Located within a triangle formed by Eccles Street, Berkeley Road and St.Joseph’s Church.
I have never managed to gain access to the park, known as the Mater Plot, where this Celtic Cross is located as it has been closed to the public every time I visit the area.
Four Masters Memorial (1876) By James Cahill (d.1890) Commissioned by Sir William Wilde (1815-1876)
This high cross on a large plinth commemorates the Franciscan friars of Donegal town, who between 1632 and 1636 compiled from early sources a history of the ancient kingdom of Ireland which became known as the Annals of the Four Masters.
The Annals are chronicles of the medieval history of Ireland. Sir William Wilde (father of Oscar Wilde) was the chief instigator of the memorial to the four writers who created the Annals. Wilde was an eye and ear surgeon and an antiquarian, who took an active role in sculptural commissions in Dublin. He was passionately interested in the history of Ireland and was a very active member of the Royal Irish Academy, hence the theme of this sculpture.
James Cahill was born in Delvin, Westmeath. On the death of his father, a builder, his mother moved to Dublin, and he became a pupil in the Royal Dublin Society School, where he won prizes in 1851 and 1852. He sent a sculptural group (part of a marble monument executed for the Presentation Convent in Wexford) to be exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1852, and then went to Rome where he remained for a few months.
On his return to Dublin in 1853 he entered Hogan’s studio, where he worked as a pupil and assistant until 1858. He executed a number of works for churches and also portrait busts and statues. His most important production was the statue of Daniel O’Connell, erected in Ennis in 1865. His works appeared in the Royal Hibernian Academy at intervals between 1856 and 1886. He died in Dublin on 28th October, 1890, aged about 60, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
Many years ago I rented an apartment near Merrion Square Park and I visited the park on a daily basis.
Merrion Square Park sits at the centre of one of Dublin city’s most beautiful Georgian squares. The park has been restored to its historical layout. It also has a playground and sculpture trail. The Houses of the Oireachtas (the Irish Government), the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Ireland sit along the west of the square.
THE ROYAL HOSPITAL KILMAINHAM – EXPLORING THE GROUNDS
Today I noticed a tent like structure when I visited the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and I had to ask what it was and I was directed to the following online description:
People’s Pavilion: As we adjust to living with Covid, the introduction of our attractively lit and heated People’s Pavilion is a new outdoor feature. Situated to the front of the historic 17th Century Royal Hospital Kilmainham building, this venue is ideal for any celebration. With a connection to a power source within the structure and resident caterers on standby, the blank canvas is perfectly adaptable for your customised occasion. To enquire about booking the People’s Pavilion for your celebration, workshop or event contact info@rhk.ie.
The Royal Hospital Kilmainham is a former 17th-century hospital at Kilmainham in Ireland. The structure now houses the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
A priory, founded in 1174 by Strongbow, existed on the site until the Crown closed it down in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. The hospital was built as a home for retired soldiers of the Irish Army by Sir William Robinson, Surveyor General for James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, between 1679 and 1687. Colonel John Jeffreys of Brecon, an old Welsh soldier who had served the Crown loyally during the English Civil War, was appointed the first Master, at a salary of £300 per annum. The hospital got off to a bad start financially: from a petition presented by Jeffreys to King James II in 1686, it seems that most of the original sources of funding had dried up. Architecturally, it was inspired by Les Invalides in Paris which also has a formal facade and a large courtyard. It served as the model for the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, begun the next year.[4]
The Richmond Tower at the end of the formal avenue leading to the Royal Hospital was designed by Francis Johnston, one of the leading architects of the day. This gateway originally stood beside the river Liffey at Bloody Bridge (now Rory O’More Bridge), but had to be moved after the arrival of the railway in 1844 increased traffic congestion. He had placed his personal coat of arms above the arch, concealed by a piece of wood painted to match the stone, his idea being that his arms would be revealed to future generations after the wood became rotten. However, his little trick was uncovered when the gateway was taken down for removal. The coat of arms at present on the gateway is that of the Royal Hospital.
The Royal Hospital Kilmainham graveyards, including Bully’s Acre, are 400 metres to the west. A cross-shaft in the former cemetery may be the remains of a boundary cross associated with a ninth-century monastery located at this site.
Following the creation of the Irish Free State the Royal Hospital was considered as a potential home for Oireachtas Éireann, the new Irish national parliament. Eventually it was decided to keep parliament in its temporary home in Leinster House. The Hospital remained the home of a dwindling number of soldiers until it closed in 1927. It was then variously used by the Garda Síochána and as a storage location for property belonging to the National Museum of Ireland. The large statue Queen Victoria which used to stand in the forecourt of Leinster House, before its removal in 1947, was stored in the main courtyard of the Hospital, as were various state carriages, including the famously spectacular State Coach of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The Royal Hospital in Kilmainham was finally restored by the Irish Government in 1984 and opened as the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).
Every year on the National Day of Commemoration – the Sunday nearest 11 July – the anniversary of the Truce that ended the Irish War of Independence – the President of Ireland, in the presence of members of the Government of Ireland, members of Dáil Éireann and of Seanad Éireann, the Council of State, the Defence Forces, the Judiciary and the Diplomatic Corps, lays a wreath in the courtyard in memory of all Irishmen and Irishwomen who have died in past wars and on service with the United Nations.
In recent years, Royal Kilmainham Hospital has become a popular location for concerts during the summer months. Acts such as Blur, Damien Rice, Tame Impala, Kodaline and Patti Smith have played there in the past.
Today [29 May 2021]I decided to leave the city centre as quickly as possible because it was packed with people so I decided that it might be a good idea to visit St. Anne’s Park but getting there was not as easy as I expected because the bus was delayed by traffic. Eventually the bus had to divert, via East Seafield Road, as buses could not pass along Mount Prospect Avenue because many cars were parked on both sides of the road.
The park has a number of features. It is crossed by the small Naniken River, and this, in turn, feeds the artificial Duck Pond. The Guinness family added a number of follies, a walled garden, and the grand avenue. Over the last fifty years, extensive walks, a famous Rose Garden and newer miniature rose garden, and Dublin’s city arboretum, the Millennium Arboretum, with 1,000 varied trees, have been added.
Within the last decade, Dublin City Council has been restoring parts of the Naniken River to its natural state, creating wildlife habitats and wildflower meadows, and improving the path system. They removed some 1970s interventions, including a secondary pond and some rockery walks, partly due to problems with maintenance and partly to open up a vista from the James Larkin Road. The park management also increased car parking to alleviate traffic congestion in the surrounding neighbourhoods of the popular park.
THE MATER PLOT OR THE FOUR MASTERS PARK BESIDE ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH [BERKELEY ROAD – ECCLES STREET]
The Four Masters’ Park is a small green park on Berkeley Road in the heart of the North inner-city; one of the very few. The space was given by the Sisters of Mercy for the benefit of the local community.
I originally assumed that this was a Public Park but as I been unable to gain access for at least five or six years I now believe that it must be private or access is limited. It is of interest because it features the Healing Hands Sculpture and a large “Four Masters” Celtic cross.
The current plan for the new MetroLink in Dublin is to consume this park for the new metro station. Less than 100 metres away from the park is a station already built under the Mater Hospital . This was a part of the old Metro North plan. €20 million was spent on installing a station box beneath the new adult hospital. The Metro North enabling works were completed in 2013 under the Mater Whitty Building by BAM Contractors Ltd on behalf of the Railway Procurement Agency. https://www.thejournal.ie/mater-metrolink-metro-north-nta-dublin-4585274-Apr2019/
The Healing Hands sculpture is by Tony O’Malley. Tony O’Malley (25 September 1913 – 20 January 2003) was an Irish artist. He was born in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. O’Malley was a self-taught artist, having drawn and painted for pleasure from childhood. He worked as a bank official until contracting tuberculosis in the 1940s. He began painting in earnest while convalescing and, though he did at first return to bank work, he continued to paint and in 1951 he began exhibiting his work.
The Healing Hands is a hollow bronze hand patterned sphere containing an eternal flame and supported on a squat tree-trunk style pedestal. It was erected in 2000 to celebrate the third millennium of the birth of Christ. This sculpture is intended to symbolise the healing ministry of Christ which continues through the care of the staff of the neighbouring Mater Hospital which was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1861.
Four Masters Memorial (1876) By James Cahill (d.1890) Commissioned by Sir William Wilde (1815-1876)
This high cross on a large plinth commemorates the Franciscan friars of Donegal town, who between 1632 and 1636 compiled from early sources a history of the ancient kingdom of Ireland which became known as the Annals of the Four Masters.
The Annals are chronicles of the medieval history of Ireland. Sir William Wilde (father of Oscar Wilde) was the chief instigator of the memorial to the four writers who created the Annals. Wilde was an eye and ear surgeon and an antiquarian, who took an active role in sculptural commissions in Dublin. He was passionately interested in the history of Ireland and was a very active member of the Royal Irish Academy, hence the theme of this sculpture.
James Cahill was born in Delvin, Westmeath. On the death of his father, a builder, his mother moved to Dublin, and he became a pupil in the Royal Dublin Society School, where he won prizes in 1851 and 1852. He sent a sculptural group (part of a marble monument executed for the Presentation Convent in Wexford) to be exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1852, and then went to Rome where he remained for a few months.
On his return to Dublin in 1853 he entered Hogan’s studio, where he worked as a pupil and assistant until 1858. He executed a number of works for churches and also portrait busts and statues. His most important production was the statue of Daniel O’Connell, erected in Ennis in 1865. His works appeared in the Royal Hibernian Academy at intervals between 1856 and 1886. He died in Dublin on 28th October, 1890, aged about 60, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
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