The Thirteenth Century Sculptural Heads of Cashel Cathedral

Karen Ralph
Trinity College Dublin
Department of History of Art and Architecture
2008
BA

Subject: Sculpture
Country: Ireland
Period: 13th Century

10,000 words

A discussion of Gothic sculpture tends to revolve around those great French undertakings in Rheims or Chartres or English works visible in Wells and Salisbury; however such analysis leads to the unfair marginalisation of the craft of Irish masons during the Gothic era. Irish work may be observed in various sites around Ireland; early examples of which are found particularly in Munster in and around the Tipperary and Kilkenny area. While Irish work might be considered less sophisticated than its counterparts abroad, this does not justify the tendency of scholarship to largely ignore the topic. The aim of this thesis is therefore to begin to redress this injustice. This dissertation constitutes an analysis of the carved corbel heads in the thirteenth century choir of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the Rock of Cashel, Co. Tipperary.

Irish Georgian Society

Education Theses Register

The Thirteenth Century Sculptural Heads of Cashel Cathedral