The Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle is a 19th-century Gothic revival chapel which served as the official Church of Ireland chapel of the Household of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1814 until the creation of the Irish Free State in December 1922, which terminated the office of Lord Lieutenant.[2] In 1943, the chapel was reconsecrated as a Catholic place of worship and rededicated as the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, but it has not been used for worship since 1983.
The interior of the chapel looking west toward the organ and entranceThe interior of the chapel looking east toward the stained glass
Designed by Francis Johnston (1760–1829), the foremost architect working in Ireland in the early 19th century, and architect to the Board of Works, the chapel contains one of the finest Gothic revival interiors in Ireland. Replacing an earlier undistinguished 18th-century church that suffered structural problems through being built on soft ground close to the site of the original castle moat, the new Chapel Royal was built using a timber frame to make it as light as possible. Indeed, so difficult was the nature of the site that the chapel took seven years to build, though a contributory factor in both time and budget was the "sheer opulence"[3] of its interior.
The foundation stone was laid by The 6th Duke of Bedford, the then Lord Lieutenant, on 15 February 1807. It was completed behind schedule (the budget also substantially overran) and opened on Christmas Day, 1814, when The 1st Viscount Whitworth (later created The 1st Earl Whitworth) was Lord Lieutenant. Lord Whitworth contributed the centre portion of the large stained-glass window above the altar, which he had purchased while in Paris,[4] and which reputedly had come from Russia (he had been plenipotentiary in St. Petersburg in the 1790s). The surroundings are painted glass, executed by a Mr Bradley in Dublin. At the apex of the window are the arms of Lord Whitworth.
The decoration of the ceiling of the interior was done by George Stapleton (son of Michael Stapleton), a leading stuccodore of the time, while sculptor Edward Smyth (responsible for the "river heads" on the Custom House) and his son John Smyth (responsible for the statues on the GPO) carved the larger figures. Over the chancel window are three life-size figures representing Faith, Hope and Charity. Over the galleries are heads representing Piety and Devotion. All the interior vaulting and columns are cast in timber and feature a paint wash (faux pierre) to give the effect of stone. It was described as having "the most flamboyant and luxurious Dublin interior of its era."[3]
The exterior was clad in a thin layer of "fine limestone from Tullamore quarry",[5] and famously features over 90 carved heads, including those of Brian Boru, St. Patrick, Archbishop Ussher and Jonathan Swift, done by Edward and John Smyth.[6]
This was the third chapel in the castle, and the second on this spot, since medieval times. Before the completion of the Chapel Royal, the Lords Lieutenant their entourage and hangers-on sometimes attended St. Werburgh's Church at the rear of the Castle to the west. The enormous pulpit that used to dominate the Chapel Royal has now been removed to St. Werburgh's.[2]
Behind one of the galleries is a passage that leads to the bedrooms in the State Apartments. This was used by the Lord Lieutenant and his entourage when they were staying at the Castle. His pew (or throne) was in the centre of the right-hand gallery. Directly facing him was the place for the bishop. Lord Whitworth's arms appear directly at the Lord Lieutenant's position, a most prominent spot.
The organ case was constructed in 1857 to house a new organ by William Telford of Dublin, which replaced an earlier instrument by William Gray of London installed in 1815. A new organ was built by the firm Gray and Davison in 1900 into the same case. Although the case was restored in 2008, the organ is no longer playable as the pipework and mechanisms have been removed.[7]
As each Lord Lieutenant left office, their coat of arms was carved on the gallery, and then, when space ran out, placed in a window of the chapel. It was noted by Irish nationalists that the last window available was taken up by the man who proved to be the last Lord Lieutenant, The 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent (himself a Catholic).[8]
Present day
In 1943, the Chapel was consecrated by Archbishop of DublinJohn Charles McQuaid as a Roman Catholic military church, and in 1944 was renamed the Church of the Most Holy Trinity. The Stations of the Cross were carved by the monks in Glenstal Abbey and presented to the church in 1946. Increasing structural problems caused its closure in the early 1980s. The building was restored and reopened in the early 1990s, although it has not since been used for worship. It is occasionally used for concerts and other events.
Dublin Castle is a major Irish government complex, conference centre, and tourist attraction. It is located off Dame Street in central Dublin.
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922). The office, under its various names, was often more generally known as the Viceroy, and his wife was known as the vicereine. The government of Ireland in practice was usually in the hands of the Lord Deputy up to the 17th century, and later of the Chief Secretary for Ireland.
St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, Northern Ireland is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland. It was built in various phases between 1840 and 1904 to serve as the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of Armagh, the original medieval Cathedral of St. Patrick having been retained by the state church, the Church of Ireland at the time of the split of the Irish Church during the Reformation.
St. Mary's Cathedral, Killarney, is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Kerry situated to the west of Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland.
Francis Johnston was an Anglo/Irish architect, best known for building the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street, Dublin.
The Royal Hibernian Military School was founded in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland in 1769, to educate orphaned children of members of the British armed forces in Ireland.
The Werburgh Street Theatre, also the Saint Werbrugh Street Theatre or the New Theatre, was a seventeenth-century theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Scholars and historians of the subject generally identify it as the "first custom-built theatre in the city," "the only pre-Restoration playhouse outside London," and the first Dublin theatre.
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Edward Smyth was an Irish sculptor.
Michael Stapleton is regarded as having been the most skilled stuccodore working in the neoclassical or "Adam" style that dominated Dublin interior decoration in the final decades of the 18th century.
St. Werburgh's Church is a Church of Ireland church building in Dublin, Ireland. The original church on this site was built in 1178, shortly after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the town. It was named after St. Werburgh, abbess of Ely and patron saint of Chester. The current building was constructed in 1719. It is located in Werburgh Street, close to Dublin Castle.
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George Stapleton was a prominent Irish stuccodore, son of Michael Stapleton.
St. Andrew's Church is a Roman Catholic church located in Westland Row, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Construction started in 1832, it opened for public worship in 1834 but was not completed until 1837.
St Werburgh's Church is an Anglican church on Friargate in the city of Derby, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II* listed building. In this church, Samuel Johnson married Elizabeth Porter in 1735.
The Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Anne, also known as Saint Mary's Cathedral, The North Cathedral or The North Chapel, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located at the top of Shandon Street in Cork, Ireland. It is the seat of the Bishop of Cork and Ross, and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cork and Ross. Its name derived from the fact that it encompassed the ecclesiastical parish of St. Mary and the civil parish of St. Anne.
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All Saints Church, Grangegorman is a Church of Ireland church located in Dublin, Ireland. It was built in 1828, to designs by John Semple, and formed as a parish in 1829 from the areas of St. Michan's and St. Paul's. It is a constituent member of the Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Parish Group alongside St. Michan's Church, Dublin and St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin. This church in noteworthy on the basis that it is numbered among the first in Ireland to worship according to Tractarian Principles, and was the subject of protest and sanction by the Protestant community in Ireland in the 19th century.
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