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Planning approval (11/00023/GB) and Registered Building Consent (11/00024/CON) currently exist for the proposed landscaping works to the Cathedral gardens.
The approvals relate to a series of themed gardens and public art as shown on drawings submitted by Chartered Landscape Architects, Prescott Associates. Reduced copies of the relevant drawings are attached at the back of this document.
The accompanying information with the original applications included a set of design parameters which described the palette of materials and height restrictions etc that would be acceptable for the various areas of public art. It was the intention that each of the gardens would then be further developed at a later date by individual artists who would provide detail designs within the approved parameters.
The first of these gardens to be commissioned is the Cross Garden located adjacent to the Cathedral entrance. Details of the garden were presented to the Conservation and Planning Officers prior to the work progressing to ensure that they complied with the approved design parameters.
Having now reviewed the information and the works currently progressing on site, it has been concluded that the design varies sufficiently from that shown on the original planning approval to merit a retrospective application for that specific area of the garden.
The design consists of five hand carved stone crosses set within the Cross Garden. Inlaid in the hard landscaping is a series of circles that represent three traditional round towers. Part of one circle forms a curved bench while another is partially constructed in sandstone up to a height of 2.15 metres to represent St. Patrick's Isle round tower.
Materials are in keeping with the original design parameters and include; yorkstone, sandstone, granite sets, rounded boulders etc.
The perimeter of the garden is lined with a fuchsia hedge set against the Cathedral, and the remaining areas are planted with suitable ground cover plants. While the works are currently viewed form the Cathedral entrance, the completed collection of themed gardens will eventually be enclosed by a combination of high hedges and walls that will screen them from the main public circulation routes.
The concept and detailed design for the garden is on the following pages.
The Cross garden 10th and 11th century
Key concept: Turbulence and absorption of Nordic culture into Christianity
Set in the paved area will be silver coins (The Manx 5 pence piece with a Celtic Cross on the reverse, approximately 20 of them tales side up), representing hoards discovered relating to this period. The paving will have three circles or parts of circles representing the circumference and width of a variety of Round towers:
¹ A stone carver could be used to do any carving work, including texts on stonework. Ongky Wijana has carved all the crosses.
² Round Tower
The ground plan of the only Manx Round Tower of the period on St Patrick’s Isle (15m tall 13.6m circumference, 1.8m internal diameter at door level) and one of the larger Irish ones for comparison e.g. Kilkenny (The diocese of Sodor and Man is twinned with the Diocese of Cashel and Ossory which includes Kilkenny. The Kilkenny tower is just over 14m in circumference, giving an external diameter of approx. 4.5m and height of 30m http://www.roundtowers.org/kilkenny/index.htm). The tallest surviving tower in Ireland is Kilmacduagh, Co. Galway standing at 34.3m. An indication of how high the towers were, might be done in comparison with different levels of the current Cathedral tower. Dysert O’Dea Round Tower, County Clare is one of the widest of the recorded towers (external circumference is 18.5m or 5.89m in diameter) http://sagredsites.com/europa/ireland/tower_of_cashel.html
> “It is remarkable how little the main dimensions vary. In the great majority of towers the circumference at the base lies between 14 meters and 17 meters and the thickness of the wall at the lowest point at which it can be measured varies from 0.9 meters to 1.4 meters. Doorways, windows, storey heights and diameters also follow clearly defined patterns, and we may well conclude that most of the towers were the work of teams of builders who moved from one monastery to another using standard designs.”
> “Most doorways are raised 1.5 meters to 4.5 meters above the ground. This is usually explained as being for security, to enable the monks to take refuge inside the towers during times when Viking raiders or bandits were attacking the monasteries. There is probably some truth in this theory but it is possible that the stability of the tower had as much to do with the door heights. The higher you could build before making an opening in the wall the stronger the base would be. Very often the towers were filled in, even as high as the doorways.”
The wall on the west side of the garden separating the planting from the paving will be of sandstone, representing the importance of St. Patrick's Isle during this period, with clinker tops for seating (the clinker seat tops will be designed in consultation with a local artist), which draw their inspiration from the Norse long-ship.
Engraved into paving will be the following texts to give the sense of fear of invasion (The alphabet will be agreed with the public art consultant – Stephen Broadbent).
The wind is boisterous tonight; The white hair of the ocean is tousled. I do not fear that there may come across the Irish sea hordes of fierce Vikings. Irish monk
(The above text will be written in a circular spiral from outside to inside)
In ... 1056, Godred Crovan collected ... ships and came to Man ... but was ... forced to fly. Again he ... came to Man ... and (was) put to fight. A third time he ... came by night to ... Ramsey ... the natives ... were overpowered. The Chronicles of Man
(This text is written on the largest circle representing Dysert O'Dea Round Tower, County Clare, the dots will be drill holes for LED lights)
Soft landscape: The planting will represent the sea with a hedge of Fuchsia with its blood red flowers representing battles such as Sky Hill. (The hedge needs to hide the garden from immediate view, so only the Lonan Wheel cross is visible at the point of entry.
Public art/artefacts: The crosses have been carved as if 'new', that represent the transition from Celtic to Nordic Christianity (The Lonan Wheel head cross, Gaut's Cross, Thor's Cross, Thorlief Hnakki's Cross and Thorwald's Cross – the latter will be fully painted as such crosses might have been originally). These have now been completed by Ongky Wijana under the supervision of Andy Johnson from Manx National Heritage.
Lighting: Lighting at night will aim to reflect the waves of the sea. There will also be a mist machine adding mystery to the space. The dots between the portion of text from the Chronicles of Man will be LED lights. The lighting consultant is Alan Anderson.
All-age interactivity: Wax crayon rubbing of stone crosses.
Artefacts of the period held by Cathedral: None - we will request a piece of stone from Kilkenny round tower (The Diocese of Sodor and Man is twinned with the Diocese of Cashel and Ossary and Kilkenny has one of the Diocese's six Cathedrals).
Possible Exhibition: Re-creation of the patterns of key crosses to tell the story of the Nordic invaders becoming Christian
Events: A Festival of Manx Crosses
Cascade: Signing people to the location of crosses and round tower on the Isle of Man
Church tower on left, north transept on the right
| Metres | Feet | Inches | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circumference externally near the base | 13.56m | 44 | 6 |
| Diameter internally at the height of the door | 1.75m | 5 | 9 |
| Height of the bottom of the door from the ground | 2.06m | 6 | 9 |
| Height of the doorway from its floor to the crown of the arch | 1.68m | 5 | 6 |
| Width of the doorway at the floor | 0.63m | 2 | 3 |
| Spring of the arch | 0.51m | 1 | 8 |
a.) Sandstone wall, a quarter of the circumference of the tower (NW segment), to a height 2.15 metres, and showing the space for doorway level³ b.) The opposite segment of the tower being large rounded boulders of various sizes set in a concrete base (There is an example of this to the north side of the main entrance of Nobel’s hospital foyer. c.) The remainder of the tower to be a Yorkstone/sandstone⁴ paving that is cut so that it radiates randomly from the centre of the tower d.) The centre stone of the tower in Yorkstone/sandstone to be of a single piece 1.5 metre diameter.
a.) Outer ring of Yorkstone/sandstone for text 0.3 metres wide b.) The middle ring with coins set in Yorkstone/sandstone 0.6 metre wide c.) The central band around the inner circle square granite sets. d.) The central area 0.6 Yorkstone/sandstone
a.) Outer ring under the ‘clinker’ bench surface sandstone wall b.) The outer circle of stones placed on edge as at Peel slipway next to Fenella beach at the mouth of the harbour e.) The central area of Yorkstone/sandstone
³ The Round Tower St Patrick’s Isle Measurements.
⁴ Possible stones from the Marshalls range: There needs to be some contrast, to distinguish one circle from another, but at the same time they need to tone with Peel sandstone. a.) Moselden Yorkstone sawn finish for general paving and Scoutmoor diamond sawn finish for circles in terms of paving and setts b.) Quartzitic sawn Indian sandstone – Elizabethan for general paving and Quartzitic sawn Indian sandstone – Elizabethan for circles in terms of paving and setts
The 10th and 11th centuries saw Celtic culture being infused by Nordic culture, which is visible in the crosses. The cross also indicates the reverse movement of Christianity gradually replacing the Nordic gods of the invaders.
The turbulence of the transition is seen in the writings of the Chronicles of Man and is evident in the number of coin hordes discovered. The round tower associated with Celtic monasteries became a symbol, especially in Ireland, of protection from invaders. This purpose is however disputed. The circumference of three towers are represented in the paving - two Irish (Dysert O'Dea and Kilkenny) and the smallest the tower on St Patrick's Isle.
There are five crosses that range from the Celtic Lonan wheel head cross to those with Norse influence: Gaut's Cross, Thor's Cross, Thorlief Hnakki's Cross and finally there is Thorwald's Cross, of which only a fragment of the original remains, which has the image of Christianity overcoming the old Norse gods.
Photograph 1 – Cross Garden under construction with the ramped access to the Cathedral on the right.
Photograph 2 – Cross Garden under construction with the lines of the paving representing 'Round Towers' marked out on the ground.
Photograph 3 – Detail of sandstone wall to represent St. Patrick's Isle Round Tower
Photograph 4 – Hand carved crosses with a sandstone curved wall behind. The wall to be finished with a 'clinker' style timber seat taking inspiration from Viking Ships
Photograph 5 – Detail of Gaut's Cross
Photograph 6 – Detail of Lonan Wheel head cross
The attached drawings relate to the original planning approval (11/00023/GB) and Registered Building Consent approval (11/00024/CON) for the landscaping to the Cathedral grounds. These drawings are reduced copies and are therefore not to scale.
The Cross Garden has been highlighted on the drawings, which show it surrounded by a hedge and high wall to screen it from view from the Cathedral entrance.
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