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THE HONAN CHAPEL : AN OVERVIEW

The Honans were a family of Cork butter merchants who became very wealthy during the course of the nineteenth century. The last generation of the Honan family consisted of two brothers, Matthew and Robert, and their sister Isabella.

In 1909 Isabella established the Honan scholarships, whereby she made part of her wealth available to students of UCC. Isabella, the last surviving of the three siblings, died in 1913; the executor of her will, Sir John O’Connell, allocated Ł40,000 of the Honan Estate to UCC, for the building of a hostel for student accommodation. As UCC had no place of worship, he also used some of this money to build a chapel, to cater for the spiritual and religious needs of the students.

Reflecting the Nationalist mood of the time, O’Connell insisted that only should the design of the chapel represent traditional Irish art, but also that only Irish artists and craftsmen should be involved in its construction. He particularly focused on employing Cork craftsmen, in order to provide work for the local community, and also to encourage local talent.

The chapel was designed by local architectural firm, McMullen & Associates
John Sisk & Son were responsible for the building of the chapel
John Lees of Cork and local seamstresses designed the vestments
Cork Silversmiths William Egan & Sons were responsible for many items of altar plate, furnishings and vestments
Henry Emery of Dublin was assisted by apprentices from the Cork Technical
School in the carving of the stone capitals of Munster Saints
The Yeats sisters and Evelyn Gleeson of the Dun Emer Guild worked on the banner of St. Finbarr
Eleven of the windows were made by Harry Clarke, while the remaining eight were made by scholars of the Sarah Purser Dublin studio. One of the windows, constructed closeby to the scene of the 1916 Rebellion in Dublin, just barely survived the Rising intact

The foundation stone of St. Finbarr’s Collegiate Chapel was laid on Tuesday 18th May 1915, and the building was consecrated in 1916; in memory of its benefactors, it has always been more commonly known as the Honan Chapel. Within the chapel is a memorial tablet for Matthew, Robert and Isabella Honan, none of whom lived to see its creation.

Today the entire funding and maintenance of the chapel is still provided for solely by the Honan Trust.

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