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Pugin's Wexford
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Augustus Welby
Northmore Pugin was a Londoner, born on
1st March
1812 at 39 Keppel Street, Russell Square to
Augustus Charles Pugin,
a French émigré, and his English wife, Catherine Welby.
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His connection with Wexford came through
the patronage of John, 16th Earl
of Shrewsbury, Waterford and Wexford. Shrewsbury's wife was a native of
Blackwater, Co.
Wexford. Her uncle, John Hyacinth Talbot, was the first
Catholic MP for County Wexford after Catholic Emancipation in 1829.
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An only child, Pugin was a precocious genius who received most of
his education
in his father's school of architectural draftsmanship
and by the age of fifteen
had already designed Gothic furniture for
Windsor Castle. His father worked in
the office of John Nash, the
great Regency architect and published with the help
of his son, the
earliest popular design-books for the Gothic Revival. |
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The young Pugin was as important an influence on the
history of nineteenth century English architecture
as Frank Lloyd Wright was to
be on American architecture.
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Pugin became an enthusiastic convert to Roman Catholicism at the age of
twenty-three by which time
he had lost his first wife, Ann Garnet,
and both of his parents.
He published extensively on his ideas for church architecture and
gradually established himself
as the greatest of the Victorian 'new men'.
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He was an extraordinarily gifted artist and designed ceramics, stained
glass, wallpapers, textiles,
memorial brasses, church plate, etc. Probably the pinnacle of his design
work was when he drew all the
interior designs for the new Houses of Parliament.
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His connection with Wexford came through
the patronage of John, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury,
Waterford and Wexford. Shrewsbury's wife was a native of Blackwater, Co.
Wexford.
Her uncle, John Hyacinth Talbot, was the first Catholic MP for County Wexford after Catholic
Emancipation in 1829.
A rich man through his marriage
into the Redmond family, John Hyacinth Talbot introduced Pugin to
Wexford, where
through the patronage of the Talbot and Redmond family connections, he was to
gain
most of his Irish commissions.
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Pugin was to die through overwork at the age of forty
in 1852, but has left a unique diocesan heritage
to Ferns in his churches. His
son and son-in-law, E.W. Pugin and George Ashlin, were to continue the
building
of Gothic Revival churches and monuments in Ireland. |
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St. Aidan's Cathedral,
Enniscorthy.
St. Aidan's Cathedral,
Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford,
for which the foundation stone was laid in 1843,
was the largest church Pugin built in Ireland.
The
recent renovations of 1996 have restored to a great extent, the original
beautiful building as visualised by Pugin.
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The external stonework is superb work by the Irish stonemasons who were praised by Pugin.
The
restored stencilling of the interior gives some idea
of what Pugin wanted
for his churches. |
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St. Peter's
College, Wexford. |
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The
interior of the Chapel of St Peter's
College was
unchanged until 1950,
when the removal of the rood screen
changed Pugin's original design.
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What survives is the
fine triptych altar
design and the
magnificent Hardman
stained glass in
the rose window,
which contains the Talbot family coat
of arms.
It is
still an original and
beautiful interior where the first Mass |
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was
celebrated in 1840. The Collegiate nature of the original
church was in its day unique. |
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Church of the
Assumption, Bree, Co. Wexford.
The foundation stone of the Church of the Assumption, Bree was laid in
1837, which makes
it the first of Pugin's Irish churches. As an early
church it is a simple
building with a long nave and smaller chancel.
The main feature, which is
now covered, was a very early example of
open roof timbering. It has been
much changed in renovations, but it is
an interesting church in the light
of Pugin's other Irish churches within
the next few years. It also owes
its existence to the Redmond family |
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St. Mary's
Church, Tagoat, Co. Wexford.
St. Mary's church, Tagoat, was the parish church of John Hyacinth Talbot, MP. |
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He was a great benefactor of this church which is the most important of Pugin's Irish parish churches.
It contains more original
Pugin features than any of the other Irish churches, such as a memorial brass in memory of Fr. Walter Rowe, who built the church, Minton tiles, wooden screens to the side chapels and Hardman stained glass. Pugin presented a set of brass candlesticks of his own design to the church, which was
dedicated in 1846. |
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The
Church of St. Michael the Archangel, Gorey, Co. Wexford.
The church of St. Michael the Archangel, Gorey, is unique in the churches of Pugin in that it is built in
the Norman style. It was begun in 1839 and completed in 1842 and is one of
his earliest Irish
commissions. The patrons were the Esmonde family, who
donated the site and whose coat of arms are
shown above the front
entrance. The spire was never added, but Pugin shows it in his drawing of
his
churches. The interior was also decorated with highly coloured stencilling and again the timbering of the |
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trusses is interesting. |
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St. Alphonsus'
Church,
Barntown, Co. Wexford.
St. Alphonsus' church,
Barntown in the parish of Glynn, was planned by
Pugin as a complete
Catholic parish church. So it consists of nave and |
aisles with
belfry, south porch, wide alleys for
processions, a distinct and deep chancel, a
sacristy and Lady chapel, etc. Unfortunately,
the church has been much altered, but the
external stonework and solid nature of the
church is
striking.
The finest feature of the interior is the
surviving Hardman high window.
The church was built 1844-1848. |
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