John Farris: Cash’s Stores, Presbyterians, Social Class, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Unitarian church
Title
John Farris: Cash’s Stores, Presbyterians, Social Class, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Unitarian church
Subject
Cork's Built Heritage
Description
Minister Farris talks about the history of the Trinity Presbyterian Church, York Street.
He talks about the present church building, which was established in 1861. He comments on its crooked steeple and the stories associated with it. The site of the church may once have been a drovers’ field for animals brought into the city. Some of the congregation continued to worship at an earlier church in Queen Street (Father Mathew Street), a decision informed by distinctions of social class.
The church got an organ in 1904, supplied by the Cork firm of Magahy. The church had been built in a Gothic style by English architect John Tarring.
Minister Farris talks about members of the congregation who died in the First World War.
Note: this interview was conducted for the DVD If the Walls Could Talk.
He talks about the present church building, which was established in 1861. He comments on its crooked steeple and the stories associated with it. The site of the church may once have been a drovers’ field for animals brought into the city. Some of the congregation continued to worship at an earlier church in Queen Street (Father Mathew Street), a decision informed by distinctions of social class.
The church got an organ in 1904, supplied by the Cork firm of Magahy. The church had been built in a Gothic style by English architect John Tarring.
Minister Farris talks about members of the congregation who died in the First World War.
Note: this interview was conducted for the DVD If the Walls Could Talk.
Date
15 October 2013
Identifier
CFP_SR00495_faris_2013
Coverage
Cork City; Ireland; Built Heritage; 1770s-200Os;
Relation
If the Wall Could Talk: Stories Of Cork's Heritage Catalogue Numbers:
CFP_SR00492_herlihy_2013;
CFP_SR00493_walsh_2013;
CFP_SR00494_butler_2013;
CFP_SR00496_osullivan_2013;
CFP_SR00497_ryan_2013;
CFP_SR00498_holland_2013;
CFP_SR00499_hartnett&osullivan_2013;
CFP_SR00500_mccarthy_2013;
CFP_SR00505_healy_2013;
CFP_SR00506_gleeson_2013;
CFP_SR00507_miller_2013;
CFP_SR00492_herlihy_2013;
CFP_SR00493_walsh_2013;
CFP_SR00494_butler_2013;
CFP_SR00496_osullivan_2013;
CFP_SR00497_ryan_2013;
CFP_SR00498_holland_2013;
CFP_SR00499_hartnett&osullivan_2013;
CFP_SR00500_mccarthy_2013;
CFP_SR00505_healy_2013;
CFP_SR00506_gleeson_2013;
CFP_SR00507_miller_2013;
Published Material:
If the Wall Could Talk: Stories Of Cork's Heritage (2013) DVD
If the Stones Could Speak: More stories from Cork's heritage (2015) DVD
John was previously interviewed by the CFP in 1999; CFP_SR00267_faris_1999
Source
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Cork Folklore Project
Language
English
Type
Sound
Format
1 .wav File
Interviewee
Interviewer
Duration
31m 51s
Location
Trinity Presbyterian Church, York Street., Cork City, Ireland.
Original Format
.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
24bit / 48kHz
Transcription
The following is a short extract from the interview transcript, copyright of the Cork Folklore Project. If you wish to access further archival material please contact CFP, folklorearchive@gmail.com
M W: That’s very good. Ok [pause], the crooked steeple, you're probably sick of telling people about the story of the crooked steeple.
J F: Well it’s a good story, now Chris Southgate who is a heritage architect in Cork and has done some work for us. He got a cherry picker up and got a good look at it and assured me it was just, weathering on the weather side, after it was built, you know, the prevailing wind and rain washed and watered out on one side and so it tilted in that direction but they are lots, and I am happy that it is reasonably safe, we had a bit of work done back in 2010 just before the President came and some beautiful photographs were in The Echo at that time. [Pause] Chris tells me it’s quite safe so that’s good, all sorts of stories that the workmen back in 1861 had a row with the architect, could happen so he did it on purpose or even and then they were drunk and that when the scaffolding came off and on the whole, the sign of their drunkenness was all there. The worst story maybe I shouldn’t even tell you this, but two gentlemen, I was working away in the Church grounds and the garden just dressed in ordinary clothes, and two Cork men came in just to see the church, and they said to me, I won’t try a Cork accent because I come from the North but they said you know the boy that designed this church, he hanged himself in that tower and I said don’t you tell me that. It was the first time I ever heard that and they were convinced, what it, I never heard that story before and I would deny it, what I think they were mixing up was the tragic story about Christ The King Church down at Turners Cross, where they was a over, a huge overrun apparently, and the story is that the architect, did take his own life.
M W: Lynch is that his name, was it?
J F: It may have been yeah.
M W: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
J F: So I think they mixed up the two stories but --
M W: Yeah.
J F: So we have a crooked spire but it is quite safe and there is no, as far as I know, no tragic story with it.
M W: Okay, I like the idea of the guys been drunk or maybe just doing it to spite the architect or something kind of, there is something very Cork about that.
J F: Well that is there is no documentary evidence for that.
M W: Yeah I know, there is always a rational explanation which is not as amusing or entertaining.
J F: Walter Burrell whose, who used to be a seamen’s missionary on the docks of Cork, he had these wonderful slide shows and I was there with him once in a National School showing slides about the ships and the docks and he says, quick as a fire there is the crooked spire of Trinity Presbyterian which represents, represents the crooked mans nature, he said, of human beings and I thought well Walter that’s as good an explanation as any, a good reminder [laughs] so.
M W: That’s very good. Ok [pause], the crooked steeple, you're probably sick of telling people about the story of the crooked steeple.
J F: Well it’s a good story, now Chris Southgate who is a heritage architect in Cork and has done some work for us. He got a cherry picker up and got a good look at it and assured me it was just, weathering on the weather side, after it was built, you know, the prevailing wind and rain washed and watered out on one side and so it tilted in that direction but they are lots, and I am happy that it is reasonably safe, we had a bit of work done back in 2010 just before the President came and some beautiful photographs were in The Echo at that time. [Pause] Chris tells me it’s quite safe so that’s good, all sorts of stories that the workmen back in 1861 had a row with the architect, could happen so he did it on purpose or even and then they were drunk and that when the scaffolding came off and on the whole, the sign of their drunkenness was all there. The worst story maybe I shouldn’t even tell you this, but two gentlemen, I was working away in the Church grounds and the garden just dressed in ordinary clothes, and two Cork men came in just to see the church, and they said to me, I won’t try a Cork accent because I come from the North but they said you know the boy that designed this church, he hanged himself in that tower and I said don’t you tell me that. It was the first time I ever heard that and they were convinced, what it, I never heard that story before and I would deny it, what I think they were mixing up was the tragic story about Christ The King Church down at Turners Cross, where they was a over, a huge overrun apparently, and the story is that the architect, did take his own life.
M W: Lynch is that his name, was it?
J F: It may have been yeah.
M W: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
J F: So I think they mixed up the two stories but --
M W: Yeah.
J F: So we have a crooked spire but it is quite safe and there is no, as far as I know, no tragic story with it.
M W: Okay, I like the idea of the guys been drunk or maybe just doing it to spite the architect or something kind of, there is something very Cork about that.
J F: Well that is there is no documentary evidence for that.
M W: Yeah I know, there is always a rational explanation which is not as amusing or entertaining.
J F: Walter Burrell whose, who used to be a seamen’s missionary on the docks of Cork, he had these wonderful slide shows and I was there with him once in a National School showing slides about the ships and the docks and he says, quick as a fire there is the crooked spire of Trinity Presbyterian which represents, represents the crooked mans nature, he said, of human beings and I thought well Walter that’s as good an explanation as any, a good reminder [laughs] so.
Citation
Cork Folklore Project, “John Farris: Cash’s Stores, Presbyterians, Social Class, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Unitarian church,” accessed April 26, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/9.