1860s Wicklow church fears closure as N11 bus lane plans threaten access
Saint Brigid's Church at the bottom of Herbert Road has served families since the 1860s, but churchwarden Gordon Lennox warns that compulsory purchase orders for the N11 bus lane will make access impossible for hearses, wedding cars, and anyone with mobility needs
Bray People
As the opposition to the closure of an exit at Bray to make way for the Wicklow N11/M11 Bus Priority Interim Scheme (N11/M11 BPIS) continues to grow, worshippers at a small, single-storey Church of Ireland, built in the 1860s, fear there is a very real threat to its future.
While the peaceful protests so far have centred on the concerns of the thousands of residents who have backed the campaign to 'Stop the Closure of Herbert Road', should the road close, this historical building could be consigned to history forever more and with it, not only the spiritual needs of those who attend its services, but the memory of the dead who are buried there.
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Irish Examiner
12-06-2025
- Irish Examiner
Ecumenical blend of classic and contemporary at Cork's €1.45m Church Hill Georgian gem
WONDERFUL Woodview House does exactly what its name suggests — the pristine period Georgian gem, on lushly landscaped and immaculate gardens, has views of woodland, with much of the visible greenery as old as this almost 200 year old period home, in a recognisable yet secret setting. We're talking a location at the foot of Church Hill, just under the 1780s Church of Ireland St Mary's and All Saint parish church in Cork's Glanmire: Inspired setting these two elegant structures, one sacred, the other secular, are at the very heart of a community that started with 19th century gentrification, and today is a fast-growing city suburb of over 10,000 souls, in a folded green and wooded valley setting on the tail end of the Glashaboy River. Garden glory and Georgian grace Woodview House dates to c 1830, sort of the glory years when wealthy Cork families continued the move to villas and mansions east of the city, along the Lee, past Montenotte and Tivoli, wrapping around the hill toward the Glashaboy valley and then the fledgling Glanmire settlement, as it added more wealth through a variety of substantial milling enterprises: Woodview followed in the 18th century steps of the even grander Ballinglanna House (1730s) and Dunkathel House (dating to the 1790s) soon to have 21st century houses snuggle up even closer to its protected curtilage. Entrancing entrance Around the same time as Woodview was built on its sloping site, 100 metres under the landmark spire of St Mary's, it was being joined by other substantial homes for Cork's gentry and merchant classes, such as Lota Lodge — now the Vienna Woods Hotel — Lauristan, Glanmire House (now Colaiste an Phiarsaigh) and Janeville, now Glenmervyn House with its trio of nearby old, latticed windowed almshouses. So, we are talking deep roots and good company for Woodview House, still a private residence unlike some of the aforementioned other period compatriots which have had to go work for their living. Woodview House has been a very private family home for the past 30 years, coming for sale now as the professional couple who'd worked in the Cork city and who reared a family here prepare to right-size. They are selling with a move in mind and in charge of the sale is Michael Downey of ERA Downey McCarthy, who guides from €1.45m. In terms of quality, accommodation, finish, features and feel, as well as its stand-out gardens, privacy and security, it's possibly the best Cork family house offer of the year. It's going to top the wish-list of local and wider Cork hinterland families of means looking to trade up to a prize property, as well as to relocators who'd be picking up a substantial yet manageable period home of stand-out quality. The vendors Edel and Gerard O'Connor bought at auction 30 year ago, when it had been the home of the O'Gorman family of famed hat makers since 1901 in Cork and Shandon, a niche business now in third generation of O'Gorman family hands. Woodview House's own 'crowning' glory is a magnificent copper beech tree on the gravel apron in front of the house's asymmetrical façade: Gerard O'Connor reckon it's about as old as the house itself, certainly dating to the 19th century, with its girth supporting the belief, while he says it's in such good health because it has had the occasional, judicious care of a tree surgeon to prolong its longevity. Copper beech beauty roots home to previous centuries The O'Connors are now passing on Woodview House too in possibly the best shape it has ever been, with commensurate gardens of 0.6 of an acre, after a series of upgrades, and period-appropriate extensions by O'Shea Builders, overseen by Edel, with an architect's input at the time and personal, knowing care and décor upgrades and enhancements ever since to the gleaming c 3,300 sq ft home. Most notable addition was the current gable sunroom, some 20' by 11' with hand-painted floral detailing on the ceiling, overlooking the grounds, along with a rear enlarged kitchen/dining/living room, some 32' by 17'. Sunroom This 'heart of the house' multi-use area, great for entertaining, has a raised glazed roof lantern in a part-vaulted ceiling with repousse metal leaf chandelier, large island/breakfast bar with underset microwave, there's a broad, black Aga range, and a wide ceramic Belfast sink, with square bay window plus glazed door access to very sheltered courtyard garden, with sunken pond and water feature. While there's some formal grandeur (yet, not too imposing or overly grand) to the front, where main reception rooms plus the hall have very fine fireplaces (including in the reception hall) there's a very considered rear run of rooms off a long corridor with glass roof: this yields access to a superb pantry with shelving and wraparound chunky timber counter tops; a cloakroom; a guest bathroom with power shower, and a ground floor bedroom (ideal for guests, done originally for an older family member.) 'Good' rooms are to the front, meanwhile, including a drawing room with coved ceilings and access to the sun room, fine white marble fireplace and bay window, left of the hall. Across is a lounge with a deep bay window, unfussy coved ceiling and white marble chimneypiece, with inset wood-burning stove. One of Woodview's most elegant features is a distinctive cantilevered staircase, up to a bifurcated split, with a double aspect master bedroom to the left, complete with fully shelved and railed dressing room/walk-in robes and large en suite private bathroom with shower. Main suite off split landing via graceful cantilevered stairs Views from this double aspect bedroom suite are over gardens to dense woodland across the valley on the Dunkettle facing hillside, as well as down into Glanmire's entry point by the Glashaboy estuary to 'old' Glanmire at the foot of Church Hill. Across on this wide home's 'other' wing are three further bedrooms, all equally immaculate with filled bookshelves and varied but ever-verdant views, along with a main family bathroom with separate bath and shower, and marble sink surround. There's an overall internal calm and serenity, plus high comfort factor (windows are all double glazed sliding sashes in painted hardwood frames) as well as the certainty that this has been well conceived and cared for over three decades (Edel gets given all the credit for this by the family.) Externally, credit is given to the landscape designers Ned Kirby and Cork's legendary Brian Cross. Their work here, over more than a quarter of a century, plus professional visiting gardening maintenance men to keep up the exacting standards over the entire e0.6 acre of planted grounds, result in the presentation seen today, very much the complete prized property package for those with a certain wherewithal, or bank withdrawal capacity. Specimen trees and plants abound, in full and robust health: you know someone who knows their business has overseen it all, and includes the previous mentioned copper beech, lime trees, flowering Cherry tree, Cornish controversa 'Variegata' / Wedding Cake tree (a perennial Brian Cross favourite), and mixes including Japanese maples and silver birches and ironwood or Chinese parrotia for blazes of autumn colour. Woodview is very much a private remove and world away from day-to-day stresses: if next owners have to work for a living, and can remote work, there's an option to hand with a high-quality home office with architectural elan, behind sliding timber doors and glass curtain walling by the main entrance: alongside are two othe good-sized store rooms, for bikes, golf bags and garden gear. Home office and store rooms behind stout cedar doors: they are set between two sets of electric access gates for privacy That office and stores set-up (with parking) is sort of set in a lower courtyard on Woodview House's mature and well-screened grounds, bookended by not just one but two sets of electric gates, so access to visitors/clients can be controlled to work areas, whilst the family home beyond the next, higher-up gates, retains its serene privacy with secure side gate too in the high stone boundary wall to Church Hill itself for easy yet code guarded pedestrian access. ERA Downey McCarthy's offer from €1.45m comes just after as sale terms are agreed on Glanmire Poulacurry House, a c 300 year old original (now needing updating) of 5,500 sq ft above Glanmire and on very extensive gardens of c five acres, likely to be selling in the c €1.6m+ price bracket, having gone to market back in June 2023 with a €1.75m guide. ERA agent, Michael Downey says the 1830s Woodview House is even closer to everyday amenities and conveniences, with ongoing public cycle and walkway improvements to Glanmire and that this family home 'is very special, it has been tastefully and sensitively extended and renovated, and now provides the height of luxury and comfort one comes to expect from a modern home.' VERDICT: Tasteful mix of curated classic and contemporary features , in a home with great bones and more than skin-deep beauty. One to watch…....
Irish Times
10-06-2025
- Irish Times
‘I'm not going to do anything that isn't possible to do together': peacemaker Lord Eames celebrates 50 years since consecration
Fifty years on from his arrival in Derry as the city's Church of Irelan d bishop, Robin Eames , has vivid memories of two things: the suffering of the city on Bloody Sunday and its aftermath, and being reunited with the man who would go on to become a lifelong friend, his Catholic counterpart, Bishop Edward Daly. 'I broke with tradition and made history because, without realising it was the first and only time it had happened, I invited him to my consecration and he walked beside me,' Lord Eames said. 'That friendship and that hope image of what we wanted to do together took me through all the years of my service here, and Edward and I became very close friends and we did lots of things which were never publicised, but I hope were for the good of the people of this place. 'We treated each other as men, as people, forgot about the fabric of office ... We acted together.' READ MORE Speaking following a service in St Columb's Cathedral in Derry to mark the 50th anniversary of his consecration as Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Lord Eames recalled going, at Bishop Daly's suggestion, 'into the Bogside all by myself and going from door to door simply saying look, 'I'm Robin Eames, the new Church of Ireland bishop, I just called to say hello, I'm glad to meet you.' 'It was there in one of those houses, when the door opened, and a hush fell over the conversation, and somebody walked through the door straight over to me with a hand outreached. 'He said simply, 'Welcome to Derry. I'm John Hume', and that was the meeting of two people who were to work together in the years to come.' In 1986, Lord Eames became Archbishop of Armagh and the head of the Church of Ireland; serving in this role from 1986 to 2006, he known for his work in peacebuilding and reconciliation, often, as in Derry, working in conjunction with his Catholic counterpart. He had been due to preach the sermon for Remembrance Day sermon in Enniskillen in 1987, a service that never took place. Eleven people died when an IRA bomb exploded at the town's cenotaph; Lord Eames spent the day in the hospital, and later wrote that the experiences of that day 'will never leave me.' As Church of Ireland primate he had a direct role in trying to resolve the Drumcree dispute of the mid-1990s, and in 1998 was an advocate for a 'yes' vote in the referendum on the Belfast Agreement . Throughout, his approach was inspired by his belief in human connections. 'It's what's always made sense to me in my ministry ... I have emphasised over and over again that I'm not going to do anything that isn't possible to do together. 'That's been the way of it, and I hope that's what people will remember when they bury me,' Lord Eames said. Following his retirement in 2006, Lord Eames became co-chair, along with Denis Bradley, of the Consultative Group on the Past, an independent group set up to examine how to deal with the legacy of the North's Troubles. Its recommendations included an independent commission to examine legacy cases over a five-year period, but it became embroiled in controversy after a plan for a £12,000 payment to victims' families was leaked, and its proposals were never adopted. 'That report, quite honestly, turned out to be before its time,' Lord Eames said. 'If there had been time before we published it, I think it might have had more effect. So much that has happened since could have been avoided ... But I don't regret one word of it.' To move forward, Ireland must 'look back on its past with humility' and acknowledge 'hurts have been inflicted on both sides'. 'If we can only have the humility to say yes, these things happened, but they've no part and place in our future,' he said. 'Let's learn from the past, let's learn from the mistakes. 'In Ireland we've so much going for us, so many opportunities, and if only we can be a generation that takes these opportunities, I believe the future is bright for us all.'
Irish Times
28-05-2025
- Irish Times
‘Humanity has lost its heart': Ireland's churches react forcefully to `abandoned' Gaza
Ireland's two main churches have reacted forcefully to the continuing suffering of the people of Gaza and have demanded action to end it. 'It appears that humanity has lost its heart,' the Catholic bishops have said. 'From all over Ireland, parishioners are reporting their horror and helplessness on seeing images of death and communal destruction in Gaza,' they said. In a joint statement, the two Church of Ireland archbishops said: 'It is with outrage that we watch the desperation, dislocation, and defenceless resident population of Gaza who feel they have been abandoned by the world.' Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell and Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough Michael Jackson said 'the international community must grasp reality and respond as never before. They can no longer stand by and watch the cruel starvation of innocent people.' READ MORE The Catholic bishops' statement noted how in Gaza, 'exhausted mothers can no longer nourish their young, children are dying of malnutrition, while aid lorries full of supplies are being refused entry into the territory, or are not safely arriving at their destination'. They said that 'to see the relentless bombardment of civilian areas, the deliberate withholding of food from the starving, as well as the callous holding of hostages, it appears that humanity has lost its heart'. The Church of Ireland archbishops said the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, owned and run by the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, has reopened after being bombed on Palm Sunday. Its 'resilient' and 'courageous staff' are now 'operating in a tent' and 'treating the injured and sick as best they can, in what is by anyone's reckoning a living wasteland'. They pledged 'our continuing support' for them. [ Destruction of Gaza hospital supported by Dublin diocese 'an outrage', says senior Irish cleric Opens in new window ] The Catholic bishops called 'on all Catholics' to make the first Friday, June 6th, a day of prayer and fasting in solidarity with people in the Holy Land. They invited everyone to pray throughout June 'for the renewal of heart that our world so desperately needs'. Archbishops McDowell and Jackson called for an 'immediate ceasefire' in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and the 'influx of every kind of appropriate aid to alleviate starvation, injury and lack of shelter'. They acknowledged many 'feel hopeless and powerless to change what is happening in Gaza'. 'We pray that all those in positions of power globally will stand up and demand an end to this cruelty and seek the reinstitution of international law.'
