Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Selected: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)

Name: KEANE, JOHN BENJAMIN
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1840-1863
Nature: Design exh. RHA 1840, 'quite out of all drawing and perspective' (Art Union). FS laid 22 (or 19?) May 1840. Finished and steeple added by John Bourke after JBK's death. (Cathedral burnt down, Christmas Day 2009.)
Refs: RHA 1840, no. 329; Freeman's Journal, 30 May 1840;  Art Union, 2 Jul 1840, 112; DB 2, 1 Aug 1860, 313; 3, 1 Jun 1861, 531; 5, 1 Feb 1863, 20; Catholic Directory (1841), 380; Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 377-379, Pl.117.

Name: BELL, JAMES [1]
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1843ca
Nature: Letter from 'Old-Fashioned Architect' to IB, 1 May 1893, states that building was 'designed by Mr James Bell, senior, an Englishman, County Surveyor of Longford, about fifty years ago' whose design 'included and dictated the portico that was to follow some day'. Statement that Bell was original architect repeated in issue of 1 Jun.
Refs: IB 35, 1 May,1 Jun 1893, 99,123

Name: BOURKE, JOHN [2]
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1854-1863
Nature: Completion of Keane's design with campanile to his own design (rather than Keane's original design). Contractor: John Mullins.
Refs: B 12, 15 Apr 1854, 196-7; 18, 11 Aug 1860, 512; 20, 7 Jun 1862, 412; DB 2, 1 Apr,1 Aug 1860, 240,313; 3, 15 Jan,1 Jun,15 Dec 1861, 409,531,712; 5, 1 Feb 1863, 20

Name: HAGUE, WILLIAM [2]
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1872;1873
Nature: WH advertises for tenders for heating cathedral and college, Sep 1872.  Advertises for tenders for executing 'extensive works', Jun 1873.
Refs: Irish Times, 16,19,21 Sep 187, 13,14 Jun 1873..

Name: ASHLIN, GEORGE COPPINGER
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1889-93
Nature: Ionic portico, interior furnishings. Builder of portico: Meade. Estimated cost: £5,680.
Refs: Drawings for interior furnishings, dated 1890-92, in IAA, Ashlin & Coleman drawings collection, Acc. 76/1.118/1-9; IAA, PKS 0654, A07, p.111 (Mar 1889); Architect 41, 15 Feb 1889, suppl. p.2; IB 35, 15 Apr, 1 May, 1 Jun 1893, 95 (illus.), 99,123; Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 377-9

Name: ASHLIN, GEORGE COPPINGER
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1890-92
Nature: Various interior works (add. to Sacred Heart Altar, stalls, screen, throne, communion gates &c.).
Refs: Drawings, dated 1890-1892, in IAA, Ashlin & Coleman drawings collection, Acc. 76/1.118

Name: SMYTH, GEORGE [2] *
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1890ca
Nature: Pedimental sculpture in portico designed by Ashlin.
Refs: IB 35, 15 Apr 1893, 95; Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 378

Name: OPPENHEIMER, LUDWIG, LTD *#
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1893a
Nature: Mosaic work.
Refs: IB 35, 15 Apr 1893, 95.

Name: HAGUE & MCNAMARA
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1902
Nature: Tenders invited for pointing and cleaning down of tower and spire, Feb 1902.
Refs: Irish Times, 19 Feb 1902.

Name: BYRNE, RALPH HENRY
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1935-36
Nature: Mortuary chapel fittings.
Refs: Designs, dated 1935-6, in IAA, W.H. Byrne & Son drawings collection, Acc.2006/142

Name: EARLEY & CO. *
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: 1937
Nature: Proposed pulpit.
Refs: Undated design, formerly in office archives of W.H. Byrne & Son

Name: MCGLOUGHLIN, JOHN *
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: ?
Nature: Brass communion gates and gas fittings.
Refs: IB 35, 15 Apr 1893, 95; James MacNamee, History of the Diocese of Ardagh (1954), ?

Name: SHARP, EDMUND *
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: ?
Nature: Communion rail.
Refs: IB 35, 15 Apr 1893, 95; James MacNamee, History of the Diocese of Ardagh (1954), ?

Name: FARRELL & SONS *
Building: CO. LONGFORD, LONGFORD, ST MEL'S ROAD, CATHEDRAL OF ST MEL (RC)
Date: ?
Nature: Carving of angels in spandrels attributed to Terence Farrell (but Casey and Rowan say that they are plaster).
Refs: St Mel's Restoration Booklet (Longford Tourism: 2014), 10 , see www.longfordtourism.ie/wp-content/uploads/ST-MELS-restoration-booklet.pdf (last visited, Apr 2016).