page_title: Kilfenora Cathedral
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Kilfenora Cathedral / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: The Gothic sedilia in the chancel of Kilfenora Cathedral
context_page_description: Kilfenora Cathedral is a former cathedral, part of which is now used as a place of worship by the Church of Ireland. It is located in the village of Kilfenora, in the region known as the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. In medieval times it was the episcopal see of the Bishop of Kilfenora.
context_section_description: Today the church shows "a curious mix of styles" from a number of periods. The oldest part likely is the north wall of the nave showing (now plaster-covered) cyclopean masonry, this turn-of-the-first-millennium building may have been aisled.
  One 19th-century visitor was unimpressed by the cathedral's appearance: "The attempt at a tower is conspicuously mean and hideous. A pile of emigrants' luggage with a rabbit-hutch or bird-cage overhead would look equally imposing".
  The nave is now used for worship by the Church of Ireland, for which it was reconstructed around 1850. It features a bishop's throne, donated in 1981. There is also a large square stone baptismal font (possibly from around 1200). In addition, the church contains various tombs, but the interior is mostly devoid of ornamentation.
  According to local tradition, the late 12th- to early 13-century chancel was roofed with an oak ceiling (blue with gold start) until the end of the 18th century. It is roofless today and features a 15th-century doorway, a 15th-century Gothic sedilia as well as a Romanesque three-light east window with its triangular pillars topped by carved capitals. On both sides of the window is a carved effigy: a bishop with his right hand raised in blessing (possibly early 14th century), to the north; and a tonsured, bareheaded cleric holding a book (possibly 13th century) to the south. The chancel also contains several tombs and the remains of high crosses. It shares some design features such as the three-lighted decorated east window with other structures from the early 13th century, e.g.Corcomroe Abbey, belonging to the style known as the "school of the west". One of the tombs is the burial site of Neptune Blood, the uncle of Thomas Blood, who tried to steal the English crown jewels in 1671.
  The "Lady Chapel" (sacristy or chapter room) was in a rectangular wing leading to the north of the chancel. It likely shares the building date of the main building and may have served as a sort of transept in the past. Two lancet-type windows and a broken two-light one are left in the eastern wall. There are also fragments of a high cross.
  Today, the cathedral remains in partially ruined state, although restoration work was done by the National Monument Service in the early 2000s. The transept was fitted with a glass roof in 2005 to protect the remains of the three high crosses moved there.
caption: The Gothic sedilia in the chancel of Kilfenora Cathedral
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