Sir, - Recent letters have cast doubts on the appropriateness of the current repair and conservation work to the west doorway and other doorways at St Canice's Cathedral. I wish to assure your readers that this work was undertaken after careful consideration and consultation with appropriate advisers. Our firm has been involved in various restoration projects to safeguard this historic cathedral during the past 20 years; the work to the doorways forms a small part of this overall programme.
The primary objective is to arrest the erosion and deterioration of the stonework, in order that it may continue to be used for worship and not merely as a decaying monument. The work undertaken to the west doorway and north transept doorway was the minimum necessary to safeguard these.
The work, briefly, consists of building up the outer hood mouldings to protect the inner mouldings and decorative stonework from weathering and erosion; minimal replacement of badly damaged and badly repaired stone; and cleaning and consolidation of stonework. These methods conform with established conservation procedures.
The restoration mortar used is an established method of conservation and has been used in many historic buildings in Europe, including some of the mouldings on the chapel at Trinity College. Its use on stonework allows for the retention of the maximum amount of original stone. It is a significantly less evasive method of restoration than removing sections of stone and replacing them with new stone.
The doorways will naturally look somewhat unsightly in the short term, as the cleaning work exposes the different colours of limestone and sandstone. When weathering has taken place to the small amount of new work, these doorways will retain their full character and beauty without any detrimental effect.
St Can ice's Cathedral is a very historic building which is maintained and owned by the Church of Ireland. The work undertaken to the roof valleys and doorways is being funded approximately 80 per cent by the Church authorities and 20 per cent by grant aid from EC funds. The doorways represent a small portion of the overall project. - Yours, etc.,
Dip Arch, MRIAI, for
Hamilton, Young, Lawlor,
Ellison,
12 Terenure Road East,
Rathgar, Dublin 6.