The Nativity Window by Harry Clarke

St Barrahane’s Church, Castletownsend, Co Cork

In 1918 the Somerville family of Castletownsend in West Cork commissioned a stained glass window in the village church of St Barrahane’s to honour their grandparents. They had been extremely impressed by Harry Clark’s new windows in the Honan Chapel in Cork and in a letter Edith Somerville mentioned the ‘burning and furious brilliance’ of his glass. She was, however, also concerned about the effect that Clark’s ‘hellish splendour’ and more unusual imagery might have on the elderly parishioners.

So when Harry met Edith in Castletownsend to choose the subject and design, it seems she impressed upon him the need for more ‘harmony’ and less intensity. Together, they chose a nativity scene, which was quite an unusual subject for a Church of Ireland church but the window also includes the Irish saints Brigid and Fachtna, and the local St Barahan or Naomh Barrahán who is often linked with St Finbarr.