Skibbereen Mercy convent a ‘loss’ to community as Gardaí investigate blaze

The former Sisters of Mercy convent in Skibbereen which was gutted by a recent fire has been felt as “quite a loss by locals”, according to a respected architectural historian.

On Tuesday, September 29, a fire burned through the interior of the convent buildings and chapel, leaving only the stone walls standing. Cork-based architectural historian and consultant Jessie Castle said that the burning of the convent was a great loss, for the community and for its architectural significance.

Association

“There seems to be quite a positive association in the town with the schools and the whole history of the convent,” Ms Castle said. “A lot of people would have been involved with the schools and convent one way or another, it seems to be felt as quite a
loss by people who live in the town there. For me, the loss of that sort of architecture is very sad, I do feel those types of buildings are worthy of protection.”

Ms Castle, who is conducting research into the social and architectural history of convents in Ireland, said this should serve as a reminder of their importance.

Loss

“As we lose each one of these, it’s getting more important that we make the effort to preserve them because you know, it’s easy to say there all over the place, there’s nothing unique about them and then suddenly there are very few of them left.“

Meanwhile, Gardaí have confirmed that there was human involvement in starting the fire, and their technical unit are currently investigating to ascertain if it was intentional or accidental.

The blaze occurred the week after planning permission had been granted to Remcoll Capital, who were planning a €10m re-development of the convent.

The company are currently examining the buildings to see what can be saved andintend on continuing with the re-development project.