Cork parish receives €15,000 boost for historic gates

Gurranabraher parish, Co. Cork, received the funds from the Heritage Council of Ireland, having discovered that the Church gates were created in 1905 by a renowned local craftsman.

Fr Tom Walsh PP at the Church of Ascension Parish said they were surprised to discover the “treasure in their midst”, when a parishioner told them the origin of the gates outside the church.

The gates are the work of master craftsman, John Perry and originally adorned the Carnegie Library, in Anglesea Street, that opened to the public in 1905, and which was destroyed in the burning of the city of Cork in 1920.

“The parishioners were as surprised as myself, not just at the historical importance – they were involved in the burning of Cork – but that they were done by a master craftsman of time, John Perry,” Fr Walsh told The Irish Catholic.

“They’ve been vandalised a bit, and [parishioner] Joe Murphy kept on pushing us to apply for a grant. We’re delighted really, it’s just fantastic,” Fr Walsh said.

The Heritage Council of Ireland, in its recent deliberations, awarded a grant of €15,000 for the complete refurbishment of the front gates at Ascension Parish Church, recognising their “very significant artistic and historical value”.