This is the first
book-length study of the perception and treatment of Gothic architecture
in Ireland in the period between 1789 and 1915. It considers three main
areas: the perception of Gothic architecture; the development of a
tradition of scholarship on Irish Gothic; and the actual changes wrought
to the fabric of the buildings as well as the social and legal
framework for those changes. Shifting the focus from high-status
monument such as the medieval cathedrals of Dublin, this book considers
the treatment of smaller medieval buildings. These include the ruined
monastic buildings and cathedral buildings outside of Dublin, such as
the medieval ecclesiastical buildings at Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, but
also smaller parish churches that were being restored for reuse as
places of worship, such as those at Adare, Co. Limerick. It examines the
increasingly political interpretation of these monuments throughout the
19th century, and the role of these buildings as sites of memory within
devotional landscapes. The evolving professionalization of
architectural restoration in this period is also charted, and is
considered within the developing legal framework for the protection of
what was seen as ancient and national heritage.