If the Protestants, as is often said, have all the best hymns, they also have many of the finest churches in Ireland. Proof (if such is necessary) can be found in this attractive, illustrated record of 299 of the 1100 Church of Ireland cathedrals and churches still open for worship in Ireland.
That some of these were originally Catholic is a by-product of our unhappy history - the most notable from the pre-Reformation period are mentioned: St Cronan's, Tuamgraney, Co Clare (which has been in continuous use longer than any other church in Ireland and which was where Brian Boru worshipped); St Kieran's Parish Church, Clonmacnoise; St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick; Clonfert in south Galway; St Flannan's Cathedral, Killaloe; St Laserian's Cathedral in Co Carlow; St Canice's in Kilkenny and the Collegiate Church of St Nicholas in Galway (where Columbus is said to have worshipped in 1477).
There are many others, of course, which have been rebuilt, much to the credit of the Church of Ireland - the two cathedrals in Dublin, St Patrick's in Armagh and the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Downpatrick. The author lists the subsequent periods of church-building from the Reformation through the 19th-century Gothic and Celtic revivals to the new churches built between 1922 and 2000. All of these structures carry fascinating stories and are all part of our heritage. The book is beautifully illustrated with many colour photographs and there is a useful glossary of architectural terms. In all, a work of scholarship, dedication and value.
Sean Spellissy, author of Widow of Aran - a fresh look at the Aran Islands - has long been regarded as the premier historian of the west and his books on Clare, Ennis, Limerick and Galway have proved exceptionally popular. This most recent work covers in detail many aspects of the built, natural and cultural heritage of the islands.
Sean Spellissy draws on hundreds of sources, both written and oral, and adds to the picture with his own specialised and authoritative knowledge of his subject. As well as descriptions of the geophysical features of the three islands, the author includes notes on island life, a list of the surnames of Aran and another of the plants of the islands and their medicinal values. If this reviewer is not mistaken there are many hitherto unpublished photographs among the illustrations and there is an extensive bibliography. This is a handy and readable guide to the Aran Islands written by a man who obviously loves the place.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's dictum that "there is properly no history; only biography" seems to have inspired the John Flynn and Jerry Kelleher, authors of this new series - biographical directories of people with connections (ranging from close to tenuous) to various Irish counties "who made a splash in the United States". As history, there is little new in Cork Journeys in America and Dublin Journeys in America, yet as dedicated directories of noted people associated with Cork and Dublin, who achieved fame in some way in America, these paperbacks are innovative and useful.
The brief biographies are grouped under section headings such as 'Pioneers' (William Penn in Cork; John William Mackay in Dublin, for example), 'Rebels' (Thomas Addis Emmet of Cork; Tom Clarke, Dublin), 'Military' (Stephen Moylan, Cork; Lydia Darragh of Dublin), 'Politics'(William R. Grace of Cork; Mathew Carey, Dublin) and others, famous or otherwise, under Industry, Sport, Arts, Music, Literature and Hollywood. Most of the names will be familiar but there are some with lesser-known claims to fame who are recorded here. Each volume includes an introductory chapter on the history and geography of the county or city and there are several pages of monochrome photographs. We are promised Mayo, Kerry, Waterford, Clare and Galway Journeys to America soon. They will be awaited with interest, primarily in the counties mentioned.
Beithe, Anglised as Beagh, is a small parish south of Gort, Co Galway - small but rich in folklore. In the 1930s, a local man, John Flanagan, collected over 3,000 pages of lore in his native parish. The manuscripts, mostly in Irish, were kept by the Irish Folklore Commission and later at the Department of Irish Folklore at UCD and have now been translated for the first time by Caoilte Breatnach, who lives in Kinvara, south Galway. Memories in Time: Folklore of Beithe 1800-2000 is an extraordinary collection which closely adheres to a rule laid down by the famed Seán Ó Súilleabháin, archivist with the Folklore Commission, when advising collectors: "The more local the better". Flanagan's work has here been faithfully translated and illustrated, with evocative photographs that capture the rural atmosphere of Beithe over two centuries. The collection is augmented by 22 more recent interviews with Beithe people during 1995-1996, thus perpetuating strong rural traditions of reminiscence and storytelling.
Towers, Spires and Pinnacles: A History of the Cathedrals and
Churches of the Church of Ireland, By Sam Hutchison
Wordwell. €25
Window on Aran, By Sean Spellissy
The Book Gallery, Ennis. €35 hbk/€15 pbk
Cork Journeys in America and Dublin Journeys in America, By John Flynn and Jerry Kelleher
High Table Publishing. €14.95 each
Memories in Time: Folklore of Beithe 1800-2000 , By Caoilte Breathnach
Beagh Integrated Rural Devoplment Association, Tubber, Co Galway