GREAT GLASS
STAINED GLASS WORKS IN CO WICKLOW CHURCHES BY IRELAND’S LEADING GLASS ARTISTS FEATURE ON A NEW INTERACTIVE MAP FROM THE HERITAGE COUNCIL. JIM HAYES REPORTS
THE Wicklow works of some of Ireland’s greatest stained glass artists are included on a new online, interactive map from the Heritage Council celebrating the work of Harry Clarke and other well-known Celtic Revival glass artists associated with famous Dublin stained glass cooperative studio An Túr Gloine.
Windows at nine Co Wicklow churches feature in the Stained Glass Revival Map on map-viewing portal heritagemaps.ie: St Brigid’s, Kilbride; St. Kevin’s, Dunganstown; Nun’s Cross;Kilcommon, Tinahely; Christ Church, Delgany; the Church of the Most Holy Rosary, Greystones; Christ Church, Bray; St Paul’s, Bray; and the Church of Ireland church in Wicklow town.
Among the map destinations is Harry Clarke’s work at Enerily and Kilbride Church, near Arklow. It is home to Harry’s Resurrection window, and a small abstract window over the transept, both of which were commissioned in 1924 by Lord Wicklow as the church was near the Earl’s estate at Shelton Abbey.
Also included are a number of windows by London-born Alfred Ernest Child, the manager at the An Túr Gloine studio on its opening in 1903 who tutored a whole generation of talented Irish stained glass artists.
Stained glass work from the prolific Catherine O’Brien and the renowned Evie Hone completes the Co Wicklow inventory.
The new interactive map is based on the scholarly work of Nicola Gordon Bowe, the pioneering art historian and author - and Harry Clarke expert - who died suddenly in January at the age of 69. Her husband, Patrick Bowe, launched the new addition to the Heritage Council’s interactive maps site at St. Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny.
The Stained Glass Revival Map is accessible within the Industrial, Technical and Craft folder on heritagemape.ie and allows users to locate and learn about the works of some of Ireland’s greatest glass artists through zoom and click functions.
Speaking at the launch of the map in Kilkenny, Beatrice Kelly, Head of Policy and Research at the Heritage Council said, ‘Ireland has produced some of the world’s finest stained glass artists. This new map will introduce the An Tur Gloine artists and Harry Clarke to a whole new generation and allow these windows to be viewed by many for the very first time.’
Pat Reid, the heritagemaps.ie project manager, said the initiative was made possible through the assistance of the Gloine and Harryclarke.net websites and ‘joins over 700 maps documenting over 150,000 points of heritage and cultural interest already freely available to view on your phone, tablet or desktop.’