Liam McCormick’s Donegal churches

Architectural wonders

Sir, – Co Donegal has the good fortune to have seven churches designed by the late Liam McCormick. While on holiday there recently, I visited two of them for the first time, St Connell’s Church in Glenties and St Patrick’s Church at Murlog just outside Lifford. In neither could I find any information about the churches, not even the name of the architect. Nor was there was anything to be found about the marvellous artworks they contain in the form of stained glass, altar furnishings, baptismal fonts, metal features on doors, all of them commissioned by the architect from Irish makers. In Ireland, this lack of information is not unusual in the case of churches and other public buildings and public artworks. We seem remarkably reluctant to acknowledge the work of artists, architects and craftspeople. These seven beautiful McCormick churches, and the stunning artefacts they contain, form a wonderful artistic bounty. Could Fáilte Ireland not take advantage of this to promote a distinctive strand of our modern architectural and artistic heritage? Could the local communities not put together a note about the building and the treasures they contain? It would reveal another facet of a county that has much to offer in terms of its landscape and people. – Yours, etc,

MARY GALLAGHER,

Wexford.