The Church of The Immaculate Conception was begun in March 1893 and sanctified on the 21st of October 1894. The following day the Cork Examiner gave a report of the opening ceremony of dedication. This detailed the design of the building, the benefactors who had funded its construction, the people involved in the design and construction, the cognoscenti present and a most lengthy opening sermon given by Bishop Brown. The funding for the church came primarily from the Mahony family the major employer for Blarney and indeed the surrounding countryside. Martin Mahony had arrived in Blarney in 1822 to convert the former cotton mill to a worsted wool manufacturing plant. His grandsons Nicholas and Timothy Mahony between them made bequests of £3,000 (equivalent to roughly £3,000,000 today). The Cork Examiner’s report notes,
“That Blarney village is now beautified at its north eastern corner by a magnificent and spacious church is a fact which is attributed to the munificence of late Mr. Nicholas Mahony and the late Mr. Timothy Mahony, for by the former highly respected and much lamented gentleman a bequest of £2,000 was made for its erection, while the latter, held dear and much esteemed by all bequeathed the substantial sum of £1,000.”
Nicholas Mahony and his wife Ellen were also founders of the local convent which housed the Sisters of Charity. Two plaques in the church record this and the funding and dedication of the high altar to St. Nicholas of Myra by Mary Esther Breen, adopted daughter of Nicholas and Ellen Mahony. A further plaque notes that the side altar was built by donations from the Smith family. The architect for the church was Samuel Francis Hynes of South Mall Cork. The builder was John Murphy of John’s Street Cork who was ably assisted by his clerk of works John Owens. John Francis Davis designed and executed the high and side altars for the church. The lamps were made by Messrs. William Egan and Sons of Patrick’s Street Cork (who later supplied silverware for the Honan Chapel). Interestingly despite being listed in the Cork Examiner as one of the invited guests Richard Barter had not been involved in the sculpture of the altars.
The Church itself is a rubble stone construction with coursed random old red sandstone external cladding typical of 19th century Cork building. This stone was quarried locally but the exact location of the quarry is not recorded. There are quite a number of small abandoned quarries in the Blarney area. As is the Christian tradition the church is aligned east –west with the main entrance to the west and the sanctuary to the east end.
The original main entrance had a Gothic arched doorway with a rose window above. There are four lancet windows to the east; the larger two light the sanctuary while the smaller two are blind. There are two more lancet windows over the south side altar and two more to the side of this altar. Over the left side (north) altar which originally was the nun’s choir there are two blind windows as the sacristy is behind this wall. A side door led from the nun’s choir to a pathway to the convent which was 50 metres to the north east. The windows to the sacristy match those in the south side altar. There were six gothic arched windows to the north and south elevations representing the twelve apostles. There were also four bull’s eye arched windows on the north and south elevations on the projections for the confessionals. Unhappily these have been removed on the south elevation and replaced with plate glass windows and an extra door. There are also three triangular dormer windows with a trefoil pattern under a limestone detail with red brick cladding on the north and south elevation.
There are red brick quoin details on the corners and on the buttresses with matching brick bands on the East West and South elevations at sill level and to mark the beginning of the arches in the windows. There are buttresses at the east and west elevations which are adorned with small pinnacles referencing the soaring pinnacles of High Gothic. Additional brick bands were included on the East and West Elevations. There are yellow brick reveals around the windows and doorways. These comprise a single brick arch with a narrower shaped brick with a bull nosed edge inside on the side windows and a double arch of yellow brick on the arched section of the side doors with the same shaped brick detail. The window sills are cut limestone with chamfered edges. These are more elaborate on the east elevation and extend from under all the windows uninterrupted. There are hood moulds in cut limestone over the two tallest lancet stained glass windows. A blind ovoid gothic arched window decorates the higher section of the east gable with a cast iron crucifix on a limestone gabelet topping it out. This detail was also repeated over the main door to the west but unhappily this door was removed in the 1970s during the reordering of the church after Vatican II. The rose window has a semi-circular hood mould in cut limestone as well as a double rounded brick detail. It has limestone tracery in a quatre- foil arrangement with stained glass windows. A bell gabelet with limestone capping tops the west gable.
A single storey mortuary with similar detailing was added to the north- west corner of the church in 1919 at a cost of £642-13-00. The entrance has a trefoil or cusped arch and the windows are pointed elliptical. The roof is slated with the hips finished using hidden soakers. The builder was E. Barrett. A special account was set up to help finance this addition. Apart from the original sacristy which protrudes from the north east corner and the mortuary which was a later addition to the northwest corner, the building is essentially rectangular in plan 15.5 metres wide by 34.5 metres long from front door to sanctuary wall. A further sacristy was added during the 1970s.
Immediately inside the main door is a stairs leading to the organ gallery. The Cork Examiner report of 22nd October 1894 describes ‘a neat organ gallery, with handsome pitch pine under the gallery, the upper panels prettily glazed.’ Neither the panelling nor the pretty glazing survived the reordering. The nave is flanked on each side by six octagonal pillars, with plain rectangular plinths with chamfered tops, representing the twelve Apostles ‘holding up the church’. The pillars are separated by moulded gothic arches. There are side aisles to the north and south of the nave. The floor of the nave and side aisles is covered with a geometric patterned unglazed mosaic tile. The sanctuary floor has a more elaborate mosaic design with a high percentage of patterned encaustic tiles. The sanctuary steps are edged with bull nosed marble edging. The floor under the pews and the nun’s choir is of suspended pine.
The above excerpt was taken from a much larger article titled ‘Construction of the Church of The Immaculate Conception Blarney’ by Jacqueline Manley, Chartered Engineer, and published in Issue No 11 ‘Old Blarney’ Journal. A limited number of ‘Old Blarney’ back issues are still available by contacting 087 2153216, or www.blarneyhistory.ie
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