Architecture Some writers of architectural history have the knack of drawing the reader into the world that they describe and analyse. Others draw you into their scholarly world, giving you a ringside seat as they grapple with their material and opponents.
Tadhg O'Keeffe belongs to this latter group. He is an archaeologist who treats buildings as artefacts to be described and analysed as objectively as possible, and he is faced with buildings which have few written records and about which very little is definitely known.
It would be enjoyable to step into the 12th century with a purportedly knowledgeable guide, but it is far more stimulating to witness the rigour with which facts need to be established for this period, whilst also being shown how much interpretation still rests on speculation. Although there is a formidable amount of detail here (archivolt saw-tooth chevrons, etc) the book is not dry, nor is it aimed only at specialist scholars. It is the first extended account of Irish Romanesque for a generation and is in many ways a synthesis of recent scholarship, although O'Keeffe can be relied on to give fresh perspectives and provocative interpretations.
O'Keeffe starts with the premise that within Europe there is no one place where Romanesque architecture could be said to be definitive. Thus Irish Romanesque, often simpler and less classical in detail than elsewhere, should not be regarded as peripheral or inept.
This emphasis on context also informs his other main theoretical position, which is that style should not be treated as an independent entity which is born, grows and dies, and which can lead to an assessment of buildings according to specific formal characteristics. Instead, he has adopted a case-by-case approach, establishing dates using an amalgam of literary sources, comparisons and connections with other buildings, and informed speculation.
Out of this he has established a regionally based chronology, with Cormac's Chapel, traditionally treated as an anomaly, acknowledged as unique but skilfully assimilated into his narrative. He establishes the most important context for Romanesque buildings in Ireland as the reform of the church in the early 12th-century synods. However, he discusses pre-reform, 11th-century buildings which display some of the features of 12th-century buildings in some detail, giving them a historical significance that has previously eluded them. There is a chapter on Hiberno-Scandinavian and Cistercian architecture which is not very well integrated into the book. But with the chapters on Cormac's Chapel and the early Munster phase, from which the beautiful round-headed doorways of Roscrea, Kilmalkedar, Clonkeen and Dysert O'Dea, and the intriguing mural sculptures of Ardmore Cathedral still survive, he gets into his stride.
He then moves to the later buildings in Leinster and the Midlands, finishing with the stunningly ornate portal at Clonfert in Co Galway. O'Keeffe's rigorously rationalist approach to the architecture makes this book authoritative.
Unfortunately, it has precluded descriptions of the aesthetic effect of the buildings. Although this is a subjective response it can be used very effectively in the evaluation of architecture, and can bring the material alive. It also lacks discussion about the social and economic circumstances of the 12th century, but this is freely acknowledged and a further book is promised.
Judith Hill is a writer and an architect. She is the author of The Building of Limerick (1991) and Irish Public Sculpture (1998) and is completing a biography of Augusta Gregory
Romanesque Ireland: Architecture and Ideology in the Twelfth Century By Tadhg O'Keeffe Four Courts Press, 336pp. €45