GREAT GLASS

STAINED GLASS WORKS IN WEXFORD CHURCHES BY IRELAND’S LEADING GLASS ARTISTS FEATURE ON A NEW INTERACTIVE MAP FROM THE HERITAGE COUNCIL. JIM HAYES REPORTS

THE Wexford 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 eight Co Wexford churches feature in the Stained Glass Revival Map on map-viewing portal heritagemaps.ie: the Church of the Assumption in Bride Street, Wexford; the Church of Ireland church in Killurin; St. Mary’s Church, Kilmuckridge; St. Edan’s Cathedral, Ferns; the Church of Ireland church in Kiltennel, Courtown; Christ Church, Gorey; St. Anne’s Church, Killane; and St. Mary’s Church, Bunclody.

Among the map destinations is Harry Clarke’s window at the Church of the Assumption in Bride Street, Wexford. Commissioned by the Faythe House family of William O’Keefe, killed in France in the First World War, at the age of just 21, it depicts 7th Century saint Aidan, and the warrior saint, Adrian.

Also included is the Sorrow and Joy window in Killurin Church, created in 1910 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 Catherine O’Brien, Ethel Rhind, Michael Healy and Hubert McGoldrick completes the Co Wexford 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.’

The Good Shepherd by Catherine Amelia O’Brien, at St. Anne’s Church of Ireland, Killane. St. Brigid, by Hubert McGoldrick, at Kiltennel Church.

Our Lady and Child Adored by St Aidan of Fer Church of the Assumption, Bride Street, Wex

All stained glass images (except Bride Street, above right) by Dr David Lawrence, and reproduced with the permission of the Representative Church Body of the Church of Ireland. At the launch of the HeritageMaps.ie Irish Stained Glass Revival map in St Canic Kelly, Head of Policy and Research, the Heritage Council; Patrick Bowe, husban Reid, HeriageMaps.ie Project Manager.