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Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Glebe Houses On–Line

‘A Roof Over Clerical Heads’ is the title of the new online exhibition from the RCB Library, showcasing the Library’s small but significant collection of architectural drawings of glebe houses. Many former glebe houses are now in private ownership so the exhibition should be of interest to those who live in such houses, as well as valuable for others with historical and architectural interests.

The collection consists of 280 drawings, some with related specifications. Some 28 of these sets are 20th century, mainly from the 1960s, while the remainder date from the 19th century, the majority from the first three decades. The collection forms one component of the Library’s extensive collection of architectural drawings of churches, cathedrals and clergy residences which are systematically being catalogued, imaged, and web–published through the Church of Ireland website for all the world to see at this link: https://archdrawing.ireland.anglican.org So far, over 4,500 drawings have been made available online for the churches in 15 of the 26 dioceses.

Over 800 glebe houses were built throughout Ireland during the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. Early 19th–century drawings in this collection include designs by prominent architects, including William Morrison, John Bowden, John Lynn, John Semple and Joseph Welland. Interestingly three designs were by clergymen (Jarratts at Ballymote 1807, Seymour at Kilmovee 1812, and Verschoyle at Ballisakeery 1815) and other unsigned drawings are possibly also by the incumbents. The clergyman as amateur architect is not without precedent. Daniel Augustus Beaufort, rector of Navan from 1765 to 1819 and vicar of Collon from 1789 to 1821, was involved in the design of Ardbraccan See House, Dungannon, Paynestown, Nobber and Allenstown glebe houses, as well as the design of Navan, Collon and Ardbraccan.

A standalone list of the glebe house drawings is available at www.ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/AboutUs/library/AoftM/2017/GlebeHouses.pdf
The Architectural Drawings Project, which is carried out for the Church of Ireland by the architectural historian, Dr Michael O’Neill, has been supported by public and private funding, and an ongoing commitment from central church funds to see it to completion. The 280 drawings themselves have been integrated to the main online collection, which can be viewed here: https://archdrawing.ireland.anglican.org
 
Today (Saturday) the Bishop of Derry, the Rt Revd Ken Good, will attend a tribute concert to the late Bishop Daly.

The service on RTE 1 television at 11am tomorrow morning (Sunday) will be led by the World Day of Prayer team. The theme this year is ‘Am I being unfair to you’ and the service for 2017 was prepared by Christian women from the Philippines. The Archbishop of Dublin will preach in the Chapel of Trinity College and in the evening, at 5pm, Dr Jackson will attend the Come&C Songs of Praise in Templecarrig School, Greystones. The focus of this service will be a reflection on the Five Marks of Mission.

On Monday and Tuesday the Annual Theological Lectures will be held in Queen’s University, Belfast, in the Isdall Courtyard of the Riddell Hall. To mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation the 2017 lectures will be delivered by Professor Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at Notre Dame and a leading authority on the history of Christianity in North America.

Professor Noll will be speaking on the topic ‘Sola Scriptura’. The lectures will run from 6pm to 8pm. On Monday Prof. Noll will deliver his lecture and on Tuesday 7th, he will be joined in conversation by Bishop Brendan Leahy (Catholic Diocese of Limerick, and previously Principal of Maynooth College. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.

 

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