Church interior showing altar and pews. Script over altar reads "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness"
Love this? Please support us and...
More from this collection
Related by When
Related by Where
Research Help!
Where: Galway, Ireland
Try to find the spot where the photographer was standing.
When: Unknown
Try to find the date or year when this image was made.
1860-1930 gives us a date window of 70 years and yet there may be nothing in this photo which will allow us to significantly narrow that window? I am confident that we will get the location.
In terms of location, it is unequivocally established that this is St Catherine's Church (CoI) in Ahascragh, County Galway. (A church and churchyard which the Dillons and ourselves have visited before). In terms of date, based in particular on inputs from Rory Sherlock and Bernard Healy, the guys have been able to more than half the 70-year range to perhaps 30-years (likely 1870s/80s/90s). This is based primarily what we see (and don't see) on the left-handside of the image. Specifically, the scrolled memorial dates to the early 1870s. So we must be after that. And this memorial was moved, and a new trancept was built, before the mid-1900s. So we must be before then....
Fógra: There will be a guided tour of the Photo Detectives Exhibition on Wednesday next 29th November at 11 am. This tour will take approx. 45 minutes and is free to the public. It will help bring this outstanding exhibition to life for those who attend. Please pass the word to any who may be interested?
Photographers: Dillon Family
Contributors: Luke Gerald Dillon, Augusta Caroline Dillon
Collection: Clonbrock photographic Collection
Date: Catalogue range c.1860-1930. Likely c.1871-1905 (memorial/trancepts)
NLI Ref: CLON312
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 23988
In terms of location, it is unequivocally established that this is St Catherine's Church (CoI) in Ahascragh, County Galway. (A church and churchyard which the Dillons and ourselves have visited before). In terms of date, based in particular on inputs from Rory Sherlock and Bernard Healy, the guys have been able to more than half the 70-year range to perhaps 30-years (likely 1870s/80s/90s). This is based primarily what we see (and don't see) on the left-handside of the image. Specifically, the scrolled memorial dates to the early 1870s. So we must be after that. And this memorial was moved, and a new trancept was built, before the mid-1900s. So we must be before then....
Fógra: There will be a guided tour of the Photo Detectives Exhibition on Wednesday next 29th November at 11 am. This tour will take approx. 45 minutes and is free to the public. It will help bring this outstanding exhibition to life for those who attend. Please pass the word to any who may be interested?
Photographers: Dillon Family
Contributors: Luke Gerald Dillon, Augusta Caroline Dillon
Collection: Clonbrock photographic Collection
Date: Catalogue range c.1860-1930. Likely c.1871-1905 (memorial/trancepts)
NLI Ref: CLON312
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Info:
Owner: National Library of Ireland on The CommonsSource: Flickr Commons
Views: 23988
lukegeralddillon
baronclonbrock
augustacarolinedillon
baronessclonbrock
dillonfamily
nationallibraryofireland
worshipthelordinthebeautyofholiness
stcatherines
church
stcatherineschurch
ahascragh
churchofireland
countygalway
trancept
pews
pulpit
harmonium
memorial
laurencekerans
clonbrockphotographiccollection
Add Tags
Add Tags
domenico milella
Congratulation for your beautiful Album.
Rory_Sherlock
Probably the Church of Ireland church in Ahascragh, Co Galway - see other photos in the Clonbrock Collection: catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000521356 catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000522606 But it does not compare well to others photos which are suggested to be the same church after damage/restoration in the 1920s: catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000523074 catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000523073 Was the 1922-26 restoration that extensive?
Rory_Sherlock
Since the photograph (CLON162) of St Catherine's in Ahascragh (as it was decorated for a wedding in 1905) shows transepts on both sides, and the current image shows only one transept (to the right), then one could suggest pre-1905 for this image.
Rory_Sherlock
The south transept was apparently added in 1865: www.dia.ie/works/view/3546/building/CO.+GALWAY%2C+AHASCRA... So this image dates to between the construction of the south transept (right) in 1865 and a photo from 1905 showing a north transept (left). Knowing when the north transept was built would help to narrow the date range further.
Niall McAuley
Damaged by fire in 1922, it was rebuilt under the supervision of Richard Orpen and it was re-opened in 1926. from the NIAH
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/139877639@N08] Good work there! I am going to have 'O Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness' as an earworm for the next 24 hours - youtu.be/EJ3Ghu2o7ck
Niall McAuley
On the wall at left there is just one memorial. At the NIAH, I see that this wall now has at least four.
Niall McAuley
Hmm, may not help with dating, as the original wall may be gone, and the memorials moved.
Rory_Sherlock
Apparently the north transept was dedicated to the memory of John Ross Mahon who died in 1887, but this may not be very helpful as the transept could have been (i) there for some time and then dedicated to him when he died or (ii) built in his memory some time after he died. aughrim.clonfert.anglican.org/churches/ahascragh/
Bernard Healy
If you do a "mouseover" on the picture of the monument with the dove, you'll see that we are certainly post-1871. By zooming in, I'm happy that this is the monument pictured above. It is dedicated to Laurence Kerans who died (aged 26) in Egypt. This young man seems to have had an eventful life. He was, a few years earlier, imprisoned in Ethiopia, and a letter of his appears in this book. Mr. Lawrence Kerans, a son of Dr. Kerans of Alias- cragh, in county Galway, went out to Abyssinia in the year 1863, to fill the post of Secretary to Consul Cameron. As has been akeady relatedf, he was the bearer of de- spatches from the Foreign Office, and by ill fortune ar- rived at Gondar on November 22nd, 18G3. Owing to the contents of the despatches of which Mr. Kerans hap- pened to be the bearer, our Consul, who " had previously had his hands half-bound," had them "bound altogether." How Mr. Kerans himself was treated at that particular juncture does not anywhere appear, though, as being the bearer of the obnoxious documents which caused his principal to be imprisoned, it is not to be imagined that he, the subordinate, fared much better. At all events, on January 4th, 1864, only six weeks after his arrival, when he could hardly have had time to mauifcst many of the bad qualities imputed to all Europeans antecedent to Mr. Bassam, Mr. Kerans was put in chains ; and so he remained till February 24.th, 1866 [...] Here is what this much-to-he-pitied young man Avrote to his parents when he had been a prisoner only eighteen months : — " Amba Magdala, July \4:th, 1865. " My DEAREST Father and Mother, — I have with much delight this morning, for the first time these last two years, received news from home. I am glad to hear you are all weU. Noav, dear father and mother, you must be very anxious to know how we are getting on. To be- gin with, / am now a year and six months in prison, with chains of 20 lbs. weight on the legs ; and lately the right hand has been attached to the feet. You cannot imagine what fearful sufferings I ha\e to go through every day ; it has been much worse ivith us before than it is now, but still it is a sad torment. Our only hope is in God, wlio has delivered us many times when we were at the point of death, and I trust still (no matter how gloomy it now appears) He will ere long deliver us, I can't write all 1 wish about our imprisonment, as it might cause great danger to me and my fellow captives. Hoping I may yet live to see all who are near and dear to me, I remain, dearest father and mother, ever your affectionate son, " Lawrence Kerans, " Secretary to Consul Cameron. " There are here in chains, besides myself, Consul Ca- meron, the Rev. H. A. Stern, Mr. llosenthal, M'Kilvie, Makerer, and Pietro; and Mrs. Rosenthal and cliild not in chains." (Apologies - I don't have time to correct the rather rough quality of the text.)
Niall McAuley
The DIA does not anything new, I think, dating the South transept to 1865, but no mention of a North one. The OSI 25" seems to show a North transept, surveyed in 1891. Or maybe not - the N side looks a different shape to today's N transept...
Niall McAuley
A Clonbrock shot from 1926 showing the reopened church without ivy
Bernard Healy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139877639@N08/ John Ross Mahon was one of the founding partners of the Guinness Mahon Bank.
Inverarra
What a great bit of detecting today. Thanks to all involved.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
This is really geeky ... Maybe the date is after 1873 because "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" without the "O" in front, was first published in the Parish Hymnal in 1873 -
More about J. S. B. Monsell (born 1881 in Londonderry, died 1875 when he fell off his church roof) and the hymn - hymnary.org/text/worship_the_lord_in_the_beauty_of_bowɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
The original quote with the "O" in front comes from Psalm 96:9 - www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+96%3A9&ver...
Bernard Healy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30369211@N00/ From what I’ve read, Aughrim Church was the only CoI Church burned during the War of Independence & Civil War times. Given the bitterness of the era, that’s slightly surprising. I’m not totally sure how extensive the damage is, but there was a court dispute about how much it’s rebuilding should cost & how much of the surviving walls were capable of being incorporated into the restoration. I _think_ a figure of £6,500 was placed on the restoration work, but the Department of Finance wanted to pay only a fraction of that. I would imagine that the Department was involved due to this being war damage.
Bernard Healy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139877639@N08/ I forgot to mention that in his will John Ross Mahon left £2,000 to be invested to supplement the annual income of the clergyman who was appointed to Ahascragh Church.
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Thanks guys! In particular https://www.flickr.com/photos/139877639@N08 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardhealy - I've updated the map and description accordingly.