1997:App1 - THE CLONFERT RESEARCH PROJECT SURVEY, Clonfert, Galway

The project aims to safeguard the priceless 12th-century Romanesque doorway at St Brendan’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Clonfert, County Galway. It commenced in summer 1997 under the auspices of the Clonfert Community Development Group and with the enthusiastic support of the Cathedral’s congregation and their Rector, Wayne Carney. The present project is just one of a series of several phases of study and work on the natural history, archaeology and history which are being undertaken with advice from both the National Monuments and Historic Buildings Service and the Heritage Council, which is also part-funding the project.

The focus of attention in 1997 was the Romanesque door. This is the largest and most ornate of the doorways in any Irish Romanesque building and is carved from easily worked sandstone. Unfortunately the condition of the doorway is now a matter of grave concern because of the weakness of its stone and the rate at which it is eroding and crumbling. In hopes of stopping the decay it was decided to initiate a feasibility study on how the stonework could be saved from further deterioration. Stone conservationist John Kelly, of Lithan Ltd, was consulted to report on its condition, its geology, and what can be done to conserve it. His report is as follows:

‘There is nothing inherent in the elements of the stonework examined in detail which would render it unduly susceptible to other than natural weathering agencies, and indeed the photographic record would indicate that the stonework has weathered well until relatively recently. The source of the contaminant salts which are now the active risk to the continued survival of the doorway must be derived from atmospheric pollution as direct deposition and interaction with the calcareous components of the mortars of all ages. The effects of these processes are partially due to, and are being exacerbated by, the loss of structural cohesion through the reduction and loss of the bedding and jointing mortars in the doorway and surrounding walling and by the inappropriate and inadequate intervention procedures carried out to date. While these latter are considered to be evident on the exterior, it is further considered, but not proven, that the internal renders are a factor in the decay of the outer stonework. These renders, of apparently recent origin, are in a dense cement mortar which will inhibit any movement of liquid or gaseous water to the interior and tend to force it to the exterior face as the primary evaporation surface and through the doorway stone work. Given the condition of the outer walling pointing generally and also the render remnants, water penetration into the core is inevitable. It may be seen that some mobilisation of the components of this render is now occurring and that this leachate will be a source of contaminant salts.

While the current salt loading may represent past pollution episodes, possible current sources cannot be excluded. The effects resulting from pollutant deposition are evident in the condition of stonework of the doorway which is obviously under severe and active decay due to pollutant depositions, previous intervention procedures and materials and the now general loss of cohesion between the elements and those of the surrounding walling. The resulting condition of the stonework is considered to have reached a critical stage and appropriate intervention is required if the remaining stonework is to be retained.’

Every stone has been drawn in detail and to scale. A full photographic survey of its entire fabric has been carried out. This detailed architectural and photographic survey will not only form a valuable archive but will be an invaluable record of the condition, dimensions, features and decoration of the door, along with a detailed appraisal of its condition. A detailed description, recording it feature by feature and by reference to a set of large- and small-scale plans, sections and elevations, has also been written. An artist has been employed to draw the doorway and we, the archaeologists, intend to survey it in detail.

As part of the work, a bibliography of the published and unpublished sources relating to the doorway and a list of illustrations and photographs of it have been compiled. The earliest photograph seems to be one at Birr Castle dating from the 1870s.

We have traced material of relevance to the Cathedral and its doorway in the National Museum, National Library, Irish Architectural Archive, UCG Library, the Galway County Library, and the libraries of Trinity College, UCD, UCC, and many other places. A considerable number of engravings, drawings and paintings of it exist, and among those who have based a whole series of artwork around Clonfert, its doorway and St Brendan is the world-renowned artist Louis le Brocquy.

We are appealing for help in tracing pre-1970s photographs of the doorway for two reasons: firstly because we wish to have as complete an archive as possible of material relating to the doorway and Clonfert generally, and secondly because the deteriorating condition of the doorway, which we hope can be arrested soon, makes it necessary for us to trace this process of decay, record it, and see what missing details, not now visible, can be gleaned from old photographs. We should, we hope, be able to provide reconstruction drawings of what the doorway may once have looked like, and to place these alongside our drawings of the door in its present condition for comparison and contrast. Already, Dr Roger Stalley has put his invaluable personal collection of photographs of the doorway at our disposal, and Mr Tony Roche of the photographic department of the National Monuments and Historic Properties Service has been most helpful in selecting photographs of Clonfert from their archives.

During the course of the Ordnance Survey of the late 1830s and early 1840s the doorway was sketched, and it has been photographed from at least the 1870s onwards. Archaeologists like R.A.S. Macalister photographed it in the early part of the century and architectural historians like H.G. Leask drew parts of it and photographed it for the Office of Public Works, and illustrated it in some of his books. OPW staff took a small series of photographs in the 1950s and there have been further campaigns of photography in the 1970s and 1980s.

In more recent years the doorway has been the subject of much intense study and debate in academic circles. Art historians and archaeologists, including Dr Liam de Paor, Dr Peter Harbison, Ms Linda Hamilton and Dr Tadhg O'Keeffe, have all written extensively on the Irish Romanesque as well as on the Clonfert doorway and on the origins and significance of Irish Romanesque architecture generally.

We hope shortly to bring together a publication about Clonfert and its Romanesque heritage in which many of the above-mentioned experts will elucidate the archaeology, art history and natural history of this important site.

Our work, we feel sure, will complement the research already carried out on Clonfert and will give impetus to further new work. Recently, the doorway was the subject of a catalogue entry by Rachel Mosse of the Art History Department of Trinity College, Dublin, who is working on the west of Ireland Romanesque sculpture as part of a corpus of British and Irish Romanesque sculpture which is being funded by the British Academy.

We are grateful to the staffs of the NMHPS, the National Museum, and the libraries and universities mentioned above for their help and support, and to the Heritage Council for their Heritage Award and ongoing support.

‘St Gerards’, 18 College Road, Galway