Cork In 50 Artworks, No 15: The Golden Angel on St Fin Barre’s Cathedral
St Fin Barre’s Cathedral and its famous golden angel.
The Church of Ireland Cathedral of St Fin Barre’s, with its three soaring spires, is one of the most iconic buildings in Cork. Designed by the English architect William Burges, its foundation stone was laid in 1865, and it was consecrated just five years later, in 1870.
Burges had a history of winning commissions for projects that were never realised, and was so delighted that his proposal for St Fin Barre’s actually went ahead that he gifted one of its most prominent features, the Golden Resurrection Angel on the choir roof, to the people of Cork.
The life-sized angel is copper-gilded, and its wings are pierced so the winds can blow through them. Most famously, it holds two four-foot long trumpets aloft.
“The angel is one of the most iconic and best-loved pieces of statuary in the city,” says the Dean of St Fin Barre’s, Nigel Dunne. “It’s one of more than 1,500 artworks associated with the cathedral. I’ve been here since 2007, and I still haven’t found them all.”
A popular legend has it that, when Judgment Day is at hand, the Golden Angel will blow her trumpets to alert the people of Cork. Burges, a noted opium smoker, may well have started this rumour himself.
“He was eccentric, but a fascinating character,” says Stewart Dorney, a senior guide at St Fin Barre’s. “He designed every last detail of the cathedral, and ensured that the Golden Angel is looking out towards the east, towards the spot where St Fin Barre is said to be buried. But it’s also in line with the labyrinth on the cathedral grounds, which he originally designed for Lilles Cathedral in France.
"The idea is that you could be walking through the labyrinth, caught up in your worries, but when you look up, you’ll realise there’s a higher dimension, represented by the Golden Angel overlooking the city.”
The choir roof on which the statue is perched was itself inspired by Saintes Cathedral, again in France. “The difference between St Fin Barre’s and Saintes Cathedral is that we don’t have flying buttresses,” says Dorney. “But the choir area here was all inspired by Saintes. Burges felt that the only true architecture was the Gothic architecture of the 13th century, particularly the early French Gothic, and a lot of his work harks back to that.”
Six of the cathedral’s 32 gargoyles protrude from the choir roof. “They’re these mythical beasts that signify temptation coming into people’s lives,” says Dorney. “But they have also the functional value of directing rain water away from the eaves.”
Burges worked with the English sculptor Thomas Nicholls to model each of the gargoyles in plaster. They were then carved in limestone by a team of local stonemasons, led by Robert McLeod. The same team produced the elaborate stone carvings on the western façade, which include representations of the Twelve Apostles, the Wise and Foolish Virgins, and the Resurrection of the Dead.
As work progressed on the cathedral, the budget ballooned. Burges’ initial estimate of £30,000 was dwarfed by the final cost of at least £100,000 by the time the spires were topped off in 1879. Fortunately, the Bishop of Cork, John Gregg, was supportive of Burges’ extravagances. Local legend has it he played the brewer William Crawford off against distiller Francis Wise to ensure that each would pay for the construction of one of the two western spires.
A major refurbishment of St Fin Barre’s was undertaken in the late 1990s, at a cost of €5 million. In December 1998, there was consternation when the Golden Angel’s trumpets were stolen. “There was scaffolding up against the gable,” says Dorney, “and the rumour is that a couple of UCC students scaled it and made off with them.”
A public appeal was made for the trumpets’ return, and two days later, an anonymous caller to local radio station 96FM alerted the authorities to where they’d been dumped, in the grounds of a church at Glanmire. The trumpets had been damaged, but were soon repaired, and the Golden Angel was restored to glory.
Burges completed other commissions during his stay in Cork, including the Church of the Holy Trinity in Crosshaven, but there is no doubt but that St Fin Barre’s was his pride and joy. Before his death in 1881, aged 53, he asked that his remains be interred in the cathedral, but legal complications prevented his wishes from being carried out, and he was buried instead with his mother at West Norwood, London.
He is commemorated at St Fin Barre’s with a plaque that bears his name, under the legend, “Architect of this cathedral.”
Just as the Golden Angel continues to watch over the city, so too do Corkonians keep a wary eye on her wellbeing. There are several versions of the legend. The most popular refers to her blowing her trumpets, but others warn that if she ever comes off her perch, or her golden glow turns green, these too are signs the end is nigh.
For now, thankfully, St Fin Barre’s is welcoming visitors, and its busy schedule of masses and organ recitals suggests that Judgement Day is nowhere near imminent.
- Further information: corkcathedral.webs.com
