ralph Bernal MP, who married a wealthy Irish heiress, Catherine Isabella Osborne (1819-1880), daughter of Sir Arthur Osborne, and became Ralph Bernal-Osborne (1808-1882). A Liberal MP, he lived at Newton Anner, near Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and they were the grandparents of Osborne Beauclerk, 12th Duke of St Albans.

These connections may have given the Bernal name a note of political and aristocratic distinction in the areas around Tipperary and Limerick, and help to explain why JD Bernal and his family emphasised their descent from the Bernal family. But the original name of JD Bernal’s grandfather, John Bernal, was Jacob Genese.

Although the Genese family is virtually forgotten in Limerick today, they are one of the many interesting Sepahrdi families on these islands. The family first came to London from the Jewish Ghetto in Venice in 1749, and for long have been members of Bevis Marks Synagogue, which opened in 1701, making it the oldest working synagogue on these islands.

The Genese family in Venice were silk merchants, upholsterers and house furnishers, and were living in the Ghetto Nuovo from the mid-1600s.

A family tradition once proposed that the Genese family were Sephardic refugees who fled to Italy from the Inquisition in Portugal and took their name from Genoa. However, it is now generally accepted that the family had lived in the Italian peninsula for many centuries before they first appear in Venice in the 1640s. It is now thought the name is derived from the town of San Ginesio, about 60 km south-west of Ancona, where there was a Jewish community with a continuous presence for 2,000 years.

The family were members of the Scuola Italiana in Venice, rather than the Spagnola Synagogue indicates clearly that they were descended not from refugees from Spain or Portugal in the late 15th century or later but had Italkim (Italian-rite) origins.

Shemuel Ginesi (ca 1650-1703) and his wife, Benvenida (ca 1645-1707), lived in the Ghetto in Venice and were buried in the Jewish Cemetery in the Lido.

Their son, Emanuel or Mandolino Ginesi, was a community official in Venice in the first half of the 1700s. His son, David Genese was living in the Ghetto Novo in Venice in September 1739.

David Genese was the father of Isaco or Isaac Genese (Gienese, Ginesi or Guinese), who arrived in London from Italy about 1749, perhaps having first moved to Amsterdam, where there was a large Sephardi community, descended from Spanish, Portuguese and Italian families. His move to London coincides with a time when Italian Jewish families – including the D’Israelis, the Anconas and the Sanguinettis – were arriving in larger numbers and changing the make-up of the Bevis Marks Community. Until 1715, the members were almost wholly Spanish refugees or Amsterdam-Spanish migrants, and then from 1715 to 1739 overwhelmingly refugees from Portugal.

A year later, Isaac Genese and Sarah de Isaac Lopez were married in the Spanish and Portuguese or Bevis Marks Synagogue in London in 1750.

Isaac Genese and Sarah were the parents of six children:

1, a daughter who died in infancy in 1757.

2, Rachel Sarah who died unmarried in December 1817.

3, David Genese, who married his first cousin Benevenida de Abraham Mendoza, a sister of Daniel Mendoza (1764-1836), the celebrated Georgian boxer. David died in 1784, and has no known descendants.

4, Siporah, who married David de Moses Nabaro.

5, Samuel Genese (born 1767) who married Rebecca de Emmanuel Capua in 1790, and they were the parents of four children who died in childhood, two Rachels, Deborah and Isaac, and seven other children:

1a, Samson de Samuel Genese.
2a, Sarah, who married Joseph de Israel Benseraf.
3a, Emanuel Mordecai Genese, who married Sara de Joseph Tolano.
4a, Hanna, who married Isaac de Abraham Haim Garcia.
5a, Samson Genese, who married Abigail de Haim Daniel Dias.
6a, Rebecca.
7a, Esther.

6, Samson de Isaac Genese (born 1769), who married Esther de Abraham Bernal in 1791, a member of a well-known Sephardic family of Spanish descent.

The youngest son, Samson de Isaac Genese (b 1769), and his wife Esther de Abraham Bernal, were the parents of seven children:

1, Isaac Haim Genese (1793-1858), who married Esther Jacobs and later moved to Ireland.
2, Rachel, who died young.
3, Abraham de Samson Genese, who died unmarried in 1859.
4, Samson Genese (junior), who married Hannah Simons. They have many living descendants.
5, Samuel Genese (1805-1888), who married Rachel Levy (1821-1871). They have many living descendants.
6, Simha.
7, David de Samson Genese (1807-1874), born 1807, and has many living descendants. His son, Joseph de David Genese (born 1851), had 11 children, the youngest born in 1886.

The eldest son, Isaac Haim Genese (1793-1858), married Esther Isaacs in London in 1817. They had five children, including:

1, Jacob de Isaac Haim Genese, later known as John Bernal (1819-1898).
2, Samuel Genese (1820- ). In 1846 he he took over running a snuff and tobacco shop at 34 Grafton Street, Dublin. He married and had at least three children, a son Samson Genese and two daughters, including a daughter Hannah. The two daughters were still running the sop in Grafton Street in 1885.
3, Abraham (Bobby) Genese, who died in Limerick in 1847.

Isaac Genese was widowed when he moved from London to Ireland with his five surviving children around 1840. Louis Hyman, in his The Jews of Ireland, suggests he lived for a short time in Waterford, and other sources say he lived in Dublin. He set up an auctioneer’s business and later ran a bookshop and tobacconists.

Sometime before 1848, Isaac Genese married his second wife in Dublin and they had at least two further children:

1, Robert Genese (born 1848).
2, Caroline Genese (1850-1901), who married … Murtagh, and has descendants.

John Bernal ran his business from No 9 Thomas Street, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Isaac Genese’s eldest son, Jacob de Isaac Haim Genese (1819-1898), was born on 29 April 1819. He changed his name to John Bernal, and with his brother Abraham (Bobby) Genese he moved to Limerick in the 1840s, when they set up a business as auctioneers in Thomas Street and lived in Sexton Street. When Bobby Genese died in 1847 he was first buried in a Christian cemetgery, but his body was exhumed brought to Dublin for burial in the Jewish Cemetery in Ballybough. Jacob or John Bernal had joined the Church of Ireland, and married Catherine Maria Carroll in Dublin in 1841. They lived at Albert Lodge on Laurel Hill Avenue, Limerick and he became a successful businessman and active politician in Victorian Limerick as John Bernal.

Maria Bernal, who seems to have raised their children as Roman Catholics, died in Limerick on 26 February 1881. Both Maria and John are buried in the churchyard at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, in a raised area beside the south porch. They were the parents of eleven children, three sons and eight daughters.

1, Catharine (born 1845).
2, Esther (1846-1857), died at the age of 11.
3, Dr Robert Arthur Bernal (1850-1876), of Albert Lodge, Laurel Hill Avenue, Limerick, and the Royal Navy. He married Catherine Elizabeth Donnelly (1856-1920) and died 5 October 1876. They were the parents of a daughter, Catherine Elizabeth Mary Frances (Assherson), who was born in Dublin on 14 March 1877. Catherine (Donnelly) later married: (1) Charles Patrick Magee and (2) Eustatius Louis Emile Brand. She died in Cape Town in 1920.
4, Mary Gertrude (1851-1925), married William Patrick Ryan (1851- ) and they had a large family.
5, Margaret Josephine (1856-1930) married Thomas John Riggs-Miller of Nenagh.
6, Grace (1861-1871), died at the age of 10.
7, John Theodore Bernal (1851- ).
8, Samuel George Bernal (1864-1919).
9, Aimee Rachel (1866-1937), born Albert Lodge, Limerick, 10 July 1866. She died 11 November 1937. She married Robert Ward and they had a large family.
10, Frances Esther, died on 17 March 1894, and buried at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick.
11, Emily, married Albert Pfaff; she died on 28 July 1912.

Albert Lodge later became part of the FCJ convent at Laurel Hill, Limerick, and was renamed Maryville

Albert Lodge was later sold to the Walker family and then to the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ nuns) or Laurel Hill Nuns and became known as Maryville.

Meanwhile, the third son and seventh child in this family, Samuel George Bernal (1864-1919), who was born in Limerick on 22 May 1864, moved from Limerick to Australia, running away to work on a sheep farm. He returned to live in Ireland when his father died in 1898 and at first stayed with his sister Margaret Riggs-Miller at Tullaheady, near Nenagh.

In 1898, he bought a farm in Brookwatson and built the family house. Two years later, on 9 January 1900, he married Elizabeth ‘Bessie’ Miller (1869-1951), daughter of the Revd William Young Miller of Illinois, an Irish-born Presbyterian minister. She became a Roman Catholic before they married in 1900. Samuel Bernal died in Nenagh on 18 September 1919.

Samuel and Bessie Bernal were the parents of five children, three sons and two daughters:

1, John Desmond Bernal (1901-1971), born Nenagh 10 May 1910, died in London 15 September 1971.
2, Kevin O’Carroll Diaz Bernal (1903-1996), born Nenagh 22 January 1903, married Margaret Mary Sinnott (1913-1995) and died 17 January 1996.
3, Catherine Elizabeth Geraldine (1906- ), born Nenagh.
4, Fiona Laetitia Evangeline (1908-1908), died at the age of nine weeks.
5, Godfrey Francis Johnston Bernal (1910-2005), born Nenagh, married Ellen Marie Rose McCarthy, died January 2005.

The eldest son in this family, JD Bernal, was one of the leading scientists of the last century. Molecular physicist, social scientist, committed Communist and campaigner for world peace, he was centrally involved in planning the Normandy landings and pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology.

After visiting the Bernal family grave in Saint Mary’s Cathedral yesterday, I visited the Bernal Institute on the campus of the University of Limerick in the afternoon. So, it is worth saying more about JD Bernal tomorrow.

Another view of the Bernal grave in the churchyard at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A stroll across the ‘Living Bridge’ in Limerick, Ireland’s longest pedestrian bridge

Sunset at the Living Bridge, linking two side of the University of Limerick campus, in Co Limerick and Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

After lunch in the East Room in Plassey House on the campus of the University of Limerick at the end of last week, two of us strolled through the university campus and walked across ‘The Living Bridge’, a unique design by the London-based architects WilkinsonEyre.

The Living Bridge, with its light, undulating profile, is a pedestrian bridge across the River Shannon linking the University of Limerick’s campus in Co Limerick with Co Clare. At 350 metres, it is the longest pedestrian bridge in Ireland. It consists of seven 50-metre spans linked together by piers that create four platforms of refuge for walkers.

The steel footbridge was designed as a large sweeping arch gently resting on strategically positioned piers dotted through the river, joining the established Co Limerick campus to the south with the new sites in Co Clare on the north bank.

Respecting the area’s conservation heritage, the bridge was built off-site and then carefully installed across the river.

The footbridge has a smoothly curving profile, creating an organic dialogue with the unique natural setting. The platforms are designed to accommodate social gatherings, informal teaching sessions, music and dance performances, as well as a wide array of educational, social and cultural activities – all contributing to the vision of a ‘living’ bridge.

The smoothly curving profile of the ‘Living Bridge’ creates an organic dialogue with its unique natural setting (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

The bridge alternates between rhythms of bridge and island, with light-weight bridge structures joining to more solid pier locations. This is reflected by the change in construction materials from steel to concrete and the transition from open parapets to solid pillars and glazed side walls that shelter those who cross this animated facility.

The architects designed the bridge to move in a beautiful flowing line across the Shannon, mirroring the river. The design conveys the sense of a series of bridges leaping from pier to pier, each supported by one of the existing islands in the riverbed. This gives all who cross the bridge the sense that we are crossing the river on stepping stones.

Access to the bridge from the south campus is through what looks like a hidden gateway in the Millstream Courtyard. The bridge provides a vital link between the Glucksman Library, Concert Hall and Millstream developments to the Health Sciences and the new Irish World Academy of Music and Dance on the north bank. Once you travel over the bridge, an impressive plaza welcomes you into Co Clare.

The River Shannon seen from the ‘Living Bridge’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018; click on image for full-screen view)

The bridge was designed by the London-based architects WilkinsonEyre to provide social and cultural space that would encourage pedestrians to rest a while as they cross along the gently curved structure. At this point on the Shannon it is wide and shallow, with many wooded islands that provide varied views and support for the piers. The deck is supported by two underslung catenary cables.

WilkinsonEyre dates from 1983, when Chris Wilkinson founded Chris Wilkinson Architects. He was joined by Jim Eyre as a partner in 1987 and the practice was renamed WilkinsonEyre in 1999. The practice has led the completion of many high-profiled projects, including Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Cooled Conservatories Gardens by the Bay, Oxford’s Weston Library and Guangzhou International Finance Centre.

The Living Bridge project was resourced through a partnership of private and public funding. Arup Consulting Engineers in Dublin developed the construction methodology with every effort to minimise the environmental impact during the construction works.

The project was financed through a public-private partnership, and construction was undertaken by Eiffel Constructions Metalliques, France’s largest bridge builder. Kerin Contract Management in Limerick managed the project, and it was completed in November 2007 at a cost of €12 million.

The bridge has received the RIBA European Award and was the winner in the Institution of Structural Engineers structural awards for Pedestrian Bridges in 2008. That year the French Steel Construction Syndicate declared it the most beautiful steel work in the Bridges Category.

The Living Bridge was designed by the London-based architects WilkinsonEyre to provide social and cultural space (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

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Plassey House, the former country villa at the heart of the University of Limerick

Plassey House at the University of Limerick takes its name from a victory by Clive of India (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

On Friday afternoon, thanks to the generosity of a writer friend, two of us had lunch in the East Room at Plassey House on the campus of the University of Limerick, at a window looking out onto grass lawns, and the ‘Living Bridge’ over the Rover Shannon, that links the south bank of the campus in Co Limerick with campus on the north bank of the River Shannon in Co Clare.

Plassey House, at the heart of the campus, provides a focal point for the surrounding area, and is an elegant example of a Georgian villa style country house. It was first built around 1770 and was rebuilt in the 1870s in the Italianate style.

Plassey is on the edges of Limerick City, about 5 km upstream on the River Shannon from the city centre, near the suburbs of Castletroy and Monaleen. The University of Limerick has its main campus here, and Plassey House, once a country house, now serves as the university’s administrative centre.

The name of both Plassey House and the former Plassey Estate, beside the village of Quin in Co Clare, were inspired by a famous victory by Sir Robert Clive (1725-1774), Lord Clive (‘Clive of India’).

The Battle of Plassey or Palasi was fought in Bengal on 23 June 1757, and led to the British conquest of India. A combined French and Indian force had captured Calcutta in 1756, but Clive defeated this force a year later near the village of Palasi, 120 km north of Calcutta. Palasi was the residence of the Nawab of Bengal and he used it as his operation base, and Clive’s victory secured the commercial rights to India for the British East India Company.

Clive subsequently gave the name Palasi to the Plassey Estate he acquired beside the village of Quin in Co Clare. When Clive of India was given a title in 1762, it was an Irish peerage with the title of Baron Clive of Plassey, Co Clare, which did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords in London.

When Parliament began investigating Clive’s wealth, he completed suicide by cutting his throat in his London townhouse in Berkeley Square. His title and estates passed to his son, Edward Clive (1754-1839), who later became Earl of Powis. Clive’s estate in Co Clare was inherited by his descendants, but were sold in the early 1840s by Edward Clive (1785-1848), 2nd Earl of Powis.

The Russell family acquired Plassey House near Limerick and also owned the nearby Plassey Mills. They extended Plassey House around 1875, when the work was designed by the Limerick-born architect William Fogerty, although some sources say the house was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon (1813-1889).

Plassey House was first built by the Maunsell family in 1790 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Plassey House in Limerick was first built in 1790 by Thomas Maunsell. The Maunsell family were originally from Buckinghamshire. They settled in Co Waterford, in the early 16th century and received lands in counties Galway and Limerick in the 17th century.

Richard Maunsell settled in Limerick in the 18th century and was MP for the city in 1741-1761. His eldest son, Thomas Mansell, MP for Kilmallock, married Dorothea Waller of Castle Waller and they had four sons: Richard Maunsell, who died in America; Thomas Maunsell, who built Plassey House; Robert Maunsell, of Bank Place, Limerick; and the Very Revd George Maunsell, Dean of Leighlin.

Robert Maunsell had a distinguished career in India and when he returned to Ireland in 1789, he founded Maunsell’s Bank with his brother Thomas and Sir Matthew Blakiston.

Thomas Maunsell built his house in an area originally known as Ballykilty, and he named his new home Plassey House to emphasise his kinship with the Clive family.

Plassey House was inherited by Thomas Maunsell’s daughter Elizabeth, who married her first cousin, Major Robert Hedges Eyre Maunsell, the son of Dean George Maunsell of Leighlin.

Inside Plassey House … it was rebuilt by Russell family in the 1870s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

From the 1830s to 1850s, Reuben Harvey was living in Plassey House as a tenant of the trustees of Mrs Hedges Maunsell. By 1868, it was the home of Richard Russell. The Maunsell and Russell families were related by marriage and Richard Hedges Russell established the Russell Mills in the 1820s.

By the 1860s, the Russells employed over 2,000 people in Limerick city and owned a large fleet of sailing boats and steamships. The family was hit by tragedy when the brothers Richard and Francis Russell died on the same day, 29 August 1871, in strange circumstances.

portico Plassey House was the home of John Norris Russell in the 1870s. Later, it was the home of the Bailey family (1905-1932), before it was acquired in 1933 by Patrick Keating from Co Clare, who had made his fortune in China and lost it again in the economic upheavals of the day.

When Patrick Keating died in 1961, the estate was bought by the Rehabilitation Institute of Ireland, and then in 1970 by the new National Institute for Higher Education. Thomond College of Education, Limerick, was also located on the same campus and was later dissolved and integrated into the university.

Moves to establish the University of Limerick can be traced back to 1845, when the Mayor of Limerick led a delegation to London to argue the case for Limerick as the location for one of the proposed Queen’s Colleges. However, Cork and Galway were chosen instead.

The Limerick University Project Committee was launched in the 1960s. The government responded by announcing the establishment of an institute of higher education in Limerick. It was claimed that this would be ‘better than a university.’

People in Limerick were not impressed, even when the project was described as ‘Ireland’s MIT,’ and the demand for a traditional university persisted for many years.

Other sites had been proposed for the campus, including the vacant Mungret College near the cement factory, an adjacent site near the Raheen industrial estate, and an old military camp at Knockalisheen. Plassey House and 240 hectares of prime agricultural land were bought for £70,000, providing a unique riverbank campus, with wooded rolling lands and islands.

A 20-year plan for a university of 8,000 students was drawn up, with a commitment to quality through architecture of the highest standing and an environment where teaching and scholarship of excellence would be planned and implemented.

Plassey House has been at heart of the University of Limerick since the 1970s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

A pilot group of 100 students was enrolled in the old house on the campus site at Plassey House in 1972, and the project attracted funding from the World Bank and the European Investment Bank.

The University of Limerick was established by legislation in 1989, becoming the first new university in the history of the State. By the time it celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1997, the University of Limerick had made its mark nationally.

Plassey House is a detached L-plan multiple-bay two-storey country house, first built around 1770, and rebuilt in the 1870s. The house was redesigned in the Florentine palazzo style by the Limerick-born architect William Fogerty (1833-1878), who practised in Limerick, London, New York and Dublin.

Fogerty was born in 1833 or 1834, the second son of John Fogerty of Limerick, and a younger brother of the architect Joseph Fogerty. He began practising as an architect in Limerick with his father in the 1850s, and was working from 97 George’s Street, Limerick, in 1861-1863.

His other works in Limerick include the Protestant Orphan Society Hall, the apse in the former Holy Trinity Church, Catherine Street, the Tait Memorial Clock in Baker Place, Adare Methodist Church, Adare Courthouse, and the Goold Cross in Athea.

He moved to Dublin in 1863 or 1864, and he was working from offices at 23 Harcourt Street, Dublin, when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (FRIAI) in 1863 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1868.

After a tour of Italy with Thomas Henry Longfield, he moved in 1870 or 1871 to London, where his brother was already practising as an architect. There he practised from 8 Buckingham Street, The Strand.

From London, Fogerty emigrated to New York in 1872-1873, but he had returned to returning to Ireland by 1875, and he was President of the Association of Architects of Ireland in 1876-1877.

https://www.patrickcomerford.com/2018/11/a-high-cross-in-athea-recalls-kind.html He announced in the Irish Builder on 1 March 1875 that he had resumed practice at 23 Harcourt Street. His works in Dublin include the Scots Presbyterian Church in Abbey Street.

He continued to practise from 23 Harcourt Street until his untimely death from smallpox at the age of 44 on 22 May 1878, having been ‘in excellent health up to the period of the fatal attack.’ He was buried in the graveyard at Saint Munchin’s Church, Limerick. He was survived by a young son, John Frederick Fogerty, who also became an architect.

The portico at Plassey House has Corinthian style columns supporting an entablature with render cornice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

The main part of Plassey House is a three-bay front block with a pedimented shallow breakfront that has a single-storey portico. This portico has Corinthian style columns supporting an entablature with render cornice. The square-headed opening has a glazed overlight over half-glazed, double-leaf timber panelled doors with flanking sidelights. Inside, there is ornate cornicing to interior.

There is a recessed, two-bay, three-storey block to the west with a two-bay, two-storey extension, and there are recent extensions to the rear.

The square-headed openings on the ground floor have two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows with flanking Corinthian style pilasters and render sills. There are square-headed openings on the first floor with two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows, render entablatures, sills and continuous sills course. Those on the west block have pedimented architraves.

The rendered walls have quoins and plinth courses. The house has hipped slate roofs with a bracketed eaves course and rendered chimneystacks.

The fountain in front of the house is said to have been excavated from the ruins of Pompeii in 1763.

Today Plassey House is at the centre of the University of Limerick, housing the offices of the President and his immediate staff, and hosting important meetings and events. Plassey House also houses some of the university’s visual art collections, including the National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland and the Irish American Cultural Institute’s O’Malley Collection, which includes paintings by Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, Paul Henry and Jack B Yeats.

The stairs at Plassey House … once home of the Maunsell and Russell families (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)