Ledger containing an alphabetically arranged listing of accounts with various suppliers mostly in Kilkenny. The volume includes accounts with Walter Lanigan, draper, J. White, organ tuner, the Hibernian Bank, the Gas Company, Coyle Brothers, stationers, the Sisters of Charity, and St. Joseph’s Schools. An index is given at the start of the volume. Manuscript title on front cover reads ‘House Ledger’.
This section contains leases and deeds relating to the acquisition by the Capuchin friars of premises on Father Mathew Quay. The Quay is situated on a reclaimed marsh which was located outside the old city walls. Historically, the area was known by several names, some of which are used in the deeds described below including Island Nagay, Red Abbey Island and Marsh, and Morrison’s Island after a family which was prominent in the civic affairs of Cork in the eighteenth century. From about 1800 it was commonly known as Charlotte Quay before being renamed Father Mathew Quay in honour of the Capuchin friar and ‘Apostle of Temperance’. After the reclamation of the marsh in the eighteenth century, the area became an important merchant, commercial and industrial centre. John Henry Gamble, a notable businessman engaged in the provisioning trade, held leasehold interests in several of the premises on Charlotte Quay which were subsequently acquired by the Capuchins (see CA HT/2/1/1/5, CA HT/2/1/1/7, and CA HT/2/1/1/9). J.H. Gamble & Company was later acquired by the famous food provisioning company, Crosse and Blackwell Limited. Another prominent trader engaged in business on the Quay was Robert Warner, a master cooper and vintner. In 1875 Warner leased a substantial plot of ground on Charlotte Quay to Fr. Cherubini Mazzini OSFC for 750 years. This ground was subsequently used as the site for the present-day Holy Trinity Friary (See CA HT/2/1/2/13). The section also includes many legal documents covering negotiations between the Capuchins and Alicia Louisa Seward, a granddaughter of Robert Warner, for the outright purchase of the freehold of the property. This purchase was realized in 1951. The section also includes the lease made to Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC in 1832 of a plot of ground on Morrison’s Island upon which Holy Trinity Church was subsequently built (see CA HT/2/1/2/10).
Lease from William Fuller, Cork, to Sober Kent, Burgess, Cork, of a dwelling house in which Kent currently resides along with a back yard and garden situated in Red Abbey Marsh otherwise known as Island Nagay or Morrison’s Island, Cork, for 700 years at the yearly rent of £30.
Articles of contract of Fr. Cherubini Mazzini OSFC, Queen Street, with Joseph O’Reilly, 4 Anglesea Street, Cork, sculptor, for the work on the High Altar to be erected in Holy Trinity Church, Charlotte Quay, Cork. The contract refers to certain stipulations and conditions including the superintendence of Fr. Caesar Pascal OSFC over the work. The specification for the work is annexed to the contract which is to be completed for the total cost of £169. The specification outlines the design, ornamentation and materials to be used in the construction of the new altar. It also includes two small line drawings of the finials, designed by P.J. Scannell, 14 Douglas Street, which will support some of the statutes surrounding the altar.
Confirmation from Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC, Provincial Minister, of the election of Fr. Bernard Jennings OSFC (1850-1904) as guardian of Holy Trinity Friary.
This series contains property documents including title deeds, legal correspondence, and memoranda relating to the acquisition of properties in Cork by the Capuchin Franciscan friars. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Cork experienced a dramatic physical growth. George’s Quay had been built during the second half of the century, making the River Lee navigable for shipping and in 1806 Parliament Bridge had replaced an earlier structure connecting both sides of the city for the flow of commercial traffic. A location below this bridge, near the mercantile and commercial centre of the city, was chosen by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC as the site for a new church. The foundation stone of what was to become Holy Trinity Church was laid on 10 October 1832. However, the building was not opened for public worship until 1850. The gothic portico and spire were not constructed until 1889-90. Prior to the opening of the new church, the Cork Capuchins had lived in a friary situated on Blackamoor Lane in the South Parish. Following the construction of Holy Trinity Church, the community obtained a lease of 8 George’s Quay in 1855. Later, they moved across the river to a house built by Fr. Cherubim Mazzini OSFC (1831-1906) situated at the corner of Queen Street and Charlotte Quay. Fr. Cherubim Mazzini OSFC, (sometimes referred to as Cherubini in contemporary newspapers and other documents) was a Capuchin friar from Bologna in Italy. The Cork Gas Company later took possession of this site on the quay. It is now occupied by Radió Teilifís Éireann. In the summer of 1884 the Capuchin community took up residence in the present-day friary. The building of this friary was started by a French Capuchin, Fr. Simeon Gaudillot OSFC (1836-1910), and completed by Fr. Seraphin Van Damme OSFC (1820-1887) who became the first Provincial Minister of the newly reconstituted Irish Capuchin Province in 1885.
Copy deed of release of Mary and Anne Jacob, New Ross, County Wexford, to James Beale, Cork, for £307 13s 10d in discharge of a sum of £500 arising out of portion (two-thirds) of charge/legacy on properties on Queen Street and elsewhere in Cork bequeathed to Mary and Anne Jacob in the will of their late mother, Hannah Jacob. Copy by Edell & Gordon, 4 King Street, Cheapside.
A postcard print of the exterior of Holy Trinity Church and adjoining Capuchin friary viewed from the opposite bank of the South Channel of the River Lee in Cork.
