County: Longford Site name: St Mel’s Cathedral Restoration Project, Longford
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LF013-026 Licence number: 11E0412
Author: Judith Carroll
Site type: Monitoring
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 213519m, N 275407m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.728296, -7.795905
St Mel’s Cathedral is situated on the south east of Longford town (LF013-026) at a juncture of roads, including the main Dublin road as it turns into Longford town. The cathedral, a protected structure (NIAH reg. no. 13003002), was built between 1840 and 1893 and is a large neoclassical structure with a nave reached through a portico accessed by steps. The cathedral was built on the grounds of an earlier catholic church of probable 18th-/early 19th-century date and occupies a space which was once the grounds of that church.
The cathedral was very badly damaged by fire on Christmas Day 2009 and extensive rebuilding of its interior is now being undertaken. This has - and will - include substantial groundworks. Monitoring was carried out in St Mel’s Cathedral from 2011. This year, ground reduction for refurbishment of the Bishop’s Place at the north end of the cathedral as well as drainage trenches in this area were monitored between March and October 2013.
Judith Carroll & Company Ltd, Consultant Archaeologists, 11 Anglesea Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
