Christ Church

Chapter III.

The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, or Christ Church

The early history of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity at Dublin, commonly called Christ Church, is involved in much obscurity. The local manuscript known as the “Black Book of Christ Church,” compiled in the 14th century, states that “the vaults or crypts of this church were erected by the Danes before St. Patrick came to Ireland, the church not being then built or constructed as at the present day; wherefore St. Patrick celebrated mass in one of the crypts or vaults, which is still called the ‘crypt or vault of St. Patrick.’ And the Saint, observing the great miracles which God performed in his behalf, prophesied and said that after many years here shall be founded a church, in which God shall be praised beyond all the churches in Ireland.”

These statements, based solely on Anglo-Irish traditions, are totally at variance with authentic history; and, as an inquisition in the reign of Richaard II. decided, that the institution had been “founded and endowed by divers Irish-men, whose names were unknown, time out of mind, and long before the conquest of Ireland,” it is probable that the buildings recorded to have stood on the site of the Cathedral were originally occupied by the Abbots of Dublin, mentioned in our annals previous to the Scandinavian settlements; and the name of Christ Church may have been derived front *Cele Chriost, *a saint of high reputation, noticed by Oengus in the 9th century as Bishop of the church of Cele Christ in Uí Dunchadha, a territory in the immediate vicinity of Dublin.

About the year 1038 Sigtryg, chief of the Northmen of Dublin, is said to have given to Donogh, Bishop of the Irish and Danes or that city, the site on which the present Cathedral stands, together with the lands of Kealdulek, Rechen, and Portrahern, with their villeins, cows, and corn, and to have contributed sufficient gold and silver to build a church and its whole court. The nave and wings of the Cathedral were constructed by Bishop Donogh, who also erected an episcopal palace contiguous to it; and the institution received considerable grants of land from the native Irish, with which race its founder, Sigtryg, was maternally connected, his mother having been the Princess Gormlaith or Gormly, daughter of Murchadh, King of Offaly. Prior to the Anglo-Norman descent the Cathedral had acquired importance from having in its possession various miraculous relics, together with a wonderful cross, of which Cambrensis has left the following notices:-

How a cross at Dublin spoke, and bore testimony to the truth.

“In the church of the Holy Trinity at Dublin there is a certain cross of great virtue, exhibiting a representation of the countenance of our crucified Saviour, which, in the hearing of several people, opened its mouth and spoke, not many years before the coming of the English; that is, in the time of the Ostmen. For it happened that one of the citizens invoked it as the sole witness to a certain contract, but afterwards failing to fulfil his engagement, and constantly refusing to pay the money stipulated to him who had trusted to his good faith, he one day invoked and adjured the cross in the church to declare the truth in the presence of many citizens then standing by, who considered that his appeal was more in jest than earnest but when it was thus called upon, the cross bore testimony to the truth.

“How the same cross became immovable.

“When the Earl Richard first came with his army to Dublin, the citizens, fearing much disaster and misfortune, and mistrusting their own strength, prepared to fly by sea, and desired to carry this cross with them to the islands. But, notwithstanding all their most persevering efforts, neither by force nor ingenuity could the entire people of the city stir it from its place.

“How a penny offered to the cross leaped back twice, but remained the third time, after confession had been made; and how the iron greaves were miraculously restored.

“After the city had been taken, a certain archer, amongst others, made an offering of a penny to the cross, but on turning his back, the money immediately flew after him, whereupon he took it up and carried it back to the cross, when the same thing again happened, to the surprise of many who witnessed it. The archer thereupon publicly confessed that on the same day he had plundered the Archbishop’s house, which is located in this church, and restoring all the stolen goods, he, with great fear and reverence, carried back the penny to the cross for the third time, and it then remained there without further movement. It also happened that Raymond, Constable to Earl Richard, having been robbed of his iron greaves by a certain young man of his train, obliged all his followers to clear themselves of the theft by an oath taken upon the aforesaid cross in the church of the Holy Trinity; shortly afterwards the young man returned from England, whither he had gone unsuspected, and threw himself, pale and haggard, at Raymond’s feet, offering satisfaction, and craving pardon for his fault. He, moreover, confessed in public and in private that after swearing falsely upon the cross, he experienced the greatest persecution from it; for he felt it, as it were, oppressing his neck with an immense weight, which prevented him from sleeping or enjoying any repose. These and many other prodigies and miracles were performed at the first arrival of the English by this most venerable cross.”

Bishop Donogh, founder of the Cathedral, died in 1074, and was buried at the right-hand side of its altar; on repairing the choir some years since, his body was found there with his mitre, which was an exquisite work of art.

In 1162 Lorcan O’Tuathal, corruptly styled Lawrence o ‘Toole, was consecrated Archbishop of Dublin here by Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh, assisted by many prelates; and shortly after his accession to the See he converted the Secular Canons of the Holy Trinity into Canons Regular of the order of Arras, under the government of a prior, enforcing strictly the rules of discipline, especially those connected with the celebration of the offices of the Church; and he is recorded to have obliged the canons to stand around the altar during the performance of service. Lorcan partook frequently of the meals of the canons in the refectory, observed silence at the canonical hours, and celebrated lands and vigils every night in the choir; and when the other ecclesiastics had returned to their beds, after the conclusion of morning prayer, the archbishop remained in solitary contemplation in the church, and, kneeling or standing before the crucifix, he chanted through the whole psalter. His biographer states that some of the brethren affirmed that the Bishop “occasionally conversed with the cross, of which so many wonderful things have been related, and which from ancient times was visited by pilgrims, who held it in great veneration.” At break of day, Lorcan used to go forth to the cemetery, and there chant prayers for the souls of the faithful departed. The saint is described as a man of great stature, wearing the episcopal costume over the habit of a canon regular, underneath which, next to his skin, he wore a hair shirt and other penitential garments. He entertained his guests with splendid banquets, never partaking himself of any of the delicacies, and drinking only water slightly coloured with wine; 60, 40, or at least 30 poor people were daily fed in his presence, and the greater part of his time was passed in penitential solitude in the recesses of Gleandaloch.

Grom the Anglo-Normans the convent received a confirmation of its privileges, with endowments of land; and Lorcan O’Tuathal, Richard Fitz-Gislebert, surnamed “Strongbowe,” Robert Fitz-Stephen, and Raymond “le Gros,” built the choir, the steeple, and two chapels, - one dedicated to St. Edmund, king and martyr, and to St. Mary, called the White, and the other to St. Laud. A third chapel in the south aisle, adjoining to the high choir, was first dedicated to the Holy Ghost, but subsequently acquired the name of St. Lorcan O’Tuathal’s Chapel, having been dedicated to that prelate after his canonisation in 1225.

Richard F’itz-Gislebert was interred here in 1177, in sight of the holy cross, to provide lights for which he bequeathed the lands of Kinsali, his funeral obsequies having been performed by Archbishop Lorcan.

In 1180 the convent obtained possession of the “Baculis Jesu,” or “Staff of Jesus,” which was believed to have been presented to St. Patrick by a hermit residing in an island in the Tuscan sea, who was reported to have received it from Jesus Christ. This staff, said to have been covered with gold, inlaid with precious stones of great value by Bishop Tassach, a disciple of St. Patrick, was so highly venerated, that in St. Bernard’s time its possessor was regarded by the lower orders as the true Bishop of Armagh and successsor of Patrick. Down to the era of the Reformation, witnesses were frequently sworn in Dublin in presence of the Lord Deputy, Chancellor, and other high officers of State, upon “the holy mass-book, and the great relike of Ireland, called Baculum Christi,” which, however, the late Rev. Dr. Lanigan conjectured to have been merely the walking-stick of St. Patrick. Archbishop John Comyn, who succeeded Lorcan O’Tuathal in 1181, having been maltreated by the justiciary, Hamo de Valois, went to seek redress from the King after excommunicating his persecutors, and placing the diocese of Dublin under interdict, ordering the crosses and images in the cathedral to be laid on the ground and surrounded by thorns, in order to terrify the evil doers, who, however, persevered in their course despite the occurrence of the miracle, noticed as follows by Roger de Hoveden:- “In the cathedral church of Dublin there was a certain cross, bearing engraved upon it a life-like image of Christ, which the Irish and all others held in the greatest veneration; this crucifix, which, with the other crosses, was laid upon the ground and surrounded by thorns, appeared on the sixth day to writhe in agony, its face glowing and perspiring as though it had been placed in a fiery furnace, and tears fell from its eyes as if it were weeping; and on the sixth hour on the same day there flowed from its right side and its right breast blood and water, which were carefully preserved by the ministers of the church, who sent an embassy after their Archbishop to acquaint him with these occurrences, which were confirmed by the testimony of many venerable men, that they might be laid before the Pope.”

Hamo de Valois, to expiate his offences, bestowed 20 ploughlands, in the territory of Ucunil, upon Archbishop Comyn, who enlarged the choir of the cathedral, on the south side of which he was interred in 1212, under a marble monument. A stone coffin, without date or inscription, supposed to contain the remains of Archbishop Comyn, was discovered on opening an arch in the walls of Christ Church in 1759. Henri de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin from 1213 to 1228, gave to the priory a piece of ground to erect a gate-house to the church, and was buried beneath a wooden tomb opposite to that of Comyn. A fire in the town having, in 1283, injured the steeple, dormitory, and chapter-house of the Priory, the citizens, before repairing their own houses, subscribed to restore the cathedral, to collect alms for which Friar Henri de Cork obtained a license to travel through the kingdom in 1303.

An illustration of the existence of serfdom in Ireland at the commencement of the 14th century is furnished by a proceeding recorded on a Memorandum Roll of the 31st year of Edward I., from which it appears that the Prior of the Convent of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, claimed William Mac Kikeran as his serf (“nativum suum”), alleging that Friar William de Grane, a former Prior, was seized of Moriertagh Mac Gilkeran, his great grandfather, as of fee, and in right of his church in the time of peace during the reign of Henry III., taking *Marchet, *such as giving his sons and daughters in marriage; that Moriertagh had a son Dermot, who had a son named Ririth, who also had a son Ririth, and said William and Ririth, junior, had Simon, who acknowledged hinself to be the serf of the Prior, in whose favour judgment was accordingly given. So early as the 14th century, the civic assemblies of the Mayors and Bailiffs of Dublin were occasionally held in St. Mary’s Chapel in this convent; and when, during the great dearth of 1308, the Prior being destitute of corn, and having no money wherewith to purchase it, sent to Jean le Decer, then Mayor, a pledge of plate to the value of forty pounds, the latter returned the plate, and presented the Prior with twenty barrels of corn.

A controversy for precedence between the Prior and Canons of this convent, and the Dean and Chapter of St. Patrick’s, was composed in 1300 on the following terms: “that the Archbishop of Dublin should in future be consecrated and enthroned in the Priory of the Holy Trinity; that each church should be styled Cathedral and Metropolitan; that the Convent of the Holy Trinity, as being the greater, the mother, and the elder church, should have the precedence in all rights and concerns of the Church; that the cross, mitre, and ring of every Archbishop, in whatever place he died, should be deposited in the convent of the Holy Trinity; that each church should alternately have the interment of the bodies of the Archbishop, unless otherwise ordered by their wills; and that the consecration of the crism and oil on Maunday Thursday, and the public penances, should be held in the church of the Holy Trinity.”

In conformity with this compact, the crozier and other movable property of the See of Dublin were always committed to the custody of the Prior of this Convent on the decease of the Archbishop: so that, after the death of Archbishop Richard Talbot, in 1449, the archiepiscopal crozier, having been pledged by John Streguthen to Richard White, tailor, for five marks, the new Archbishop, Michael Tregury, decreed that it should be released by the Prior and Convent of the Holy Trinity, who had the honour of its custody.

During the government of Robert de Gloucester, Prior from 1325 to 1331, Edward III. granted the convent license to build a bell-tower of stone for the church; and the “White Book” records that John de St. Paul, Archbishop of Dublin (1349-I 332), erected the chancel, with the archiepiscopal throne, the great window on the eastern side of the high altar, and three other windows on the southern side between the great window and the Archbishop’s seat. To perpetuate the memory of these erections, De St. Paul by his will desired to be buried under a marble tomb, with a brazen image of himself on its second step, in front of the great altar.

The colonial Parliament, in which the Prior always held a seat, passed a law, in 1380, that no native should be suffered to profess himself in this institution; an enactment so strictly observed that, excepting in the reign of James II., no Irishman was admitted even as vicar-choral of Christ Church until John A. Stevenson was enrolled among the pupils of its music school late in the 18th century. In 1395, Richard II. knighted here four Irish princes, as narrated by Castide to Froissart:

“Ils furent faits chevaliers de la main du roy Richard d’Angleterre, en l’église cathédrale de Duvelin, qui est fondée sur saint lean Baptiste. Et fut le jour Notre Dame en Mars, qui fut en ce tems par un jeudi; et veillerent le mercredi toute la nuit ces quatre rois en la dit église; et an lendemain a la messe, et a grand solemnite, ils furent faits chevaliers, et avecques eux messire Thomas Ourghem et messire Jonathas de Pado son cousin. Et étoient les quatre rois tous richement vetus; ainsi comme a eux appertenoit, et sirent ce jour a la table du roi Richard d’Angleterre.”

The shrine of St. Cubius, carried from Wales by some citizens of Dublin who had made a descent upon that country, was deposited in the cathedral of the Holy Trinity in 1404; and the Black Book records that in 1461 the great eastern window of the cathedral was blown down by a violent tempest, which caused great destruction to the various deeds and relics preserved in the church, breaking the chest which contained the “Baculus Jesu,” and other relics; but the staff was found lying uninjured on the top of the stones, while the other contents of the chest were utterly demolished; “which,” says the writer, “was esteemed a miracle by all who saw it.”

A Parliament assembled in this building in 1450; and in 1487 here was performed the coronation of Lambert Simnel, with a crown which, says Cox, “they took from the statue of the Virgin Mary, in St. Mary’s Abby; and this ceremony was rendered more solemn by a sermon preached by the bishop of Meath on the occasion, and by the attendance of the Lord-Deputy, the Chancellor, Treasurer, and other the great officers of State. And after he was crowned they carried him in triumph upon the shoulders of great Darcy of Platten.”

Sir Richard Edgecumbe, on his arrival in Dublin in 1488, as Commissioner from Henry VII., caused the Bishop of Meath to read publicly in Christ’s Church the “Pope’s Bull of accursing, and the absolution for the same., and the grace which the King had sent by him” to grant pardons to those who had confederated with Simnel and were prepared to return to their allegiance. The practice of publicly reading important ecclesiastical documents in this cathedral appears to have been customary from an early period, as in 1317, after the promulgation here of the Papal Bull for the election of Alexandra de Bicknor to the See of Dublin, another Bull was read, proposing a truce of two years between the King of England and Robert de Brus.

The great resort of pilgrims to this establishment, attracted by the many relics in its possession, was interrupted, towards the close of the 15th century, by “certayn persones maliciously disposed, who let and interrupted certayn pilgrimes which were cummying in pilgrymage unto the blissed Trinite to do there deuocoun, contrary to all good naturale disposicoun, in contempt of our modire the chirch, and to the great hurt and preiudice of the said prior and conuent, and in contynuance like to be a great distruccoun unto the place and house forsaid.” To check those precursory symptoms of a religious reformation, a Parliament held in Dublin 1493, berore Walter Fitz Symon, Archbishop of Dublin, deputy of Jasper, Duke of Bedford, decreed a penalty of £20 against persons who vexed, disturbed, or troubled any “pilgrym or pilgrymes, disposed in pilgrymage to visite the said blissed Trynyte, any saint or seintis, relike or reliks, within the said cathedrale chirch or precinct of the same, in there cummyng, abiding, or retournyng, or any other person or personys, clayming the grith of the said chirch, being within the said chirch or the precinct of the sam.”

Three years subsequently the Mayor and citizens of Dublin enacted, “that no pylgrymys that comyth in pylgrymage to the blyssed “Trynyte, to the holy Rode, or Baculus Jesu or any othyr image or relyk within the said place, shal not be vexid, trowled, ne arrestyd commyng ne goying duryng hys pylgrymage. Also that eny that wyll take refutte and socor off the sayd place, shal not be lettyd to go therto ne be arresstid within the precynete of the same.”

Gerald Fitz Gerald, eighth Earl of Kildare, erected, in 1512, a chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in the choir of the church, which was usually styled “My Lord of Kildare’s Chapel,” to distinguish it from the ancient chapel dedicated to Sancta Maria Alba, called the “Whit Mary Chapel.” This nobleman, buried in 1513 near the high altar, is commemorated as follows in the Mortiloge of the convent:-

“Gerald Fyta Moryce sometime earl of Kildare, and deputy or lieutenant of our lord the king in the land of Ireland, bestowed upon us, during his lifetime, one pair of vestments of cloth of gold of tissue, and in his last will bequeathed us his best cloak of purple and cloth of gold to make vestments, and also gave the town called great Coporan with all thereto pertaining, to support a canon to celebrate mass for his soul and for the soul of Thomas Plunket, formerly chief justice of the king’s court of common pleas in Ireland, and for the souls of all the faithful departed, for which an office of nine lessons was appointed in the year of our lord 1513.

The following extracts from the “Mortiloge” exhibit the nature of the benefactions to this priory:-

“Master Thomas Walche, and his wife Elizabeth Stokys, gave a gilt bowl called ‘allott,’ price four marks. Thomas Smothe newly glazed four windows in St. Mary’s chapel. Richard Tristi, sub-prior of the church, handsomely ornamented the tabernacles round the great altar, as also the centre of St. Mary’s chapel and its altar, and likewise had the church newly whitewashed in the year 1430. John Dowgan, merchant, bequeathed a silver bowl weighing 22 ounces, with directions to have it fashioned into a chalice. Thomas Montayny restored, without payment, the mass-book of St. Mary’s chapel, which had been pledged with him for 13 shillings and four pence. John Walsche, priest and member of our congregation, gave a book, which is chained at the end of the choir. Cornelius, archdeacon of Kildare in 1510, bequeathed 14 pounds of silver to buy a cape of blood-coloured velvet. Robert Cusake left a gilt chalice and a psaltery. Rosina Holywood, wife of Arland Ussher, gave a silver bowl of 27 ounces for the common table of the vicars. John Whytt, sometime mayor of Dublin, beqitueathed a zone, value 20 shillings, to the image of St. Mary, the white. His wife, Johanna Roche, left to the prior and convent, one bowl called, ‘lenott,’ price four marks, and a silver goblet, price 20 shillings. John Kyrcham was the artificer of the bells of the convent; and the lady of Kyllen, on being received into the confraternity with certain of her sons, gave to the high altar a gilt image of the Virgin Mary, value £10.”

In the convent of the Holy Trinity was usually performed the ceremony of receiving the homage of such of the native Chiefs as entered into alliance with the English Government; and in its great hall down to the 16th century, the Mayor Of Dublin was generally sworn into office.

The changes of religion during the reign of Henry VIII. necessarily interfered with the privileges granted to pilgrims to the convent; and Dr. George Brown, Archbishop of Dublin, writing to Thomas Cromwell in 1538, observes:-” The Romish reliques and images of both my cathedrals, in Dublin, took off the common people from the true worship; but the Prior and the Dean find them so sweet for their gain, that they heed not my words; therefore send in your lordship’s next to me, an order more full, and a chide to them and their Canons, that they might be removed let the order be, that the chief governor may assist me in it.” In pursuance of this policy, Archbishop Brown procured the removal of the various relics of the cathedral, and publicly burned the “Staff of Jesus,” which, according to the native annalist, “was in Dublin performing miracles, from the time or Patrick down to that time, and had been in the hands of Christ while he was among men.” In the place of the images and relics, thus removed from the cathedrals and churches in his diocese, Dr. Browne substituted the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in gilded frames.

Notwithstanding the destruction of St. Patrick’s staff at Dublin, another crozier of the same saint appears to have been preserved for more than a century later, as in the unpublished Proceedings of the Roman Catholic clergy of the diocese of Meath, about 1680, we find a special prohibition against my person, without license of his ordinary, going about with the staff, called the staff of St. Patrick, the veil of St. Brigid, or the Gospels of St. Colum Cille.

In 1538 Henry VIII., according to the recommendation of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into this church, and with the consent of the Prior and Canons, restored it to its ancient state of a Dean and Chapter of secular Canons, consisting of Precentor, Chancellor, Treasurer, and six Vicars Choral, together with four boys named Choristers. By a document dated 12th December, 1539, the King acknowledged Christ Church as the archiepiscopal seat or See, and the second metropolitan church in Ireland; and Robert Paynswick, its last Prior, was formally invested with the Deanery by letters patent, dated 11th May, 1541.

The following extract from the cathedral accounts for the year 1542 exhibit the prices paid for articles of food at that period:-

“The expensis on the Bishops at Christmas:-

Imprimis the fyrst nyght, eggs, 3d; dry fyshe, 8d; a roll of freshe samon, 4d; a pastie of fresh samon, 4d; drinke, 8d; brede, 6d. On the morrow to brekfaste - a pece of bef, 4d; brede, 4d; drinke, 4d. For ther standinge dynner - a pece of bef, 4d; porke, 4d; three hennes, [ ]; brede, 4d; drinke, 4d; wyne, 3d. The second supper - a pece of bef, 4d; a pece of porke, 4d; two hennes, 4d; wyne, 3d.

The native annalists record that in 1545, “a part of Christ Church (Teampall Criost) was broken down for some purpose, and a stone coffin was discovered, in which was the body of a bishop, in his episcopal dress, with 10 gold rings on his 10 fingers, and a gold mass-chalice standing beside his neck. The body lay in a hollow, so cut in the stone by a chisel as to fit the shape of the body; and it was taken up, all the parts adhering together, and placed in a standing position, supported against the altar, and left there for some time. No part of the dress had faded or rotted, and this,” say the annalists, “was a great sign of sanctity.”

Edward VI., in 1547, added to the establishment six more Presbyters, and two additional Choristers, styled Personistae, which arrangement was confirmed by Philip and Mary, and continued during the reign of Elizabeth. Thomas Lockwood, Archdeacon of Kells, succeeded, in 1543, as second Dean of Christ Church, which office he held during the various changes of religion in the reigns of HenryVIII., Edward VI., Philip and Mary, and Elizabeth.

On Easter day, 1551, the liturgy in the English language was read, for the first time, at Christ Church, in the presence of the Lord Deputy St. Leger, Archbishop Brown, the Mayor and the bailiffs of Dublin: but on the accession of Mary, the Roman Catholic ceremonies were reinstated until their suppression by Elizabeth in 1559, and on the 30th August, in the latter year, the “Earl of Sussex, Lord Deputy, came to Christ’s Church, where Sir Nicholas Dardy sang the litany in English, after which the Lord Deputy took his oath, and then they began to sing (We praise Thee, O God, &c.), at which the trumpets sounded. January the 12th, began the Parliament to sit in Christ’s Church, which also ended in the beginning of February following , having enacted the Act of Uniformity, and several other laws. - This year orders were sent to Thomas Lockwood, Dean of Christ’s Church, to remove out of his church all Popish relicks, and images, and to paint and whiten it anew, putting sentences of Scripture upon the walls, in lieu of pictures or other the like fancies; which orders were observed, and men set to work accordingly on the 25th of May, 1559. Doctor Heath, Archbishop of York, sent to the two Deans and Chapters of Dublin, viz., of Christ’s Church and St. Patrick, a large Bible to each, to be placed in the middle of their quiers; which two Bibles, at their first setting up to the publick view, caused a great resort of people thither, on purpose to read therein, for the small Bibles were not common then, as now.”

In April, 1562, the roof, south wall, and part of the body of the church, fell, and broke Strongbowe’s monument; in the ensuing June the repairs of the building were commenced, and in the wall, when completed, the following inscription was inserted:-

THE:RIGHT:H

ONORABL:THE:LO:OF:SVSSEX:LEVNT:

THIS:WAL:FEL:D

OWN:IN:AN:1562.

THE:BILDING:OF:THIS:WAL:

WAS:IN:AN:1562.

The accounts of the Proctor, Sir Peter Lewis, from October, 1564, to October, 1565, preserved among the manuscripts of Trinity College, Dublin, record various particulars connected with the repairs of the cathedral, the stone used in which was quarried at the Dodder and at Clontarf, while the artificers engaged in the works were dieted by the Proctor, whose book contains several entries of large quantities of meat purchased and salted for their use, and concludes with the following memorandum:-

“Sunday, the 21 day of October Item payd for brede for the massons, 16d; they dyned with me this day, for I had no mony to pay them for that tyme, but I was glad to gyv them ther dyner that day, but meat and dryneke.”

The tomb of Strongbowe was repaired in 1570, by Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy, as commemorated in the inscription, which is still extant:-

THIS:AVNCYENT:MONVMENT:OF:RYCHARD:STRA

NGBOWE:CALLED:COMES:STRANGULENSIS:LORD:OF

CHEPSTO:AND:OGNY:THE:FYRST:AND:PRINCYPALL:INVADER:OF:

IRLAND:1169:QUI:OBIIT:1177:THE:MONVMENT:WAS:BROCKEN:BY:THE:

FALL:OF:THE:ROFF:AND:BODYE:

OF:CHRISTES:CHVRCHE:IN:ANNO:1562:AND:

SET:VP:AGAYNE:AT:THE:CHARGYS:OF:THE:

KNYGHT:HONORABLE:SR:HENRI:SYDNEY:

KNYGHT:OF:THE:NOBLE:ORDER:L:PRESIDIZT:

OF:WAILES:L:DEPVTY:OF:IRLAND:1570

Of this monument, representing a cross-legged figure in chain armour, with another recumbent but imperfect statue by its side, a local writer of the 17th century observes that: “The marbles of the two effigies are of different colours; that which is commonly reputed to be the father’s being black, the son’s, grey. The effigies which was first put up for the father, being broken all to pieces by the fall of the church, as aforesaid: the Lord Deputy caused a monument of the Earl of Desmond, which was at Drogheda, to be removed and placed instead of that of Strongbow; so that the son’s is the ancienter of the two. The son’s effigies being but from the thighs upwards occasioned a false story, that his father cut him off in the middle with a sword; but it is a mistake, for it was the fall of the church that broke the other parts of the effigies to pieces, and Strongbow did no more than run his son through the belly, as appears by the monument and the chronicle.”

A deed of the year 1557 records an agreement made for the payment of a sum of money “at the Font stone” in Christ Church, but Strongbowe’s tomb was the place more generally appointed for the fulfilment of such engagements. The validity of payments made in the debased coin of Elizabeth was decided in 1605, by a law-suit which arose from Gilbert, a London merchant, refusing to receive £100, in the “mixed money of the new standard,” from Brett, a Drogheda trader, who had contracted to pay that amount “at the tomb of Earl Strongbow in Christ Church, Dublin,” where, until the middle of the last century, bonds, rents, and bills of exchange, were usually made payable by the citizens.

The form of performing public penances here is illustrated by the following order, made on the 7th of March, 1570, by the Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical against Richard Dixon, Bishop of Cork, who was deprived of his See “propter adulterium manifestum per eum commissum et confessum,” a fact unnoticed by our ecclesiastical historians:

“That upon Sondaie next immediatlie following into the cathedrall churche of the blessed Trynitie in Dublin the said Bishop shall come even at such tyme as the preacher shall goe up into the pulpitte to preache, with a white rodde in his hand and so bareheaded shall goe up into another lower pulpitte sett there for the same purpose and there stand daring the whole time of the sermon and after that the preacher shall make an end the said Bishop shall there openlie confesse his faulte and desire forgevenes of God and the people to pray for him and immediatlie after that, in the same place he himself shall utter somewhat touching the grevousness of his owne faulte and shewe his repentence therefor and desire forgevenes openlie of God and all ye people to pray for him and to forgyve him whom he hath by comitting of the same offended, and all the premisses in the most penitent maner he can doe.”

The Dean and Chapter being unable from their own resources to complete the restoration of the portions of the Cathedral taken down by the advice of Sir Henry Sidney, commissioned James Walsh, the Precentor, to collect subscriptions for that purpose, but he being occupied in superintending the artificers and masons, Peter Calf was appointed as his substitute in 1583, all donors being requested to write in his book their names and the amount of their contributions.

The learned James Ussher was one of the clergymen appointed in 1600 to preach in Christ Church before the chief governors, who at that period used to attend divine service in this Cathedral twice on Sundays. “I dare be bold to avowe,” says Barnaby Rych, about the same time, “that there is never a pulpit within the city of London (that at Paul’s crosse only excepted) that is better supplied than the pulpit at Christ church in Dubline,” notwithstanding which the same author avers that: “In the time of divine service, and in the time of the sermon, as well in the forenoone as in the afternoone, even then (I say) every filthy ale-house in Dublin is thronged full of company, that as it were in despight of our religion, do sit drinkeing and quffiang, and sometimes defiling themselves with more abhominable exercises: so that the Sabbath day, which God hath commanded to be sanctified and kept holy, is of all other days most prophaned and polluted, without any reprehension or any manner of rebuke. And although many godly preachers, and some other of the better sort of the cleargy, hath endevoured a reformation, so farre as their commission doth warrant them, the which (indeede) is but by the way of exhortation to admonish and perswade: but those that have authority to punish and correct, and doth challenge to themselves a special prerogative, to mannage all affaires whatsoever within their citty, are for the most part of them so blinded with Popery, that they can neither see, nor be persuaded that this dishonoring of the Sabbath day is any offence at all.”

The constitution of the Cathedral as it at present stands was established by James I., who, by a charter dated 12th June, 1604, changed the six Vicars Choral into three Canonical Prebendaries, constituting the late Dean’s Vicar Prebendary of St. Michan’s; the late Precentor’s Vicar Prebendary of St. Michan’s; and the Late Chancellor’s Vicar Prebendary of St. John’s; the six presbyters were converted into Vicars Choral, with the addition of four “small choristers.” The Prebendaries, exclusive of the Vicars Choral, were incorporated as a Chapter, and permitted to have a common seal, power being given them to make, change, or abrogate statutes and - ordinances; to elect Prebendaries and Vicars Choral, to regulate the duties of the members of the Choir, and to assign pensions, salaries, residence money, &c., to any of their body, or persons in their employment.

On the 9th May, 1615, the House of Commons appointed a Committee to meet in the afternoon in Christ Church, and to consider what motion is fit to be made to the Lord Chancellor for the repairing of the Cathedral, and also to take account of what money had been already collected for that use.

Thomas Jones, Archbishop of Dublin (1605-1619), rebuilt a considerable part of Christ Church which fell in his time, and also repaired the steeple, and placed on its summit three fans, or weathercocks, which being afterwards fallen to decay were restored by John Parry, while Dean of the Cathedral.

James I., in the 18th year of his reign, granted a license to Henry Southey, Sergeant-at-Arms, to hold lotteries for three years in the city of Dublin, or any other corporate town in Ireland, in consideration of his having given £500 to repair the Cathedral of Christ Church, “now,” says the record, “in a very ruinous state, unto which our Deputy and Council do usually resort to hear divine service, and also inasmuch as the same may greatly tend as well to the increase of civility, by the nourishrnent of friendly concourse and amity, as also the honest delight and pleasure of our subjects.”

The Lords Deputy or Chief Governors of Ireland were almost invariably sworn into office in Christ Church, with a ceremonial similar to that used at the inauguration of Lord Falkland, described as follows in the liarician manuscripts:

“Memorandum, - That on Friday, the sixth of September, 1622, Sir Henry Carye, Knight, Lord Viscount Falkland, late comptroller of his privie counsell in England, and now Lord Deputie of Ireland, landed at Hoathe late in the evening, wherefor that nyghte he was entertayned bythe lord of Hoathe. And on Saturday in the after noone Sir Adam Loftus, Knight, Lord Viscount Loftus of Elye, lord chancellor of Ireland, and Sir Richard Wingfield, Knight, Lord Viscount Powrscrt, and Marshall of Ireland, Lords Justices of this kingdom of Ireland, being attended with divers of the nobilitie and privi counsell of this kingdome, mett the said lord Falkland within midway between Dublin and Hoathe, and so they came together to the Castle of Dublin. And upon Sunday morning, being the eighth of September, the Lords Justices and counsell met together in the counsell chambre in the castle, and the lord chancellor leaving the rest of the counsell in the chambre, being attended by Francis Edgeworth, Clerke of the crowne, of the chancery with the roll of the Lord Deputies oath, went into the withdrawing chambre to acquainte the Lord Falkland with the same. And (after a short conference between them) the Lord Chancellor returned into the counsell chambre againe, from whence the Lords Justices, with all the Counsell, having the King’s sword borne before them by Sir Charles Coote, knight and baronett, one of his maiesties Privi Counsell, repaired unto the cathedral church of the holie Trinitie in Dublin, commonly called Christ church, where, being seated in their seates, and his maiesties sword left before them, all the Counsell, together with the gentlemen pensioners, attendants, returned backe to the castle, from whence the Lord Falkland, being by them attended, and accompanyed with the Lord Viscount Wilmott of Athlone riding by his side, they came all together to Christ church, and being there seated in their usual seates, Doctor Usher, Lord Bishop of Meath, made a learned sermon, and the sermon being ended, the lords justices came downe from their seats, the sword being borne before them, and the Lord Falkland following them to the communion table, where the Lord Justices being sett in two chaires provided for them, the said Lord Falkland delivered unto the Lord Chancellor’s hands his maiesties two patentes under the greate seale of England, for the authoritie and place of his Maiesties Deputie Generall of this realme of Ireland, which the Lord Chauncellor delivered to the hand of Francis Edgeworth, clerke of the crowne aforesaide (the Master of the Rolls being absent), to be by him publiquely read. After the reading whereof the Lord Chauncellor ministered unto the sayd lord viscount Falkland as well the oathe of his Maiesties supremacye as the oathe of the said place and room of Lord Deputie Generell, both of which he received upon his knees. Which being done, the said Lord Viscount Falkland delivered unto the said Lords Justuces a lettere from his Maiestie sealed with his maiesties privie signett and the same being by them opened and publiquely reade by Sir Dudley Norton, knight, principall secretarye of estate, did impart his maiesties pleasure unto the Lords Justices for the acceptance of his said Deputie, and delivering unto him his Highnesses sword. Whereupon they joyntly taking the sword, delivered it to the Lord Deputye, who presently, upon his receiving thereof, conferred the honor of knighthood upon Mr. Cary Lambart (second son of the Lord Lanmbart, deceased) and then delivered the sword unto the Lord Caulfield, Baron of Charlemont, to be by him careyed that day. And so they departed from Christ church in solemnitie of estate, the Lords Justices taking place for that day, next the lord deputie before anie other of the lords, according to the ancient custome.”

The sermon preached on this occasion excited much alarm among the Roman Catholics, as Dr. Usher, having selected the text, “He beareth not the sword in vain,” Romans, xiii., delivered a discourse popularly interpreted as intended to excite a religious persecution, and sufficiently violent to call for the sensure of the Primate.

On the 23rd of April, 1626, Dr. George Downhaan, Bishop of Derry, in his sermon before the State in this Cathedral, published the declaration of the Protestant Prelates of Ireland against granting any toleration or free exercise of religion to the Roman Catholics.

Dr. Bramhall, writing of the state of the churches in Ireland in the reign of Charles I., observes:- “First for the fabricks, it is hard to say whether the churches be more ruinous and sordid, or the people irreverent, even in Dublin, the metropolis of the kingdom, and seat of justice. To begin the inquisition, where the reformation will begin, we find one parochial church converted to the lord deputy’s stable, a second to a nobleman’s dwelling house, the choir of a third to a tennis court, and the vicar acts the keeper. In Christ church, the principal church in Ireland, whither the lord deputy and council repair every Sunday, the vaults from one end of the minster to the other, are made into tippling rooms for beer, wine, and tobacco, demised all to Popish recusants and by them and others so much frequented in time of divine service, that, though there is no danger of blowing up the assembly above their -heads, yet there is of poisoning them with the fumes. The table used for the administration of the blessed Sacrament in the midst of the choir, made an ordinary seat for maids ad apprentices.”

In a letter from Dublin Castle in 1633, the Lord Deputy Wentworth writes as follows to the Archbishop of Canterbury, relative to the cellars and taverns under the cathedral, some of which have been noticed in our account of St. John’s-lane:

“There being divers buildings erected upon the fabrick of Christ church, and the vaults underneath the church itself turned all to ale houses and tobacco shops, where they are pouring either in or out their drink offerings and incense, whilst we above are serving the high God, I have taken order for the removing of them, granted a commission to the Archbishop of Dublin and others to view and certify, settled and published these orders for the service there, which I send your grace here inclosed, whereof not one was observed before.”

In addition to an ordinance, here alluded to, regulating the conduct of the dignitaries of the cathedral, the following public order was issued:

“Upon the humble petition of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Dublin, for the redresse of sundry abuses nearly concerning their church, and the divine office there celebrated, it is this day ordered by the Lord Deputy and Councill: - First, that noe cellar or vault under the said church, nor any house adjoining or contiguous to the said church or any part thereof, shall be imploid as a taverne, tippling house, or tobaccoe shop, for the retayling of wine, ale, beer, or tobaccoe, after the feast of the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour next ensuing.

“Secondly, the most reverend Fathers in God, the Lords Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, or two of them, are desired to view all such houses and buildings as have been erected within the memory of man against the walls of the said church, which doe either stopp up the light, disgrace and darken the same, endanger the fabrique, or any way annoy the said church; as likewise all incroachnents from the said church and churchyard within memory as abovesaid; and upon their certificate all such new erections and incroachments are, by order of this Boarde, to be removed.

“Thirdly, that noe person of whatsoever degree presume to putt on their hatts during the time of divine service, that is, prayers, hymns, lessons, until the preacher have read his text; nor any under the degree of an esquire, bachelor of divinity, dignitary or prebend of some cathedral church, in the time of sermon; nor any other person whatsoever standing in the isles or middle alley of the said quire; and likewise that every one in his departing out of the said church be uncovered whilst he is in the quire.

“Fourthly, that the Dean, Dignataries, and Prebendaries of the said church doe keep their proper seats, unless upon urgent cause, and weave surplices and hoods, according to their several degrees, in the time of divine service and sermon: that the vicars and choristers come not thither without their surplices; nor any graduate preach there without a hood answerable to his degree.

“Fifthly, that none - except the Lord Deputy for the time being shall thinke it convenient for himself or his lady - shall be permitted to use any curtaines before their seats in the said church.

“Sixthly, that no person presume to make urine against the walls of the said church; nor to walk or talk in the isles or body of the said church during the time of divine service or sermon; and that the pursuivants shall take into their custody the persons of any delinquents against these orders upon notice from the officers of the said church, to make answere for their contempt at this Boarde.

“And, lastly, that these orders be fixed upon the doors of the said church, for every one to take notice of them.

“Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin, 28th November, 1633 Ja. Armacanus. Claneboy. Law Esmond. Cha. Coote. R. Corke. T. Dillon. W. St. Leger. Ant. Midensis”

Sir William Brereton remarks of this cathedral in 1634, that the “chancel is only made use of; not the body of the church, wherein are very great strong pillars, though very short; the chancel is but plain, and ordinarily kept; the body of the church is a more stately building.”

Christ Church being at this period in a very bad condition, the Government appears to have contemplated the erection of a new cathedral; a design subsequently abandoned; and on the 10th of April, 1638, Strafford, writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, observes:- “For the building of Christ Church, now that his Majesty and your Lordship approve of the way, I trust to show you I neither sleep nor forget it.” And Laud, in the succeeding May, writes:- “I shall be very glad to hear that Christ Church goes on, but sorry withal for that which you write after, that there is such a great dearth of cattle and sheep amongst you, that it cannot begin this year; and a murrain amongst cattle is no good sign.”

In 1639-41 a new charter was petitioned for, proposing to increase the Vicars Choral to 10, of whom four were to be priests; and requesting power to distribute their property among them according to the dignities which they held. This scheme, however, does not appear to have been prosecuted.

In 1642, under the auspices of the Puritanic Lords Justices, Dr. Stephen Jerome, “an empty, illiterate, noisy, turbulent person, and a very incoherent nonsensical, ludicrous preacher,” delivered a course of sermons in this church, “whither the State and most persons of quality usually repaired for divine worship.” On the afternoon of Sunday, November 13, Jerome spoke here in a sermon “many things unfit to be uttered in any auditory, and intolerable before such an assembly, which ought not to be supposed to hear with patience any invectives against the King, the Queen, the Council, and the army, who were all at once traduced.” He was consequently silenced by Launcelot Bulkeley, Archbishop of Dublin; but having obtained an order from the Lords Justices to continue his labours, he preached a second sermon in the same place, more objectionable than the first. The matter having been brought before the House of Lords, Jerome was placed in custody of the Sheriff, that a State prosecution might be instituted against him, which, owing to the sudden prorogation of Parliament, he contrived to elude, and having retired to Manchester, there continued his invectives against the royal party. The encouragement given to Jerome formed one of the articles of impeachment preferred, in 1643, against Parsons, Loftus, Temple, and Meredith.

After the Marquis of Ormond had surrendered Dublin to the Parliamentarians in 1647, the Liturgy of the Church of England was suppressed by proclamation, and the See of Dublin remained vacant from the death of Launcelot Bulkeley, in September, 1650, to the appointment of his successor, James Margetson, in January, 1660.

During the Protectorate, Dr. Samuel Winter, Provost of Trinity College, preached sometimes twice every Sunday in Christ Church, “before the Commissioners, the Lord Mayor, and Aldermen of that city; many gentlemen and others resorting to his ministry. Not long after, some other ministers coming thither from England, the Commissioners, for the ease of Mr. Winter, used to request one or other of them to preach in the morning, reserving Mr. Winter for the afternoon, at which time was the greatest auditory.”

The sacrament, at this time, “was by the Presbyterians given standing; but Winter, for distinction sake, gave it to his followers sitting; for which purpose several tables were, upon those days, placed together in length from the choir up to the altar in Christ Church; his fraternity were also, for further distinction sake, to call one the other Brother and Sister.” After the appointment of Fleetwood to the governrnent of Ireland, in 1652, his chaplain, Thomas Patience, an Anabaptist, obtained permission to preach in this cathedral.

One of the main themes of Dr. Winter’s sermons appears to have been the doctrine of Antipaedobaptism, - a subject which had been discussed in 1624 by Florence Conry, the learned Connacht Franciscan, in his “Tractatus de statu parvulorim sine Baptismo decedentium ex hac vita.” An epitome of the discourses delivered by Dr. Winter in Christ Church has been preserved in a small volume of 181 pages, published in 1656, and entitled, “The sum of divers sermons preached in Dublin before the Lord Deputy Fleetwood, and the Commissioners of parliament for the affairs of Ireland: wherein the doctrine of infant baptism is asserted, and the main objections of Mr, Tombs, Mr. Fisher, and Mr. Blackwood and others, answered.” Another distinguished preacher here at the same period was Dr. Thomas Harrison, chaplain to Henry Cromwell, who was selected to deliver a funeral oration on the Protector, published under the title of “Threni Hibernici; or Ireland sympathizing with England and Scotland, in a sad lamentation for the loss of their Josiah (Oliver Cromwell); in a sermon at Christ church, Dublin, before his excellency the Lord Deputy, with divers of the nobility, gentry, and commonalty there assembled, to celebrate a funeral solemnity upon the death of the late Lord Protector,” 1659.

The first Parliament of Charles II. having assembled to hear divine service in Christ Church in 1661, seats were provided for its members at the cost of £34 13*s. 4d.; *£40 being also paid for the pews of the Speaker of the House of Lords.

Charles II., in 1671, presented the Cathedral with a parcel of “useless and unserviceable metal towards the making and setting up a ring of bells;” and in 1678 it was found necessary to issue the following order

“By the Lord Lieutenant and Councell.

“Ormonde.

“Whereas we have received information that the vaults and cellars under the cathedrall church of the Holy Trinity Dublin are converted to Taverns, tippleing houses and tobaccoe shops, to the great annoyance of the said church, and to the insecurity of the State who resort thither to divine service. It is ordered, that the Dean and Chapter of the said cathedral doe use their best endeavours for removeing the said nusances, and take care that the said places bee secured in such manner as they shall think best, and with all convenient spede to return to this Board an accompt of their proceedings herein. Given at the Councell Chamber in Dublin the 15th day of November, 1678. Mich Dublin. C. Blesinton. Ed Villiers. John Davys. H. Ingoldesby. Hen. Midensis. Ca Dillon. Wm Gore. R Coote. Char Meredyth. Will Stewart. Tho Newcomen.”

In 1679 the King granted £100 towards repairing and adorning the choir; and in the same year the Government issued another ordinance “against nuisances or making any disturbances in either cathedral.”

On all solemn occasions, and days of public thanksgiving, sermons were usually preached in Christ Church before the Houses of Parliament, the Judges, the Lord Mayor and Corporation, and other dignitaries. The principal of these anniversaries were the 30th of January, the 23rd of October, the 5th of November, and, after 1690, the 4th of the same month, being the birth-day of William III. Christ Church, being regarded as the Chapel Royal of Dublin, was regularly attended by the Viceroy, or, in his absence, by the Lords Justices, and when they went thither the streets from the Castle gate to the church door, as also the great aisle of the church to the foot of the stairs, by which they ascended to their seats, were lined with soldiers; they were preceded by the pursuivants of the council chamber, two mace-bearers, and on state days by the king and pursuivant-at-arms, their chaplains and gentlemen of the household, with pages and footmen bare-headed. On alighting from the coach, the sword of state was delivered to one of the Peers to bear before them, and in like manner they returned to the Castle; their carriage, both in coming and retiring, being guarded by a squadron of horse, and followed by a long train of nobility and gentry in coaches and six.

During the Jacobite government of Dublin, some apprehensions having been excited by the discovery of arms in Christ Church in September, 1689, the building was closed for a fortnight, after which it was used as a chapel by King James, who had the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion performed there, it being the only church in Dublin allocated by him to the citizens of that religion. Dr. Alexius Stafford, who afterwards fell at Aughrim, was appointed Dean of this cathedral by James; and sermons were preached here before the King by Father Hall and by the erudite Dr. Michael Moor; the latter incurred the Royal displeasure, and was exiled from Court, for inculcating in a discourse delivered in Christ Church in 1690, that “kings ought to consult clergymen in their temporal affairs, the clergy having a temporal as well as a spiritual right in the kingdom; but that kings had nothing to do with the managing of spiritual affairs, but were to obey the orders of the church.”

After the Jacobite army had retired from Dublin, the Protestants regained possession of the cathedral, in the vaults of which “divers useful books and writings belonging to King James and his secretaries” were secured for the Williamites by Thomas Carter of Robertstown, county of Meath.

Anthony Dopping, Bishop of Meath, preached in Christ Church, in 1691, his notorious sermon before the Lords Justices*, after their return from the camp at Limerick, arguing that the treaty *there made with the Jacobites should not be observed. This perfidious doctrine was, however, abnegated by Dr. Morton, Bishop of Kildare, Dean of the Cathedral, who, on the following Sunday, in the same pulpit, demonstrated the obligation of keeping the public faith; Dr. Synge also preached here on the text, “Keep peace with all men if it be possible,” and “moderated so judiciously that no more was heard of the dispute from the pulpit.”

A very considerable number of the members of the Irish peerage, and other persons of distinction connected with Dublin, were interred in the vaults of Christ Church, the ceremonial of a state funeral in which is illustrated by the following description of the interment, in 1711-12, of Lieutenant-General Ingoldsby, one of the Lords Justices of Ireland, who died in the Government

“The solemnity of his funeral began about one o clock, and proceeded from his late dwelling-house in Henry-street, in St. Mary’s parish, thro’ nine of the principal streets of the suburbs and city. The procession began by 47 poor men in black gowns and hoods, being as many as he was years old; after whom march’d two regiments of foot and two troops of horse, with five hautboys and a trumpet to sound a funeral march. They were followed by a guidon, carried by captain Haynes; a horse in black, with escutcheons; two bomb carts, kettle-drum, and five pieces of ordnance, attended by six montrosses and six gunners, together with the inferior officers of the ordnance, and the superior ones, all in mourning: after these proceeded 14 footmen, four state trumpets and kettle-drum to sound a funeral march; the standard carried by captain Edgworth, a horse in black, two state trumpets to sound a solemn tune, five physicians, usher of the Council, three pursuivants, chirurgeon-general, six chaplains, clerk of the council, steward and comptroller, physician-general, two pennons carried by captain Jones and captain Gary, a horse in black carying several escutcheons, the gentlemen of horse holding the rein; the preacher; the gauntlets carried by captain Dallway, helmet and crest by Athlone Pursuivant of Arms, sergeant of arms in mourning, the horse in black covered with escutcheons, sword and shield carried by Colonel Morris, gentleman usher, coat of his arms carried by Ulster King of Arms, who was follow’d by a herse with the body, and then by the mourners and judges on foot; after whom went 15 mourning coaches with six horses, and a great number of lords and gentlemens coaches. As soon as the corpse was laid in the herse, by a signal, the ordnance fir’d a great gun every minute; and when the corpse was taken out of the herse, by a signal, the ordnance ceased firing and all the bells stopped. It was received at the door of the cathedral of Christ-Church by the whole body of the church and choir; and after the service and sermon was ended, and the corpse interred, the King of Arms made a proclamation of the titles of his posts of honour, and then by a signal, the ordnance fired three rounds, of 20 guns each round, and were answer’d by a volley of the army, who were drawn up for that purpose; one in Castle-street, one in High-street, and the horse in Christ Church-yard.”

The Convocation of the Irish clergy assembled in St. Mary’s Chapel, Christ Church, in 1703, from which period to the close of the century we find but little of interest in connexion with the cathedral. Arthur Smyth, Archbishop of Dublin, offered, in 1769, to contribute £1,000 to erect a spire on Christ Church, but, on survey, the tower was found to be incapable of supporting the weight. On the 12th and 16th of April, 1788, concerts in commemoration of Handel, and for the benefit of charitable institutions of Dublin, were performed in this cathedral by amateurs of high rank and distinction; on these occasions the ladies laid aside their hats, feathers, and hoops; their sedan chairs were admitted by the door of the church in Christ-Church-yard; and the coaches came through Skinners’-row to the entrance in Christ Church-lane; by which the performers also entered.

All the more ancient tombs, excepting that of Strongbowe, have disappeared from Christ Church, the principal existing monuments in which are those of Francis Agard, 1577; Edward Griffith, 1632; William and Ambrose Cadogan, 1660-1693 Welbore Ellis, Bishop of Kildare, 1733; Robert, Earl of Kildare, 1743; Thomas Prior, 1751; Thomas Fletcher, Bishop of Kildare, 1761; John Lord Bowes, 1767; Richard Woodward, Mus. Doc., 1777; James, Viscount Lifford, 1789; Sir John A. Stevenson; Sir Samuel Auchmuty, 1822; Nathaniel Sneyd, 1833; Richard Lawrence, Archbishop of Cashel and Lismore, 1838; Lieutenant J. C. Smith, 1843; the Hon. Charles Lindsay, 1846; Lieut. Col. John W. King, 1850.

The architectural features of the edifice are noticed as follows by Thomas Bell in his prize essay on Gothic Architecture: “The original structure appears to have been in the Saxon style, or rather to combine a mixture of the circular and pointed Gothic arches together. The transepts still retain much of their original state, and exhibit some beautiful specimens of the zig-zag ornament. It is not, however, pure Saxon, for the pointed arch is intimately combined with it, not only in the windows of the transepts, but also in two or three beautiful pointed arches, richly ornamented with chevron mouldings, which are still apparent in the lateral aisles that lead to the choir. One of the arches, in the north aisle of the choir, leading to St. Mary’s Chapel, appears to have given way - probably occasioned by the shock the whole building must have sustained, when the roof and south wall of the nave fell, in the year 1662. The arched window over it has also suffered by the shock; for the central pillar is evidently displaced, and has lost its perpendicularity. To prevent the arch at the entrance of this aisle from falling in, the space has been filled up with solid masonry, leaving a smaller arched entrance beneath it. Over this smaller arch a square tablet was introduced with the armorial bearings - supporters, motto, and cypher of Sir Henry Sidney, K. G., Lord Deputy of Ireland in the year inscribed on the tablet, 1577. This date ascertains the exact time when this arch was thus repaired. The exterior of the wall of the north transept, in John’s-lane, is enriched by a very beautiful Saxon-arched gateway or door, highly ornamented by a complex projecting zig-zag, and various other tasteful mouldings. The caps of the pilasters or shafts which support the arch are formed, as far as their decayed state enables us to judge, of numerous figures of angels, fantastically entwined together. At each side of the door was a niche for holding the stoup in which the holy water was contained. This doorway has long since beeb built up, but the mark of it is still very visible on the interior wall. Over the intersection of the nave and transepts, and nearly in the centre of the church, a large square tower-steeple is erected on four immense stone piers. These piers are connected together by lofty pointed arches, which reached the original ceiling of the nave when it was in existence. The present groined ceilings of the transepts appear to be modern. The north side of the nave consists of six lofty and extensive pointed arches of beautiful workmanship. The piers which support them are richly decorated with eight clustering columns or pilasters. Some of these columns are banded in two divisions, and others are quite plain from the base to the capital. There is a sharpness and spirit in the execution of the foliages that terminate some of the columns, which is admirable, considering the time when they were executed. The canopies over these arches are supported by corbel heads of grotesque expression, and well sculptured. The triforium, or friars’ walk, passes through the wall, over the piers and arches, and looks into the great aisle below, from a row of arched niches of three compartments each. Above these recesses is a range of clerestory windows, each window consisting of three distinct lancet-pointed arches, very narrow, as was customary in the early species of pointed architecture, the central arch being considerably higher than those at each side. There are six of these treble windows, corresponding in number with the arches over which they are ranged. These windows, together with the blind window or niches connected with the Friars’ walks immediately under them, are enclosed in a large arch, nearly equal in size to the lower arch which springs out of the piers, and affords them support. The south wall is a plain, unornamented, heavy structure, remarkable only for the expedition used in rebuilding it. The plainness of the wall is, however, in some measure counteracted, and relieved by the monuments to which it gives support. The great western window, and the wall in which it is inserted, appear to have been built at the same time with the wall on the south side of the nave. It is indeed highly probable that as they adjoined each other, they bad both suffered the same calamity, which we are informed overtook the latter. Large windows were at this period (1562) the prevailing fashion, and entirely supplanted the elder fashion of narrow-pointed or lancet arch windows, which are still to be seen in the original parts of the building. This window is a circular arch, much more lofty than the original groined roof appears to have been, when it existed. The northern, or original side of the nave, whether by the shock it sustained when the opposite side and roof fell, or through a natural decay of the materials, or from the sinking of the earth on which its foundations are built evidently leans a considerable degree out of a perpendicular line. Some few years ago, a very strong abutment was built, inclining against the wall of its lateral aisle, in order to give it support; and perhaps by means of this artificial aid the church may be upheld for another century. The soil or substratum on which it is founded is a loose, turbaceous mold, black and soft. It appears to be common turf bog in a state of progressive decomposition. When the builders of the new houses on St. Michael’s hill, Winetavern-street, were digging the foundation for them, this appearance was very palpable, and would sufficiently account for any deviation from the centre, in this extensive and ancient pile, which the unstable soil still sustains. The great eastern window is circularly arched, and seems to have been erected about the same period when that of the nave was rebuilt. Perhaps it might be put up something earlier, as we find in the annals that the old one was destroyed by a violent tempest, which did considerable damage to the church in 1461. The side windows of the choir are formed of pointed arches, of a dimension considerably larger than the clerestory window in the nave. They are irregular in point of size, compared with each other, and apparently were built two or three centuries later than the former, though, from their external appearance, they are evidently in a very inferior style of workmanship. The external appearance of the building is heavy and uninteresting. The only beautiful parts about it are the Saxon door, and windows of the transepts before described, and the Gothic shafts which support the external arches of the clerestory windows; but the old stone work round these windows is so totally decayed, being of a soft, sandy nature, that little idea can be formed of its original appearance. In order to give a more exact idea of the extent of this ancient pile, I subjoin the following dimensions:-

  Feet In.

Length of nave, from the west wall to the door of the choir, 126 0

Breadth of nave, including the centre and one side aisle, 43 6

Breadth of back aisle, 13 4

Thickness of the piers, 5 8

Circumference of each pier with its clustering columns, 17 0

Span of arches between the piers, 11 0

Height of arches, from the point to the base of the columns, which is two feet below the present floor,

Length of transepts from north to south, 88 6

Breadth of transepts, 25 0

Length of choir, about, 108 0

External length of St .Mary’s Chapel, 66 0

External Length of the church, including St. Mary’s Chapel, and the buttresses, 246 0

The alterations effected in the approaches to Christ Church by the removal of the northern side of Skinners’-row, and the deniolition of Christ Church-yard and Christ Cliurch-lane, are noticed in our account of those localities.

To Chapter 4. Gilbert Index