St Augustine’s Church
On 19 October 1818 Bishop
Robert Walsh granted permission to the Augustinians to build a new chapel in
what was then known as Clubbert’s Lane. Work commenced in 1823 when Father John
Wall was Prior. The building was completed in 1824. It was not as tall as the
present building and had a thatched roof and no bell tower. There is a
sandstone water font by the entrance dated 1820 and this is probably from their
previous temporary church which was sited behind Merry’s Pub in Lower Main Street.
Over the font is a piece of limestone window tracery which is probably from the
old Augustinian priory in Abbeyside. The church did not open for worship until
1829 due to a dispute with the bishop.
On 5 August 1859 the Cork
Examiner published the following report:
‘Rev Patrick Toomey gratefully acknowledges the
generous aid afforded him by Lord Stuart de Decies, in granting leave to raise
stones on his property, on the Slieve Grine Mountains, for the erection of the
‘Angelus Tower’ now being completed in
front of his church’.
The tower is a prominent feature of the church with
its battlemented parapet and attractive warm sandstone colour. The builder of
the tower, Father Toomey, is commemorated on a white marble slab in a ground
floor archway. The pillars of the entrance gate are of the same stone with
limestone caps. There is a second sandstone font to the right of the tower of a
simple design. To the left of the tower on the wall of an extension to the
church is a limestone plaque erected in 1947 recording the restoration of the
building and the new Boy’s Chapel. This catered for the students from the
nearby Augustinian College.
