St. Fethlimidh's Cathedral

St. Fethlimidh’s Cathedral stands in the parish of Kilmore, in the drumlin countryside a few miles south-west of Cavan town in County Cavan. A cathedral of the Church of Ireland, it serves the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, and takes its name from Saint Fethlimidh (also rendered Felim or Phelim), the patron saint of the diocese. There has been a church presence at Kilmore for many centuries, and the older parish church on the site became the diocesan cathedral in the fifteenth century.

The present building was constructed between 1858 and 1860 to a design by the architect William Slater, in a Gothic style, replacing the earlier church that had grown too small and dilapidated. It is often known as the Bedell Memorial Church in honour of William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore from 1629 to 1642, who oversaw the first translation of the Old Testament into Irish. The cathedral holds a first-edition copy of that translation.

Among its most striking features is a Romanesque doorway dating from around 1170, set into the wall of the cathedral where it now serves as a vestry entrance. The carved doorway is believed to have been brought from a nearby medieval religious house, though its exact origin is debated. The interior also contains stained-glass windows by several noted studios, including Meyer & Co. of Munich, Ward & Hughes and Clayton & Bell of London, and An Túr Gloine of Dublin.

Visitors interested in ecclesiastical history and church architecture will find the cathedral, its historic doorway and its connection to the Bedell Irish Bible of particular interest. It is reached off the R198 road in the townland of Kilmore Upper, within easy driving distance of Cavan town.