A walk down memory lane along Jack Straw’s Lane in Oxford, looking for signs of a long-gone youth hostel

Jack Straw’s Lane in Headington still has a semi-rural, almost rustic, feeling to it (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Headington in Oxford twice last week, with an appointment for an ECG in John Radcliffe Hospital, and taking time to visit many of the churches in the Headington area and to explore some of the literary links in the area with CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.

But there was a sentimental reason or a search for memories too during those visits. After I left school in 1969, I spent many weekends and much of my holiday time in my late teens hitchhiking around Ireland and England, usually staying in youth hostels. Some of the youth hostels in England I remember well were in Chester, Lichfield, Oxford, Cambridge, Stratford-on-Avon, Shrewsbury and London, and at Ilam Hall in Derbyshire and Wilderhope Manor in Shropshire.

I remember the youth hostel in Oxford because it was in Cowley House on Jack Straw’s Lane. In those days, youth hostelers could stay in any one hostel for no more than three nights and were expected at hostels run by An Oige and the YHA to arrive on foot or on bicycles. It seemed that among seasoned youth hostelers it was déclassé to be seen to arrive in a car, even a car one had hitched a lift in, and probably even to arrive by bus.

And so I remember arriving at the youth hostel in Oxford late in the afternoon on foot, and leaving again to enjoy an evening out in Oxford or setting out in the morning to explore the city, walking down Jack Straw’s Lane, with its peculiar name, and catching a bus into Oxford at the corner of Marston Road.

I retraced those youthful steps taken over 55 years ago last week when I walked from Headington down the hill along Jack Straw’s Hill, wondering whether I could recognise Cowley House, the former youth hostel where I stayed when I first visited Oxford in my late teens back around 1969 or 1970.

Jack Straw’s Lane is a residential road in suburban Oxford, but still has a rural, almost rustic, atmosphere to it, despite its proximity to the centre of Oxford. It runs from the north end of Pullens Lane on Headington Hill down to Marston Road.

That part of Headington was still in the parish of Saint Andrew’s Church until the 20th century, and the lands of the Lords of the Manor of Headington included the whole of Jack Straw’s Lane. Until well into the 20th century, the lane had no name. It was originally a track at the end of Pullen’s Lane that led to Jack Straw’s farmhouse or Jack Straw’s Castle. The name of the road only dates from about 1932, and was not officially adopted until 1954.

Cowley House on Jack Straw’s Lane opened as Oxford Youth Hostel 90 years ago in 1936 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

When I stayed at the youth hostel, Jack Straw was already well-known and the elected as President of the National Union of Students from 1969 to 1971, and he went on to become a prominent Labour politician and cabinet minister. But he was not the Jack Straw who gave his name of Jack Straw Lane.

Tradition says the Jack Straw of the lane had been a farmer who lived on Headington Hill. Although many highwaymen were active in the area, they had no one leader. But the story goes that when Jack Straw died, the cellars beneath his kitchen were found to have rolls of silk, gold, silver, spices and other valuable goods that had been stolen from travellers and merchants. Yet, no one named Jack Straw was ever buried at Saint Andrew’s Church.

By 1850, Jack Straw’s Castle and farmland were owned by the Lord of the Manor of Headington and leased to John Plowman, who also leased the brickyard on Marston Road and owned another house near the Britannia in central Headington.

Plowman was an architect who had lived in St Peter-in-the-East parish in Oxford, and he was a brickyard-owner rather than a farmer. By 1861, Jack Straw’s Farm covered 105 acres in Old Headington John Plowman was a farmer living in ‘Jack Straw’s Castle’ and employing five men and a boy. His son-in-law Joseph Jones Bickerton was the Town Clerk of Oxford.

The Ordnance Survey map in 1876 shows only three buildings pn Jack Straw’s Lane, with Jack Straw’s Farmhouse, popularly known as Jack Straw’s Castle, towards the north-west. The Plowman family left around 1879, and the castle was let as a private house and the land was farmed separately. The castle was renamed as Belle Vue Lodge. The Revd Charles Morris, the Vicar of Marston, lived there from 1893 until he died in 1899.

The house was known once more as Jack Straw’s Castle by 1901. Ten years later, in 1911, all the land to the north and east of Jack Straw’s Lane, including the farm, the brickworks, and six cottages on Marston Road were sold at auction. The site of Jack Straw’s Castle and Hillside is now occupied by the Rectory Homes development at No 35-43.

The former youth hostel on Jack Straw’s Lane is now a nursery for the children of university staff and children (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Cowley House and the adjoining Cowley Cottage were built on the south side of the lane in 1898. Cowley House was built in about 1898. It was occupied by Hugh Hall from 1899 to 1902, a Mrs Valpy lived there from 1903 to 1907, and Miss Michaelson from 1909 to after 1929.

YHA Oxford Regional Group was formed in the very early days of the Association, in December 1931. Cowley House on Jack Straw’s Lane in Headington had been unoccupied for four years when it was bought for £2,100 by the YHA. It opened as Oxford Youth Hostel on Maundy Thursday, 9 April 1936, with grants from the Carnegie Trust and the Cadbury Trust, and gifts of furniture from Jesus College.

A new annexe was completed in 1939, when the accommodation increased to 98. But the youth hostel was unavailable during World War II and was used as a school. To compensate for the wartime requisition a temporary summer hostel opened in a building on the corner of Mansfield Road and Holywell Street belonging to Manchester College.

The original hotels was returned to the YHA in June 1945 and reopened on 2 January 1946. For decades, it was one of the most popular youth hostels in England, often needing extra accommodation in temporary seasonal hostels in public or educational buildings that were loaned or hired.

The youth hostel on Jack Straw’s Lane eventually closed on 14 May 2001 when a purpose-built hostel opened on Botley Road near the railway station.

Bryant Homes planned to demolish the former youth hostel on Jack Straw’s Lane and replace it with flats in 2001, but this proposal was rejected. A year later, St Hilda’s College hoped to turn the building into flats in In 2002. But eventually it was converted into the college nursery, run by Kids Unlimited. It was renamed Dorothea Beale House after one of the college’s two founders, and its address is now 32B Jack Straw’s Lane.

Field House, to the right of Dorothea Beale House, was built in the late 1920s. It was designed by the architect Herbert Luck North (1871–1941), who had formerly been an assistant to Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Other houses on the lane include Hillside, now 69 Jack Straw’s Lane, was once the home of Henry Habberley Price (1899-1984), who was Wykeham Professor of Logic.

The Milham Ford School opened on a 16-acre site at Jack Straw’s Lane in 1938, and later became a maintained grammar school for girls then a girls’ comprehensive. The school closed in 2003, it was sold and became the site of the School of Health Care of Oxford Brookes University.

Today, Jack Straw’s Lane is a residential area with high-priced houses and lined with large mature trees. The former youth hostel is now Kids Planet, an exclusive nursery for staff and students at the University of Oxford.

I continued on down Jack Straw’s Lane that afternoon last week and visited Saint Michael and All Angels Church on the corner of Marston Road, before catching a bus back into the centre of Oxford.

Jack Straw’s Lane leads from Headington to New Marston in suburban East Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Comerford Library opens at University of Virginia and honours the memory of leading lawyer James D Comerford

The Comerford Library opened last week at the Center for Politics in the University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Patrick Comerford

The Comerford Library opened last week at the Center for Politics in the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and honours the memory of a leading lawyer James D (Jim) Comerford of Atlanta, Georgia, who died two years ago (21 April 2024) at the age of 64.

Jim Comerford was vice-chair of the Board of Advisors of the Center for Politics, actively engaging with the development of teaching resources for students at the University of Virginia and working tirelessly to strengthen its programmes and operations.

Because of his philanthropic support of the centre and its building expansion, the centre has named the Comerford Library in his honour and memory. He often described his support of the centre as ‘an act of patriotism,’ supporting it as a means of strengthening democracy and civic institutions.

Jim loved politics and the history of politics, and his recollection of campaign and political history was second to none. He donated his large collections of political and campaign memorabilia, including pamphlets, buttons, stickers and posters, to the centre’s archives.

Inside the Comerford Library at the Center for Politics in the University of Virginia

Jim was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 6 June 1959, the only son of Neil Dexter Comerford Jr and Margaret (née Dower) Comerford (1920-2016), a former navy nurse. He was seven when his father died suddenly. Margaret soon moved them to Atlanta, where Jim grew up. She later married physician Dr Mark Lindsey, who considered Jim a son.

Jim attended Marist High School, Atlanta, where he was President of the Student Council and developed a lifelong Catholic faith. He then attended the University of Virginia. There he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity; a Student Council representative; and a guest pundit for student weekly The Declaration, where he predicted the 1980 Reagan landslide state-by-state.

He majored in history and government and graduated with the class of 1981. He counted Professor Boots Mead and Professor Irby Cauthen as his mentors and he remained a life-long friend of the political analyst Professor Larry Sabato.

After earning his law degree at the University of Georgia in 1984, Jim began a legal career with a small law firm in Marietta, Georgia, and went on to practice in some of the south-east’s leading firms, specialising in government affairs. Eventually he went out on his own, creating a group of successful investment partnerships and business ventures.

When we met, he was a practicing lawyer or attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, and a counsel with Hunton and Williams LLP, a law firm with offices in 19 cities across the US, including Atlanta, and in Europe and Asia.

Jim remained close to the University of Virginia throughout his life. He was an early supporter and long-serving board member of Professor Sabato’s nationally renowned Center for Politics. He was also a member of the Atlanta selection board for the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, the most prestigious scholarship at the University of Virginia.

Jim was also involved in the economic development of Sandy Springs, Georgia, and was engaged in the efforts leading to the incorporation of Sandy Springs as a city.

Jim loved being the father of three children and encouraging their successes at Blessed Trinity, Marist, Oglethorpe University, Mercer University Atlanta, Auburn University and Georgia Institute of Technology. He had a love of story-telling and had a passion for his family, his home state of Georgia and his Irish heritage.

On the battlements of Ballybur Castle, Co Kilkenny, with Jim and Camilla Comerford, Jimmy Comerford and Frank Gray

When Camilla and Jim Comerford visited Ireland with their son Jimmy 14 years ago (May 2012), I hosted them on a genealogical tour that brought them to Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin and the Comerford ancestral home at Ballybur Castle at Cuffesgrange, near Callan, Co Kilkenny.

They had been in London and Oxford the previous week. On a warm sunny, early summer afternoon in Dublin, after a thorough tour of the cathedral and the crypt, we sat for an hour or more outside the Bull and Castle on Christchurch Place and had lengthy conversations that ranged from Handel to Pugin, liturgy to architecture, and through politics and music to travel and politics.

We were guests the next day of the late Frank Gray, who bought Ballybur Castle from the Marnell family for £20,000 in 1979 and spent over three decades lovingly restoring the 16th century tower house, bringing it back to its Tudor glory.

In Cuffesgrange, I showed them the remains of a Comerford memorial from the early 17th century, rescued in the 19th century by Bishop Michael Comerford and placed in the corner wall of the parish church. Back in Kilkenny, we visited Kilkenny Castle, had lunch in the Kilkenny Design Centre, and met members of Camilla’s extended family.

Jim Comerford died on 21 April 2024 after a six-year battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Camilla (Corrigan), their sons James ‘Jimmy’ Dower Comerford Jr and Joseph ‘Joey’ Corrigan Comerford of Atlanta, their daughter Margaret ‘Margeaux’ Eileen Comerford of Seattle, and their granddaughter Abigail Genevieve. His funeral Mass took place in the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, on 24 April 2024, and he was buried at Arlington Memorial Park.

Jim and Jimmy Comerford visiting the baptistery in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in 2012 (Photograph: Patick Comerford)

A book launch in Prague links the Comerford family with Walter Devereux and the murder of Wallenstein

The Czech artist Josef Ryzec has spent decades seeking to prove a 400-year tradition in his family that they are descended from Walter Devereux

Patrick Comerford

This two-week visit to Kuching means I never even began to consider going to Prague for the launch of a new book that mentions several times for my genealogical research on the Comerford family and that includes several photographs of me.

My Irish-Norman Ancestor is a new book by Josef Ryzec, that has been adapted to English by Sean O’Sullivan from Dublin, edited by Louise Kelleher and published by the Wild Geese Historical Society of Czechia. It is being launched in the Irish Embassy in Prague this evening (25 February 2025) by Alan Gibbons, who has been the Irish ambassador to Prague for the past three years

The Irish embassy in the Wratislaw Palace in Prague is close to Charles Bridge, at the heart of the city’s historic Malá Strana (Lesser Town). This evening’s launch of Josef Ryzec’s book also marks the anniversary of the assassination of Albrecht von Wallenstein on 25 February 1634, a pivotal moment in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648).

The Thirty Years War, ostensibly beginning as a religious one, engaged nearly every European country in one way or another. The major forces involved were Sweden, supported by France, and the Hapsburg Empire, and the brunt was borne mainly by the German provinces and the Czech lands.

Wallenstein wasthe successful commander of the Austrian army, with several significant military victories. By December 1633, however, he was hoping to link up with the Swedes under Prince Bernhard. Colonel Walter Butler (1600-1634) of Ballinakill Castle, Roscrea, a direct descendant of James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, was the commander of a regiment of Irish dragoons, remained loyal to the Habsburg Emperor. At the imperial command, Butler and two Scots colonels, Walter Leslie and John Gordon, plotted to get rid of Wallenstein.

Wallenstein’s trusted inner circle were invited to a feast at Eger Castle, where Butler’s kinsman, Captain Walter Devereux (1615) from Co Wexford, killed the traitorous general. The room were Devereux disposed of Wallenstein remains in the castle, now the Cheb Museum.

Butler died the following year and Devereux succeeded him as colonel of the regiment. He was rewarded for his deed with a confiscated estate and remained in the Czech lands. His brother had inherited the Devereux family castle at Balmagyr in Co Wexford and there was nothing to return to in Ireland.

The murder is described in a contemporary account by an Irish priest, FatherThomas Carew, who was a chaplain to both Butler and Devereux in the imperial army. It is also the subject of Schiller’s The Death of Wallenstein, one of a trilogy of plays about the general that holds a place in German culture akin to that of Shakespeare’s history plays.

Many historians of central Europe is regard Walter Devereux as a murderous mercenary, a drunk and a gambler. His son, or grandson, changed his family name to Ryzec, which is the name of a red-coloured Czech mushroom, suggesting that Walter was red-haired. He was reputedly buried in the Irish Franciscan church in Prague, to which he had contributed generously. The church is Malá Strana in Prague, beside the Charles Bridge and close to the Irish Embassy in the Wratislaw Palace.

The Thirty Years’ War had devastated Europe, killing millions through violence, famine or disease. It came to an end with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 which united Europe for the first time in a treaty of peace – perhaps a foretaste of the European Union, as some suggest.

The religious differences, however, remained for much longer, and influenced markedly historians of the period. The end of the war left in the Austrian Empire to dominate the Czechs for hundreds of years, whereas Wallenstein’s reward, had he succeeded in his treachery, would have been to become king of the Czech lands.

Walter Butler is said to have been buried in the Irish Franciscan church beside the Charles Bridge in Prague (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Czech artist Josef Ryzec has endeavoured for decades to prove a 400-year tradition in his family that they are descended from Walter Devereux. In the course of his research, he says, a DNA test proved that his family tradition is correct. The book being launched in Prague this evening tells of his driving obsession to establish his family’s tradition and the many obstacles he faced and overcame.

He is confident he has now traced his ancestry back to the assassin Walter Devereux from Co Wexford. Walter’s parents were Philip Devereux (1583-1635) of Ballymagir Castle, Co Wexford, and Joan Walsh (1587-1660); Joan’s sister, Ellinor Walsh, married the Revd Thomas Comerford (1596-1635), Vicar of The Rower from 1630 until his death. They were daughters of Walter Walsh of The Mountains, Co Kilkenny, and Courthoyle, near Carrigbyrne, Co Wexford, and his wife, Ellinor Butler of New Ross, Co Wexford, daughter of Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret.

This connection with the Conerford family led artist Josef Ryzec to contact me, and eventually three photographs of me, and references to my genealogical research are part of his book being launched this evening.

He believes there is no verifiable evidence that Walter Butler was buried in the Irish Franciscan church beside the Charles Bridge in Prague. It has been presumed by many that Walter Devereux died in December 1639, but Josef suggests that at the age of 55 he fathered a son Matej Ryzec who was born in 1670, and that he may have lived on for many more years after.

Sean O’Sullivan, who has been a generous publisher and supporter of this research, is originally from Dublin, and first came to Prague as a Pre-Accession Adviser to the Czech Ministry of Finance in 2002, advising the Czech government on meeting the requirements for EU membership. He loved Prague so much and felt so at home there that he decided to stay on after retirement, and devotes much his time to the Wild Geese Society of Bohemia.

A former Ambassador, Alison Kelly, introduced him to Josef Ryzec and he helped Josef research his family legend that he is descended from Walter Devereux who was only 19 at the time of the assassination.

As for Ballymagyr Castle it is now part of Richfield House and Cottages in Duncormick, near Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford.

The Charles Bridge in Prague at dawn … close to the Irish Embassy and the Irish Franciscan Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Durham Cathedral has the shrines of Cuthbert and Bede. Is it England’s Prague or Avignon?

‘Durham is one of the great experiences of Europe … and … can only be compared to Avignon and Prague’ (Nikolaus Pevsner) … Durham castle and cathedral above the River Wear (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

‘Durham is one of the great experiences of Europe to the eyes of those who appreciate architecture, and to the minds of those who understand architecture. The group of Cathedral, Castle, and Monastery on the rock can only be compared to Avignon and Prague.’

So wrote the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983) in The Buildings of England.

Pevsner was still in his 20s and on his first English tour, when he wrote about his visit to Durham to his wife Lola (Carola Kurlbaum) in 1930: ‘From the bridge it is a Romantic dream, a fantasy by Schinkel. This morning in the mist it was wonderful … the first thing that has made my heart pound … the cathedral in itself, just like the Matterhorn in itself – gigantic, grey, on its own.’ He fled Nazi Germany three years later and settled in England in 1933.

More recently, Bill Bryson wrote in Notes from a Small Island: ‘I unhesitatingly gave Durham my vote for best cathedral on planet Earth.’

Durham Cathedral is a place of pilgrimage associated with Saint Cuthbert, the Venerable Bede and Saint Oswald (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham Cathedral has been a place of worship and learning continuously for more than 1,000 years, and through those centuries it has been a centre of prayer and pilgrimage associated with the relics of Saint Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede and the head of Saint Oswald of Northumbria.

It has been described as the ‘largest and most perfect monument of Norman style architecture in England.’ It is generally regarded as one of the finest Romanesque cathedrals in Europe and the rib vaulting in the nave marks the beginning of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle are both are Grade I listed buildings and together they became a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1986. The site is one of the most powerful symbols of the Norman Conquest of England.

Durham Cathedral is formally the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and Saint Cuthbert of Durham. It attracts about 750,000 visitors a year, although my visit last weekend was curtailed and restricted. I was visiting Durham for the first time, and a day of ceremonies and commemorations meant I only had a short visit to the cathedral and never managed to visit the shrine of Saint Cuthbert.

The cathedral story dates back to the seventh century and the foundation of Lindisfarne Priory, founded ca 635. The See of Durham was founded by Saint Aidan as the Diocese of Lindisfarne at the invitation of King Oswald. The see was moved to York in 664, but it returned to Lindisfarne in 678. Saint Cuthbert, whose story is central to the development of Durham Cathedral, was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 685 until his death in 687.

After repeated Viking raids, the monks fled from Lindisfarne in 875, bringing Saint Cuthbert’s relics with them. They settled at Chester-le-Street from 882 until 995, when they moved to Durham. I was recalling the legend of the Dun Cow in a posting on Thursday evening (11 September 2025). Eventually, the monks arrived at a peninsula formed by a loop in the River Wear, and there they built a new shrine that marks the beginning of Durham, both the cathedral and the city.

The east end of Durham Cathedral, one of the finest Romanesque cathedrals in Europe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The first shrine or church was a simple, temporary wooden structure built to house the relics of Saint Cuthbert. A sturdier, wooden building, known as the White Church, was itself replaced in 998 by a stone building also known as the White Church, which was complete in 1018 except for its tower.

The shrine of Saint Cuthbert soon made Durham a centre of pilgrimage, the early pilgrims included King Canute and a town grew up around the cathedral.

The present cathedral was built between 1093 and 1133 under Bishop William de St-Calais. He founded the Benedictine Priory at Durham in 1083, and replaced the secular canons with monks from the monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, appointing Aldwin as the first prior.

Bishop William de St Calais demolished the old Saxon church, and he and Turgot of Durham, Aldwin’s successor as prior, laid the foundation stone of the new cathedral on 11 August 1093. Since then, there have been many additions and reconstructions, but the greater part of the cathedral remains the original Norman structure.

William de St-Calais died in 1096 and was succeeded by Ranulf Flambard, who built Framwellgate Bridge, the earliest crossing of the River Wear from the town.

The rib vaulting in the nave marks the beginning of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The remains of Saint Cuthbert were transferred to the new shrine in the new cathedral in 1104. The walls of the nave were finished by 1128, the high vault by 1135, and the chapter house was built in 1133-1140. It is a significant example of the Romanesque architectural style, and the nave ceiling is the earliest surviving example of a pointed rib vault.

Hugh de Puiset added the Galilee Chapel at the west end of the cathedral in the 1170s. The five-aisled building occupies the position of a porch and functioned as a Lady Chapel with the great west door being blocked during the mediaeval period by an altar to the Virgin Mary. The west towers also date from the early 13th century and were built ca 1200.

Richard le Poore, Bishop of Salisbury, moved to Durham in 1228 after rebuilding Salisbury Cathedral in the Gothic style. He commissioned Richard Farnham to design the east end of the cathedral as a place where the monks could say the Daily Office together. The east end was expanded in the Early English Gothic style in the 1230s, and the building that was erected became the Chapel of the Nine Altars.

The Shrine of Saint Cuthbert was at the east end of the cathedral. The shrine was said to be one of the ‘most sumptuous in all England, so great were the offerings and jewels bestowed upon it, and endless the miracles that were wrought at it’.

The north aisle of Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The original roof was replaced in 1250 by a vault that is still in place. The central tower was damaged by lightning and was replaced by the Perpendicular Gothic central tower, built in two stages in the 15th century.

The cathedral is notable for the ribbed vault of the nave, with some of the earliest transverse pointed arches supported on relatively slender composite piers alternated with massive drum columns, and lateral abutments concealed within the triforium over the aisles.

The skilled use of the pointed arch and ribbed vault made it possible to cover far more elaborate and complicated ground plans than before. Buttressing made it possible to build taller buildings and open up the intervening wall spaces to create larger windows.

The main entrance to the cathedral is now on the north side, facing onto Palace Green and Durham Castle.

The shrine of Saint Bede in the Galilee Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The relics of Saint Bede were brought by a monk to Durham from Jarrow in 1022. At first they were placed with Saint Cuthbert’s remains, but they were moved to the Galilee Chapel around 1370. The simple Latin inscription on his tomb reads, ‘Here lie the bones of the Venerable Bede’.

The Galilee Chapel in front of the former great west door was home to the chantry, which Cardinal Thomas Langley opened in 1414 to provide free grammar and music lessons to children who could not afford them.

The Great West Door was blocked by Langley’s tomb after he died in 1437 and so the two doors were built to the north and south in the 19th century.

The Great West Door was blocked by Cardinal Thomas Langley’s tomb after he died in 1437 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

During the Tudor Reformation, Saint Cuthbert’s tomb was destroyed in 1538 and the monastery’s wealth was transferred to the crown. When Saint Cuthbert’s body was exhumed, it is said, it was discovered to be uncorrupted. It was reburied under a plain stone slab now worn smooth by the knees of pilgrims, but the ancient paving around it remains intact.

The Benedictine monastery at Durham was dissolved on 31 December 1540, and the last Prior of Durham, Hugh Whitehead, became the first dean in the cathedral’s new chapter.

After the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, Durham Cathedral was used by Cromwell as a makeshift prison to hold Scottish prisoners of war. As many as 3,000 were imprisoned in inhumane conditions, without food, water, or heat.

The prisoners destroyed much of the cathedral woodwork for firewood, and 1,700 of them died inside the cathedral. It is said the dead prisoners were buried in unmarked graves, and the survivors were shipped as slave labour to the American Colonies. The remains of some prisoners were identified recently in a mass grave uncovered during building works outside the cathedral precinct near Palace Green.

Durham Cathedral was used by Cromwell to hold up to 3,000 prisoners of war in inhumane conditions (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

After the Caroline restoration, Bishop John Cosin was Bishop of Durham in 1660-1672. He set about restoring the damage and refurnishing the cathedral with new chapter and choir stalls, the litany desk, and the towering canopy over the font, while an oak screen replaced a stone screen pulled down in the 16th century. Dean John Sudbury founded a library of early printed books on the remains of the old refectory.

George Nicholson, who had completed Prebends’ Bridge across the Wear, persuaded the dean and chapter in 1777 to allow him to smooth off much of the outer stonework of the cathedral, altering its character. His successor William Morpeth demolished most of the chapter house.

James Wyatt drew up plans to transform the cathedral in 1794, including the demolition of the Galilee Chapel. But the chapter later rejected many of his proposed changes. Wyatt renewed the 15th century tracery of the Rose Window, inserting plain glass to replace glass that had been blown out in a storm.

The architect Anthony Salvin removed Cosin’s wooden organ screen in 1847, opening up the view of the east end from the nave, and he restored the cloisters in 1858.

The cathedral tower was restored in 1859-1860 by George Gilbert Scott (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The cathedral tower was restored in 1859-1860 by George Gilbert Scott, working with Edward Robert Robson. Scott was responsible for the marble choir screen and pulpit in the crossing in 1874. Scott’s pupil Charles Hodgson Fowler rebuilt the chapter house in 1892 as a memorial to Bishop Joseph Barber Lightfoot.

The great west window, depicting the Tree of Jesse, was the gift of Dean George Waddington (1867). It is the work of Clayton and Bell, who were also responsible for the Te Deum window in the south transept (1869), the Four Doctors window in the north transept (1875), and the Rose Window of Christ in Majesty (1876).

Dean Cyril Alington began restoring the Shrine of Saint Cuthbert behind the high altar in the 1930s, and the work resumed after World War II. The four candlesticks and overhanging tester (1950) were designed by Sir Ninian Comper. Two large batik banners by Thetis Blacker depicting Saint Cuthbert and Saint Oswald were added in 2001. Several stained glass windows by Hugh Ray Easton in the cathedral were added in the 1930s and 1940s.

A window by Alan Younger in the Galilee Chapel commemorates the 1300th anniversary of the birth of the Venerable Bede (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The artwork behind Saint Bede’s tomb in the Galilee Chapel is a wooden memorial with glistening gold writing and quotes from his commentary on the Book of Revelation: ‘Christ is the Morning Star who, when the night of this world is past, brings to his saints the promise of the light of life, and opens everlasting day.’

It was designed by Frank Roper (1914-2000).and George Pace (1915-1975) in 1971 as a memorial to Cyril Alington, Dean of Durham in 1933-1951, and his wife Hester.

A wooden statue of the Annunciation (1992) in the Galilee Chapel is by the Polish artist Josef Pyrz and Leonard Evetts’s Stella Maris window was added the sane year.

A window by Alan Younger was installed in the Galilee Chapel in 1973 to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the birth of the Venerable Bede in 672/673 AD.

In the cloisters in Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

At the beginning of the 21st century, two of the altars in the Nine Altars Chapel at the east end were re-dedicated to Saint Hild of Whitby and Saint Margaret of Scotland. Two wooden sculptures by Fenwick Lawson, Pietà and Tomb of Christ, were placed in the chapel in 2004, and a new stained glass window of the Transfiguration by Tom Denny was dedicated in 2010 in memory of Michael Ramsey, former Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of Canterbury.

The 17th century Smith organ was replaced in 1876 by ‘Father’ Willis (Henry Willis & Sons). Harrison & Harrison worked on the organ from 1880. It was restored in 1905-1935, rebuilt again in 1970, and there were more changes in 1981 and 1996.

The organists have included the composers Thomas Ebdon and Richard Hey Lloyd, editor of the Ancient and Modern Revised hymnbook John Dykes Bower, and the conductor David Hill. present Master of the Choristers and Organist is Daniel Cook. The Sub-Organist is Joseph Beech. There are ten bells in the central tower hung for change ringing in the English style.

The north transept and north door of Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Sir Walter Scott in his poem ‘Harold the Dauntless’ wrote in 1819:

Grey towers of Durham
Yet well I love thy mixed and massive piles
Half church of God, half castle ’gainst the Scot
And long to roam those venerable aisles
With records stored of deeds long since forgot.

Other listed churches and former churches I managed to see during my short visit to Durham include Saint Margaret of Antioch, Crossgate; Saint Mary-le-Bow, now Durham Heritage Centre; Saint Cuthbert’s Roman Catholic Church; and Saint Nicholas Church. But more about them another day, hopefully.

Saint Oswald’s’ head was buried in Durham Cathedral alongside Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

• The Very Revd Dr Philip Plyming has been the Dean of Durham since 2023. The chapter includes the vice-dean and precentor, treasurer, chancellor, canon pastor and the Van Mildert Professor of Divinity at Durham University, the Revd Canon Professor Simon Oliver. The Sung Eucharist on Sundays, the main service of Holy Communion, begins at 10 am. The cathedral church and the cloisters are open to visitors throughout the year.

Durham Cathedral glimpsed through the narrow, cobbled streets of Durham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

‘To see Durham is to see the English Sion and by doing so one may save oneself a trip to Jerusalem’

‘To see Durham is to see the English Sion’ (Symeon of Durham) … Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle stand on a peninsula shaped by the River Wear (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025; click on images for full-screen viewing)

Patrick Comerford

My visit to Durham last weekend was all too brief. We were on a family visit to York, I needed to get back to York for a family dinner, and with just a few hours to walk around I wanted to see as much as possible of the mediaeval city, with its cathedral, castle, cobbled streets, riverside walks and the third oldest university in England.

Durham has a population of about 50,000 people, and the cathedral and the castle on Palace Green, high above the River Wear have been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Durham is also the home of the Durham Miners’ Gala and has a rich trade union history: the Durham coalfields developed during the Industrial Revolution, with dozens of collieries around the city. Although the coal pits are long closed, the Durham Miners’ Gala is still a major event each year.

Durham city centre has changed little over 200 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The city is built on a meander of the River Wear that surrounds the centre on three sides and creates a narrow neck on the fourth. The city centre has changed little over 200 years. It is made up of the peninsula containing the cathedral, the castle and Palace Green that give the cathedral a striking position.

Durham dates back over 1,000 years to 995, when a small band of monks from Lindisfarne seeking a place that was safe from Viking raids arrived with the relics of Saint Cuthbert. The church they built eventually evolved into Durham Cathedral, regarded by Unesco as ‘the largest and most perfect monument of Norman style architecture in England.’

The 12th-century chronicler Symeon of Durham wrote: ‘To see Durham is to see the English Sion and by doing so one may save oneself a trip to Jerusalem’.

Sir Walter Scott was so inspired by the view of the cathedral from South Street that he wrote the poem ‘Harold the Dauntless’ (1817), about Saxons and Vikings and set in County Durham. Lines from the poem are carved on a stone tablet on Prebends Bridge:

Grey towers of Durham
Yet well I love thy mixed and massive piles
Half church of God, half castle ’gainst the Scot
And long to roam those venerable aisles
With records stored of deeds long since forgot.

Durham Castle above Silver Street and Framwellgate Bridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The name Durham comes from dun, indicating a hill fort, and the Old Norse holme, referring to an island. But, as I recalled on Thursday evening, legends also link the name with the Dun Cow and the milkmaid who guided the monks of Lindisfarne to the strategic high peninsula that became the site of Durham cathedral.

Durham was once a buffer between warring England and Scotland, and until 1836 the city was part of the County Palatine of Durham, a semi-independent jurisdiction ruled by the prince bishops of Durham.

Mediaeval Durham became a place of pilgrimage because of its associations with Saint Cuthbert, Saint Bede the Venerable and Saint Oswald. The shrine of Saint Cuthbert at Durham Cathedral became the most important religious site in England until Saint Thomas Becket was murdered at Canterbury in 1170.

The Bishops of Durham ruled the County Palatine of Durham from Durham Castle until 1836 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham played an important rolw in the mediaeval wars between England and Scotland, and Durham Castle is the only Norman castle keep never to have suffered a breach. The castle on Palace Green was originally built in the 11th century, is an excellent example of early motte and bailey castles built by the Normans.

The Bishops of Durham, who lived in Durham Castle, ruled the County Palatine of Durham from 1071 to 1836 and the bishop was sometimes described as a ‘prince bishop’. The bishops had their own parliament, raised their own armies, appointed their own sheriffs and Justices, administered their own laws, levied taxes and customs duties, created fairs and markets, issued charters, collected revenue, administered the forests and minted their own coins.

The bishops’ powers were so far-reaching that the steward of Bishop Antony Bek said in 1299: ‘There are two kings in England, namely the Lord King of England, wearing a crown in sign of his regality and the Lord Bishop of Durham wearing a mitre in place of a crown’.

Bishop Cosin’s Hall on Palace Green … Bishop John Cosin began a major restoration project in the cathedral, the castle and the city in 1660 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The castle has been in continuous use for over 900 years. It was famed for its vast Great Hall, created by Bishop Bek in the early 14th century. It was the largest great hall in England until Bishop Richard Foxe shortened it at the end of the 15th century. It is still 46 ft high and about 100 ft long.

The city remained loyal to Charles I in the English Civil War, from 1642 until the king’s execution in 1649, and he visited Durham three times during his reign. But the castle suffered considerable damage during the Commonwealth. Cromwell sold the castle to the Lord Mayor of London shortly, and the cathedral was closed in 1650 and used to hold 3,000 Scottish prisoners after the Battle of Dunbar.

John Cosin, one of the great Caroline Divines, became Bishop of Durham (1660-1672) after the restoration and began a major restoration project in the cathedral, the castle and the city.

There were plans in the 18th century to transform Durham into a seaport by digging a canal or altering the course of the river. Nothing came of the plans, however, although the statue of Neptune in the Market Place is a reminder of these maritime ambitions and possibilities.

The statue of Neptune in the Market Place is a reminder of the plans to make Durham a seaport (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 gave governing power of the town to an elected body. All other aspects of the Bishop’s temporal powers were abolished by the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 . The last bishop to rule the palatinate, Bishop William Van Mildert, founded Durham University in 1832. It was one of the first universities to open in England for more than 600 years, and is England’s third oldest, after Oxford and Cambridge.

The bishop moved to Auckland Castle and Durham Castle became University College, the first college in the new university. Durham University was founded in 1832. Bishop Hatfield’s Hall, later Hatfield College, was added in 1846, specifically for the sons of poorer families. Durham University ranks in the top 200 of the world’s universities.

The Industrial Revolution also placed the city at the heart of the coalfields, the county’s main industry until the 1970s. Practically every village around the city had a coal mine and, although these have since disappeared as part of the regional decline in heavy industry, the traditions, heritage and community spirit are still evident. The first Durham Miners' Gala was attended by 5,000 miners in 1871, and it remains the largest socialist trade union event in the world.

Durham was not bombed during World War II, although one raid on the night of 30 May 1942 did give rise to the local legend of ‘Saint Cuthbert’s Mist’. According to the legend, the Luftwaffe tried to target Durham, but was thwarted when Saint Cuthbert created a mist that covered both the castle and cathedral, sparing them from bombing.

Palace Green, in front of the cathedral and the castle … Durham was not bombed during World War II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham is a hilly city, said to be built on seven hills, like Rome and Constantinople. The steep riverbanks are densely wooded, adding to the picturesque beauty of the city. The cathedral and castle stand on the most central and prominent position high above the Wear and dominate the skyline. The Bailey is almost entirely owned and occupied by the university and the cathedral.

The River Wear forms a peninsula that encloses the centre Durham on three sides. The Market Place at the base of the peninsula remains the venue for regular markets and the Market Place and surrounding streets form the heart of commercial and shopping life in the city.

Three old roads lead off the Market Place: Saddler Street heads south-east, towards Elvet Bridge, the Bailey and Prebends Bridge. Elvet Bridge leads to the Elvet area of the city and the south; Prebends Bridge is smaller and provides access from the Bailey to south Durham. Heading west, Silver Street leads out of the Market Place towards Framwellgate Bridge and North Road, the other main shopping area of the city.

The old commercial heart of the city encompasses the peninsula on three sides, following the River Wear, and much of the original mediaeval street plan remains intact in the area close to the cathedral and the Market Place.

Durham Market Place, with Durham Town Hall, the Guildhall and Saint Nicholas Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham Market Place, with its impressive array of buildings and sculptures, is first mentioned in 1040, the heads of Scottish marauders were displayed on poles around the Market Place. Saint Nicholas Church was built in 1133, and part of its former churchyard lies beneath the Market Place.

Durham Town Hall is on the west side of the Market Place. The earliest part of the complex of buildings is the Guildhall which dates from 1665. The town hall, at the rear, was opened in 1851, at the same time as the indoor market.

The statue of Neptune is the oldest statue in the Market Place. It was made of stone covered in lead in 1729, and is a reminder of the plans to make Durham a port. It had a pant or drinking vessel, but was moved in 1923 when the water was no longer needed. Neptune was returned by popular demand in 1991, but the pant did not come with him.

The equestrian statue of Lord Londonderry by Raphael Monti in the Market Place (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The equestrian statue in the Market Place is of Charles William Vane Tempest Stewart (1778-1854), 3rd Marquis of Londonderry. He was born in Mary Street, Dublin, was involved as a young man in suppressing the 1798 Rising in Ireland, and was later a commander under the Duke of Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars.

He married the very wealthy Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest and took her name too, and only inherited his family title after Lord Castlereagh, his half-brother and the childless second marquis, died by suicide. He opposed the Mines and Collieries Act and wanted women, girls and boys under 10 to continue working in his pits.

He was one of the 10 richest people in the United Kingdom, yet during the Irish Famine evicted many of his tenants. He advised his tenants ‘to help themselves and heaven will help them’, and suggested only the most ‘supine and inert’ among them could be ‘suffering in any serious degree under the failure of the potato’.

After he died, his widow raised subscriptions for a statue by Raphael Monti (1818-1881), who used a new technique of electroplating copper over a plaster base. The statue was unveiled in 1861, but the larger-than-life work was not popular in Durham and people wanted it moved. Nobody wanted it anywhere else, the cathedral clergy rejected plans to place it on Palace Green, and so it stayed in the Market Place, although it has been moved from its original setting.

In the narrow cobbled streets beneath Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

I arrived in Durham on the train from York, crossing over the Victorian railway viaduct on North Road, high above the city, and walked along the banks of the River Wear to Durham Cathedral, Durham Castle and the city centre.

A path runs alongside the south bank or cathedral side for the entire length of the stretch available for rowing. Durham Regatta has been held on the River Wear in Durham since 1834. It is the second oldest regatta in Britain and is often referred to as ‘the Henley of the North’.

More than 2 km of the River Wear can be rowed on, stretching from Durham University Boat Club boathouse at Maiden Castle in the east to the weir next to Durham School Boat Club boathouse in the west. This includes the 700 metres ‘short course’ straight used for most Durham Regatta races, the 1,800 metres ‘long course’ that includes navigation through the arches of Elvet Bridge, reputed to be the narrowest row through bridge in Europe, and 1,000 metres and 2,000 metres measured distances.

There are many boating clubs, including Durham Amateur Rowing Club, founded in 1860 and is one of the country’s oldest clubs, Durham University Boat Club, and 16 college clubs, as well as school clubs.

The Victorian railway viaduct on North Road, high above the city, is one of over 630 listed buildings in Durham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

In addition to Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, the city has over 630 listed buildings. The Grade I listed buildings include the Chorister School, Crook Hall, Durham Castle, Durham Cathedral, and four bridges. The Grade II* listed buildings include Bishop Cosin’s Hall, Palace Green, Cosin’s Library, now part of University Library, Palace Green, the Railway viaduct on North Road, and the Town Hall and Guildhall on Market Place.

As well as visiting the cathedral, other listed churches and former churches I managed to see last weekend include Saint Margaret of Antioch, Crossgate; Saint Mary-le-Bow, now Durham Heritage Centre; Saint Godric’s Roman Catholic Church; and Saint Nicholas Church.

But more about Durham Cathedral and those four other churches in the days to come, hopefully.

Climbing the steps leading to Durham Railway Station (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 48, Thursday 26 June 2025

‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock’ (Matthew 7: 24) … a monastery built on a rock top in Meteora, Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity I, 22 June 2025), and during the week I have been marking the 24th anniversary of my ordination as priest 24 years ago, on the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist [24 June 2001], and the 25th anniversary of my ordination as deacon [25 June 2000].

Later this morning, I have yet another clinical consultation in Oxford, although today’s consultation is by ’phone and does not involve repeating my recent experiences of 2-2½-hour return journeys by bus. Later, this afternoon, I may go to the Stony Last Thursday History Society event in the library in Stony Stratford.

Meanwhile, 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, reading 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.

The Acropolis at night, standing on a large rocky outcrop above Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford; click on image for full-screen view)

Matthew 7: 21-29 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 21 ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” 23 Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”

24 ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!’

28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.’

‘Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand’ (Matthew 7: 26) … a sandcastle on the beach at Playa de la Carihuela in Torremolinos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

This morning’s reading (Matthew 7: 21-29) brings to a conclusion to our series of readings from the Sermon on the Mount in Saint Matthew’s Gospel. In yesterday’s reading, Jesus warns us of the dangers posed by ‘false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.’ We are to ‘know them by their fruits.’

Today he warns about what awaits those false prophets and wolves in sheep’s clothing, and like a foolish man who built his house on sand. On the other hand, those who both hear Christ’s words and act on them will show that their faith is built on firm foundation, ‘like a wise man who built his house on rock’.

I have, on many occasions times, stood at the top of Acropolis (Ἀκρόπολις) in Athens, taking in the breath-taking views in every direction across the city and out to the port of Piraeus.

The Acropolis is the highest point in Athens. It stands on an extremely rocky outcrop and on it the ancient Greeks built several significant buildings. The most famous of these is the Parthenon. This flat-topped rock rises 150 metres (490 ft) above sea level and has a surface area of about 3 ha (7.4 acres).

Below, immediately north-west of the Acropolis, is the Areopagus, another prominent, but relatively smaller, rocky outcrop. Its English name comes from its Greek name, Ἄρειος Πάγος (Areios Págos), the ‘Rock of Ares,’ known to the Romans as the Hill of Mars.

In classical Athens, this functioned as the court for trying deliberate homicide. It was said Ares was put on trial here for deicide, the murder of the son of the god Poseidon. In the play The Eumenides (458 BCE) by Aeschylus, the Areopagus is the site of the trial of Orestes for killing his mother.

Later, murderers would seek shelter there in the hope of a fair hearing.

There too the Athenians had an altar to the unknown god, and it was there the Apostle Paul delivered his most famous speech and sermon, in which he identified the ‘unknown god’ with ‘the God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth’ (Acts 17: 24), for ‘in him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17: 28).

This is the most dramatic and fullest reported sermon or speech by the Apostle Paul. He quotes the Greek philosopher Epimenides, and he must have known that the location of his speech had important cultural contexts, including associations with justice, deicide and the hidden God.

The origin of the name of the Areopagus is found in the ancient Greek, πάγος (pagos), meaning a ‘big piece of rock.’

Another word, λιθος (lithos) was used for a small rock, a stone, or even a pebble – it is the Greek word that gives us words like lithograph and megalithic, meaning Great Stone Age.

When you see breath-taking sights like these, you understand how culturally relevant it was for Christ to talk in today’s Gospel reading about the wise man building his house on a rock rather than on sand (Matthew 7: 24-26).

Ordinary domestic buildings might have been built to last a generation or two, at most. But building on rock, building into rock, building into massive rock formations like the Acropolis, was laying the foundations for major works of cultural, political and religious significance that would last long after those who had built them had been forgotten.

And so, the Church is to be built on a rock, with the foundations a movement, an institution, an organisation, a community that is going to have lasting, everlasting significance, and survive the crass abuse of the Gospel message by the sort of politicians I thought about in my reflections yesterday.

The Acropolis in Athens seen from the new Acropolis Museum, standing on a large rocky outcrop (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 26 June 2025):

‘Windrush Day’ is the theme this week (22-28 June) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 26 June 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord help us to always ensure that our churches are places of safety, sanctuary and hope. Where all people are welcomed, entering a community where they are surrounded by your love.

The Collect:

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Built on rock or built on sand? The ruins of Ballybunion Castle, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A 300-year-old Comerford death certificate offers insights into family life among the Spanish nobility

The elaborate 300-year-old death certificate of John Comerford, dated 18 May 1725 … he died on 27 October 1723

Patrick Comerford

The year 1725 was significant for a number of events I have been researching or looking back on in the history of the Comerford family in recent weeks.

At a special tercentenary event in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, organised by Tamworth and District Civic Society last month (1 April 2025), I spoke about the family plaque erected in the Comberford Chapel by Joseph Comerford in 1725, and shared with the Vicar of Tamworth, the Revd Andrew Lythall, in rededicating the memorial.

In my lecture that evening, I tried to explore some of the reasons Joseph Comerford erected that plaque in the Comberford Chapel. But perhaps one significant stimulus may have been the formal issuing in Spain 300 years ago this month, on 18 May 1725, of the death certificate of Major-General John Comerford, who may have been the senior representative of the Ballymack branch of the Comerford family.

Joseph Comerford had bought the chateau in Anglure in Champagne and called himself Marquis d’Anglure. But he had no son to inherit his French chateau and titles as his male heir. In his wills, made in Paris and Dublin, Joseph designated the male descendants of his brother, Captain Luc (Luke) Comerford of Sézanne, as his heirs male, and, in default of Luc Comerford having male heirs, Joseph settled his estates and titles on the heirs male or descendants of his kinsman, Major-General John Comerford (ca 1665-1723).

Badajoz, close to the Spanish border with Portugal … John Comerford was stationed there with his regiment until he died on 27 October 1723 (Photograph: Wikipedia / CCL)

Sone sources say John Comerford was born in Loughkeen, in north Co Tipperary, but is more likely he was born in Waterford. Spanish genealogies name his parents as Don Henrrique (Henry) Comerford, ‘natural de Borough’ and Doña Leonora Graze (Grace) ‘de Balmicourte, natural de Borough’. They are not explicit about the name of the ‘Borough’, but it is almost certainly Waterford.

John seems to have spent his formative and early adult years in Waterford. He was sworn a freeman of the City of Waterford on 23 August 1686, and became an ensign or junior office in Bagnall’s Regiment of Foot in the army of James II, alongside his brother Henry Comerford.

After the Jacobite defeat and the Treaty of Limerick, John Comerford left Ireland and was one of the ‘Wild Geese’ who found refuge in France and Spain and he became an officer in the Spanish army.

He lived in Barcelona and Madrid for much of military career, and on 13 November 1709 he raised a regiment during the Spanish Civil War from a regiment in James II’s Jacobite army, previously commanded by Colonel Dorrington and Colonel Roth. Comerford’s regiment was composed mainly of Irish officers and men and he named the regiment after himself.

Soon after their move to Spain, many of these Irish officers and their regiments were caught up in the Spanish War of Succession (1701-1714). Charles II of Spain died in 1700 without heirs, and Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV of France, was proclaimed King of Spain, triggering the Spanish War of Succession.

Badajoz was controlled in 1705 by the allies in 1705. The supporters if the Habsburg claims conceded the throne to Philip V in the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 in exchange for his renunciation of any claim to France, Philip V was confirmed as King of Spain and renounced any claims to the French throne, Barcelona was recovered by Spain in 1714, and Portugal signed a peace agreement with Spain in 1715 in which it surrendered its claims to Badajoz.

The Spanish army had a brigade of five Irish regiments: Ireland, Hibernia, Ultonia, Limerick and Waterford. Philip V reformed the regiments in the Spanish army in 1715 and renamed them after places instead of their colonels: O’Mahony became Edinburgh, in honour of the Jacobites and the Scottish capital; Crofton whose new colonel was Julian O’Callaghan, became Dublin; Castelar became Hibernia; MacAulif became Ultonia (Ulster); Vandoma became Limerick; and the Regiment of Comerford, with John Comerford as colonel-in-chief, became the Regiment of Waterford (sometimes spelt Guaterford or Vaterford in Spanish documents).

John Comerford was still in active service in the Spanish army in Barcelona in 1718, when he married the widowed Henrietta O’Beirne, and in Badajoz, when he died on 27 October 1723.

The death certificate was formally signed and witnessed in a very elaborate document 300 years ago on 18 May 1725. This fascinating document first came to light with the publication of Micheline Walsh’s research in the National Historical Archive of Spain, Spanish Knights of Irish Origin, published by the Irish University Press and the Irish Manuscripts Commission in four volumes between 1960 to 1978.

John Comerford’s death certificate was drawn up by an Irish-born Catholic priest who was the regimental chaplain in Badajoz, Fray Eugenio O’Maly and was witnessed by several Irish officers in the regiment which was then was stationed in Badajoz: Demetrio O’Dwyer, Diego Tobin, Diego de Poer, Terence O’Kelly, Phelipe O’Reilly, Tadeo Macarty, Gelasio Magenis, Mateo Butler, Juan O’Donell, and by Colonel Daniel O’Sullivan, Conde de Biarhaven (sic). Brigadier Daniel O’Sullivan, the Count of Berehaven and Governor of Coruna, was born in Bantry, Co Cork.

John Comerford’s step-daughter, Maria Therese O’Beirne, married Philip Wharton, 2nd Duke of Wharton, who once owned Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

John Comerford married the widowed Henrietta O’Beirne (née O’Neill) in 1718, while he was on active service in the Spanish army as a colonel in Barcelona.

Henrietta was the widow of Colonel Henry O’Beirne, another Irish colonel in the Spanish army, and a daughter of Henry O’Neill of Eden, Co Antrim, and his wife, Sarah O’Neill, of Shane’s Castle. Henrietta’s brother, John O’Neill, was the father-in-law of Richard Butler, 7th Viscount Mountgarret, and was grandfather of Lord O’Neill, who was killed at the Battle of Antrim during the 1798 Rising.

Henrietta and her first husband, Henry O’Beirne, were the parents of one daughter:

1, Maria Therese O’Beirne (d. 1777), Maid of Honour to the Queen of Spain, who married in 1726 the attainted Philip Wharton (1698-1731), 2nd Duke of Wharton, Marquess of Catherlough, Earl of Rathfarnham and Baron Trim.

Henrietta and her second husband, John Comerford, were the parents of one son and four daughters:

1, Joseph John Patrick Comerford (Don Joseph Jordi Patricio Comerford) (1719-post 1777) – I shall return to his life story further on in this essay.
2, Elinor, married … O’Beirne, and was living with her half-sister the Duchess of Wharton at her house in Golden Square, Soho, London, when she died in 1777. She was the mother of three daughters: ‘Mrs Elinor O’Beirne’, living at the court of Spain in 1777; and two other daughters who were under the age of 21 in 1777.
3, Frances (Doña Francisca) Magdalene.
4, Dorothea, who appears to have been dead by 1777, when her half-sister, the Duchess of Wharton, died in London.

The Royal Palace in Madrid … John Comerford’s step-daughter, Maria Therese O’Beirne, was Maid of Honour to Queen Elisabeth of Spain (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The widowed Henrietta Comerford died in Madrid in August 1747. She and her first husband, Colonel Henry O’Beirne, were the parents of Maria Therese O’Beirne (d. 1777), Maid of Honour to the Queen of Spain. Elisabeth Farnese (1692-1766) of Parma was the wife of Philip V and the de facto ruler of Spain from 1714 to 1746, managing the affairs of state on behalf of her husband, and she was the Regent of Spain in 1759-1760.

While Maria Therese O’Beirne was her Maid of Honour, Queen Elisabeth of Spain gave birth in the Royal Alcazar of Madrid on 11 June 1726 to a daughter she named Marie Thérèse Antoinette Raphaëlle (1726-1746). I canonly speculate whether the Infanta of Spain who would become the Dauphine of France sas named after John Comerford’s step-daughter at court.

A month later, on 23 July 1726, and a year after the death of her step-father, John Comerford, Maria Therese O’Beirne married as his second wife the attainted and widowed Philip Wharton (1698-1731), 2nd Duke of Wharton, Marquess of Catherlough, Earl of Rathfarnham and Baron Trim.

The Duke of Wharton had inherited Rathfarnham Castle, Knocklyon Castle and other estates in south Co Dublin through his mother, Lucy Loftus of Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford. He sold those estates to Sir William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, for £62,000 in in 1723, two years befor he married Maria Therese O’Beirne.

Wharton led a dissolute life and died aged 32 in the Franciscans monastery in Poblet on 31 May 1731, and was buried next day in the church there. His widow left Madrid for London. There she lived at Golden Square in Soho, was known as Mrs Wharton rather than the Duchess of Wharton and subsisted on a small pension from the Spanish court. A writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine later referred to her step-father, John Comerford, as her father, and in her will made 250 years ago in 1775 she referred to her half-brother, Joseph Comerford, as ‘my deceased brother Comerford’.

She died at Golden Square on 13 February 1777, and was buried at Old Saint Pancras on 20 February 1777. Her will, dated 23 December 1775, went to probate on 1 March and 28 July 1777.

John Comerford’s step-daughter, Maria Therese O’Beirne, was buried at Old Saint Pancras, London, on 20 February 1777 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John Comerford’s elaborate death certificate, and the detailed genealogies prepared for his children and grandchildren and signed by Irish archbishops and bishops were important for his family in the social climate in 18th century Spain.

Documents such these were essential for proving their status of nobility and so allowing them to hold senior rank in the Spanish army, for giving his step-daughter to marry to an exiled duke, for her daughter to became a maid of Honour to the Queen of Spain, for his only son to become a Knight of the Order of Calatrava, and for later descendants to marry into noble families, including the de Sales family, and to assume the titles of count and countess.

But it is interesting that, among these documents, John Comerford’s death certificate is drawn up and witnessed at the same time as Joseph Comerford is erecting the Comberford monument in the Comberford Chapel in Tamworth, and making his wills in Dublin and Paris that assign his titles and claims in France eventually to the descendants of John Comerford.

Don Joseph Jordi Patricio Comerford was born in Barcelona on 5 April 1719, and was baptised in Barcelona Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

As for John Comerford’s descendants, this branch of the Comerford family continued in the male line into at least the early 19th century and the death of Enrique (Henry) Comerfort, Conde de Bryas, sometime after 1815. His niece, Doña Josefa Eugenia Maria Francisca Comerford MacCrohon de Sales, (1794-1865), generally known as Josefina de Comerford, is a romantic figure in Spanish political upheavals in the 19th century and a femme fatale in Spanish revolutionary wars.

John Comerford’s only son and heir, Joseph John Patrick Comerford (1719-post 1777), was also known as Don Joseph Jordi Patricio Comerford. He was born in Barcelona on 5 April 1719, and was baptised in the Cathedral in Barcelona by the Rev Dr Pedro Soro. His godparents were Don Patricio Hogan, a captain of grenadiers in his father’s regiment, and Doña Isabel Grifit y Tobin. He was probably named after Joseph Comerford of Anglure, who was nominating the male members of this branch of the family as his heirs.

Don Joseph Comerford was a Knight of the Order of Calatrava, one of the four Spanish military orders, was the first military order founded in Castile and the second to receive papal approval. He married Maria Magdalena de Sales, Madame de Sales, a widow sometimes described as Marquesa de Sales, and he was still living in 1777. They were the parents of two sons:

• 1, (Major-General) Francisco Comerford (d. 1808), of the Regiment of Ireland – and I shall return to his life in a few moments.

• 2, Enrique (Henry) Comerfort y de Sales, Conde de Bryas. He married Juana Francisca de Comerford y Sales. He moved to Dublin in 1809 with his orphaned niece Josefina. He attended the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and died soon after.

The elder son of Don Joseph Jordi Patricio Comerford was Major-General Francisco Comerford (d. 1808), of the Regiment of Ireland. He was a sponsor in 1772 at the baptism in Spain of Carlos Manuel O’Donnell y Anhetan (1772-1830), father of Leopoldo O’Donnell y Jorish (1809-1867), the first Duke of Tetuan, who was Prime Minister of Spain on several occasions in the mid-19th century.

Joseph Comerford was stationed in Tarifa and died there in 1808 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Joseph Comerford proved the will of his aunt, the Duchess of Wharton, in 1777. He was stationed next to Gibraltar and in Tarifa with his regiment. He was an eyewitness of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. He married Maria MacCrohon, and died in 1808. They were the parents of Doña Josefa Eugenia Maria Francisca Comerford MacCrohon de Sales (1794-1865), or ‘Josefina’ de Comerford, a femme fatale in the Spanish revolutionary wars and political upheavals in the 19th century.

Josefina was born in Ceuta in Spanish North Africa in 1794, and was baptised on 26 December 1794 in the Church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios in Ceuta. In her childhood, she moved to Tarifa, where her father died in 1808. She was adopted by her uncle Enrique Comerford, moved with him to Dublin and was with him at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. She moved to Rome before returning to Spain, and became involved on the ultra-royalist side in the political wars in Spain.

The Spanish Regency gave her the title of Condesa de Sales on 21 June 1822, and this was confirmed by Fernando VII. At the fall of the constitutional regime in 1824, she moved to Barcelona. She was imprisoned in the Ciudadela in Barcelona in November 1827, but her death sentence was commuted and she was exiled to the Convent of Encarnación in Seville.

Josefina regained her freedom after the death of Ferdinand VII in 1833. She then lived in Corral del Conde on Calle Santiago in Seville, and is said to have returned to Ireland the 1850s. She died in Seville on 3 April 1865, and was buried in the Cemetery of San Fernando.

Josefina’s life has been the subject of many popular Spanish romantic novels, so that the historical biographical details of her life are often lost in the fictional retelling of her legend. She is often described as ‘the woman general’, ‘la dama azul’, and ‘the fanatic’, while other writers have defended her as ‘a defamed heroine’.

Countess Josefina de Comerford’ depicted by Vicente Urrabieta y Carnicero in an illustration for the novel by Francisco José Orellana, ‘The Count of Spain or The Military Inquisition’ (Madrid: León Pablo Library, 1856)

Further reading:

Micheline Walsh (ed), Spanish Knights of Irish Origin, Documents from Continental Archives, vol iii (Dublin, Irish University Press for the Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1970).