County Cork
Religious statues in Co. Cork
Ireland’s largest county has two cathedrals, St Finbarr’s island at Gougane Barra, and roadside grottos to Our Lady in parish after parish — one of them, at Ballinspittle, known far beyond Cork since the summer of 1985.
Two dioceses, two cathedrals
Cork city and the west belong to the Diocese of Cork and Ross, whose cathedral is the Cathedral of St Mary and St Anne — the North Cathedral — above Shandon. East and north Cork form the Diocese of Cloyne, with St Colman’s Cathedral standing high over the harbour at Cobh. A few parishes in the west and north-west of the county belong to the Diocese of Kerry.
St Finbarr is patron of Cork; his feast is 25 September.
Places people go to pray
Gougane Barra
Where St Finbarr is said to have founded a monastery in the sixth century. The little oratory on the island in the lake dates from the early 1900s; the valley was used for Mass in Penal times, and St Finbarr’s Pilgrim Path runs there from Drimoleague.
Ballinspittle grotto
On 22 July 1985 people praying at the grotto outside Ballinspittle said the statue of Our Lady moved. Tens of thousands came that summer. The Church never endorsed the claims, but the grotto is still visited and cared for, and the year is remembered locally as one when many returned to prayer.
Marian grottos everywhere
Many Cork parishes built a grotto to Our Lady in or around the Marian Year of 1954, and many are still tended by local committees.
Which statues suit
Most grottos in Cork hold Our Lady of Lourdes, sometimes with St Bernadette kneeling before her. When a committee is replacing a weathered figure, it is usually marble they want; our grotto statues and the grotto guide are the place to start, and the Lourdes marble statue is one to look at.
For the home, the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Grace in painted resin, and for a gift, St Thérèse or Padre Pio.
For a Cork grotto or home
Our Lady of Lourdes
Hand-painted resin
From €55
Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bernadette
Hand-painted resin · the pair
€240
Our Lady of Lourdes (Hand-Painted)
Hand-painted resin · shaded finish
€95
St Bernadette
Hand-painted resin
€120
Our Lady of Knock
Hand-carved marble
€1,600
Our Lady of Lourdes (Fine Detail)
Hand-carved marble · 3ft 3in
€2,400
Questions from Cork
How much is delivery to Co. Cork?
Resin statues go by post to any address in Co. Cork for a flat €15 per order, however many statues are in the parcel. Marble is too heavy for the post, so we deliver it ourselves; the delivery charge for each marble statue is shown on its own page before you order. Cork is a big county — from Youghal to the Beara — and we deliver marble to all of it and arrange the day with you.
Our grotto statue is cracked. Can you replace it?
Send us a photograph and the height of the niche and we will suggest what fits. See grotto statues for what to measure.
What if the statue isn’t right when it arrives?
You have 14 days to cancel and a further 14 to send it back, and anything broken in delivery is replaced or refunded, postage included — see delivery and returns.
A statue for a Cork grotto or home?
Tell us where the statue will stand and roughly how tall it should be, and we will tell you plainly what suits. WhatsApp or ring +353 85 285 1015, or write to [email protected].
Updated
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Religious statues in Ireland
Statues of Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints for the home, the parish and the garden — hand-painted resin and hand-carved marble, delivered to every county in Ireland.
Kerry
Kerry is St Brendan’s county: the Saints’ Road runs across the Dingle peninsula to the mountain named after him, and Killarney has one of Pugin’s finest cathedrals.
Waterford
Waterford has the oldest post-Reformation Catholic cathedral in Ireland and, at Ardmore, the well of St Declan, whose pattern is still kept in July.
Making a garden grotto
Grottos to Our Lady are part of the Irish landscape — at crossroads, outside schools and churches, in front gardens. A small one at home is within reach of anyone with a free corner and a weekend.