That a church in memory of Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847) should be built in Cahirciveen, close to where he had been born, was first suggested as early as 1851. However, it took the appointment of a new Parish Priest, Canon Timothy (Thady) Brosnan, in 1879 to give the project impetus. The Canon invited drawings from George Ashlin and set about raising the necessary funds. Ashlin, who was born in Cork, was a son-in-law of A. W. N. Pugin and partner of Edward W. Pugin. By the early 1880s he had established one of the most successful architectural practices in Ireland. For Cahirciveen he proposed a cruciform church with apse, tower and spire, designed in a variation of the Gothic Revival style for which he was renowned.
This perspective view of the interior of the church was executed by Thomas Coleman in 1884. Coleman had joined Ashlin’s office as an articled pupil in the early 1880s and rose to become a partner in the firm of Ashlin and Coleman in 1903. Evident from Coleman’s drawing is the scale of the church – big enough to hold 2,000 people – and the Gothic exuberance of its groin-vaulted and arcaded nave. As revealed by a label on its back, Coleman’s drawing of Ashlin’s design would go on to be displayed in the British architecture section of the World’s Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair, held from May to October 1893. This would make Ashlin’s one of only two Irish architectural practices represented at the Fair. The other was the office of Thomas Newenham Deane & Son.
The corner stone of the church, a gift of Pope Leo XIII, was laid on 1 Aug 1888. By 1893 the shell of the building was complete, but construction stalled as fundraising faltered. When Canon Brosnan died in 1898, he was buried in the still unfinished building. The first mass was finally celebrated in the church on Sunday 14 December 1902. The tower remains incomplete.
