page_title: Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral
section_title: 20th and 21st centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral / History / 20th and 21st centuries
caption_attribution_description: Saint Finbarres Cathedral on the south side of the river in Cork on a winters day.
context_page_description: Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral is a Gothic Revival three-spire cathedral in the city of Cork, Ireland. It belongs to the Church of Ireland and was completed in 1879. The cathedral is located on the south side of the River Lee, on ground that has been a place of worship since the 7th century, and is dedicated to Finbarr of Cork, patron saint of the city. It was once in the Diocese of Cork; it is now one of the three cathedrals in the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin.
  Christian use of the site dates back to a 7th-century AD monastery, which according to legend was founded by Finbarr of Cork. The original building survived until the 12th century, by when it had either fallen into disuse or been destroyed by the Normans. Around 1536, during the Protestant Reformation, the cathedral became part of the established church, later known as the Church of Ireland. The previous building was constructed in the 1730s, but was widely regarded as plain and featureless.
  The cathedral's demolition and rebuild was commissioned in the mid-19th century by an Anglican church intent on strengthening its hand after the reforms of penal law.
context_section_description: Mindful that the cathedral was unlikely to be finished in his lifetime, Burges produced comprehensive plans for its decoration and furnishing; recorded in his Book of Furniture and Book of Designs. At the end of the 20th century, a major restoration of the cathedral, costing £5 million, was undertaken. This included the reinstatement and restoration of the twin trumpets held by the resurrection angel which had been vandalised in 1999. The restoration programme also saw the cleaning, repointing and repair of the exterior of the building, including the re-carving of some of Burges' gargoyles, where repair proved impracticable. The cathedral's heating system was also replaced, when it was found to be damaging the intricate mosaic floor.
  In 2006, Lawrence and Wilson published the first detailed study of the cathedral's history and architecture, The Cathedral of Saint Fin Barre at Cork: William Burges in Ireland. The building is also covered in Frank Keohane's volume, Cork: City and County, in the Buildings of Ireland series, published in 2020. The cathedral is one of the three cathedrals of the Anglican Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
  Notable interments in the graveyard include those of archbishop William Lyon (died 1617), Richard Boyle (died 1644), and in a family vault, the first "Lady Freemason", Elizabeth Aldworth (died c. 1773–1775).
caption: Southern side
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