Kildare Cathedral
| Kildare Cathedral | |
|---|---|
| The Cathedral Church of St. Brigid, Kildare | |
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| 53°09′28″N 6°54′41″W / 53.157875°N 6.911398°WCoordinates: 53°09′28″N 6°54′41″W / 53.157875°N 6.911398°W | |
| Location | Kildare |
| Country | Ireland |
| Denomination | Church of Ireland |
| History | |
| Founded | Built in the years following 1223 A.D. |
| Founder(s) | Probably Ralph of Bristol. |
| Dedication | St. Brigid |
| Dedicated | This abbey site dates from 480A.D. |
| Consecrated | 1230A.D. |
| Events | The famed St. Brigid's firehouse or Fire temple of Kildare was maintained from pre-christian period until 16th. Century. |
| Past bishop(s) |
Ralph of Bristol, died 1232. Bishop Wellesley, died 1539. |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | National Monument. |
| Architect(s) | George Edmund Street ( 1824–1881) Architect was responsible for the reconstruction completed in 1896. |
| Architectural type | Cruciform without aisles. |
| Style | Irish Gothic. |
| Groundbreaking | Unique feature is the arches spanning from buttress to buttress in advance of the side walls. |
| Completed | Renovation completed 1896. |
| Specifications | |
| Capacity | Can accommodate the 20 Church of Ireland families who maintain the Cathedral. |
| Number of domes | The massive central tower- half of which is a modern reconstruction. |
| Materials | Various stones including granite and sandstone. |
| Administration | |
| Archdeaconry | United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare |
| Province | Province of Dublin |
| Clergy | |
| Bishop(s) | The Most Reverend Patricia Storey |
| Dean | The Very Reverend J J Marsden |
| Precentor | The Very Reverend R W Jones |
| Archdeacon | The Venerable P H A Lawrence |
| Laity | |
| Organist/Director of music | A J Mackriell |
Ralph of Bristol, died 1232.
The Cathedral Church of St. Brigid, Kildare in Kildare, County Kildare is one of two cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare of the Church of Ireland in Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin.
It is said that in the year 480 (35 years after Saint Patrick settled in Armagh) Saint Brigid arrived in Kildare with her nuns. Her original abbey church would have been a simple wooden building. So great was her fame, that soon after her death in 523 A.D. a costly shrine was erected in her honour in a new and larger building. For many centuries Kildare maintained a unique Irish experiment; the Abbess ruled over a double community of women and men, and the Bishop was subordinate in jurisdiction to the abbess. Between the years 835 and 998 the cathedral was devastated no less than 16 times, so that when the Norman, Ralph of Bristol, became bishop in 1223 it was virtually in ruins. Between then and 1230 it was largely rebuilt. it was semi-ruinous by 1500. It was derelict by 1649. In 1686 it was partially rebuilt.
Previously the cathedral of the Diocese of Kildare, it is now one of two cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare.
The present building is a restored Norman cathedral dating from 1223. The site occupied by the cathedral is likely the site of a pagan shrine to the goddess Brigid and the later of the church of Saint Brigid. A perpetual flame was kept here from pre-Christian times possibly until the time of Henry VIII, who destroyed many monasteries. Beside the cathedral stands one of County Kildare's five round towers which is 32 metres (105 ft) high, and which can be climbed at certain times.
The austere cathedral built in the years following 1223, probably by Ralph of Bristol who was made Bishop of the see in 1222 and died in 1232. It is cruciform in plan without aisles in the early gothic style with a massive square central tower. All the windows are lancet windows, singles or doubles, but triple lancets in the four gables. Unique and attractive features of the design are the arches which span between buttress to buttress in advance of the side walls. The parapets are of the stepped Irish type (now much restored) but probably datable to c. 1395, the year in which a Papal relaxation was given to those who visited Kildare and gave alms for the conservation of the church. The interior treatment is very plain, the window splays are not moulded, but the rear-arches, which are, spring from shafts with moulded capitals. These shafts are short and terminate in small curved tails.
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