Following The Lady Gregory Trail

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St Bridget's Cross (detail)

Damian O'Toole

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Glass painting inspired by windows in Loughrea Cathedral

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Glass painting (detail)

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Glass painting session at Options

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Making a St Bridget's cross in our centre

Wondering on a Wet Day

We set off from Galway on a wet morning in June 2012 to our intended destination that day, which was, St Brendan’s Cathedral, Loughrea. None of our group had visited this historic building before so we were unsure what to expect.

What we did know from our research was that the building contained stained glass windows by Irish artists and it was these that we had come to see. The group arrived just before midday and we made ourselves known by ringing the bell of the Presbytery door. Our audio tour then began and the buildings many treasures slowly revealed themselves as the recording played over the Cathedral speakers.

Celtic revival

The rich detail contained within ranged from distinctive floor tiles, individual and differing carved oak designs on the ends of each pew, the head of the young St Patrick carved in stone looking down from a vantage point above the central aisle. All supplied we were told by the budding Irish Arts & Crafts Movement of the time.

St Bridget’s Cross

The stain glass window detail shown on this page is situated in the porch of the cathedral and differed from all the others we had seen because of it simplicity. We were told that it was made and installed in the 1950’s. When we returned to the centre we decided to attempt to make our own crosses using rushes collected from a low lying field. The process is tricky to begin with but as the weaver builds a rhythm it becomes easier.

Artistic Inspiration

We now intend to make our own art work based on what we have seen here within the interior of St Brendan’s. The experience of all those treasures have given our group the urge to get creative and we hope to post up our individual and collective efforts as we go.