Plans for Deanery refurbishment

This is the vision of the Dean of Derry, Very Rev Dr William Morton, who on Friday outlined his aspirations for the Cathedral’s sister buildings to the Minister for the Environment, Alex Attwood, in addition to outlining his vision for the Cecil Frances Alexander Music Room.

Outlining his hopes for continued development and restoration work, the Dean told Minister Atwood that the transformation of the ancient Cathedral - the first post-Reformation Cathedral in Europe - had been such a major success that it had dramatically increased visitor numbers to the church building, which now stood at 120,000 a year.

He said he and the Select Vestry were “extremely keen to diversity the tourist potential” of the Cathedral Quarter, which was reinforced by the UK City of Culture in 2013, the 400th anniversary next year of the sending of the Promise Chalice and Paten by the Honourable the Irish Society, the 400th anniversary of the building of the city’s Walls (1614 to 1618), the 400th anniversary of the first bell for the bell tower,the 400th anniversary of the Plantation of Ulster and the 100th anniversary of the death of Bishop William Alexander, whose wife Cecil Frances Alexander, was the world-famous hymn writer.

“Now that the Cathedral has been totally restored interiorly and exteriorly, the visitor experience could be immeasurably enhanced by creating a long-term exhibition, say over two to three years, on the Earl Bishop, Frederick Augustus Hervey. The Cathedral Quarte is indoubtedly the area for this and, given the fact that the Earl lived a few yards away in the Bishop’s Palace, it would be of enormous interest to have an exhibition in the former Irish Society House at No1 St Columb’s Court, built in 1768, the year Hervey arrived here.” The Dean said the National trust had expressed “serious interest” in establishing a long-term exhibition on the Early Bishop in the building, and there was a possibility of a working partnership with the National trust.

“We would greatly welcome this development if a cocktail of funding could be sourced,” he said.

The Dean also reflected on how the Deanery basement could be enhanced, saying “If the Deanery nasement were to be restored in period style it would provide a complementary ‘downstairs’ experience in terms of servants’ quarters with an almost complete gambut of features which would have been part of early 19th century life: kitchen, ovens, pantry, scullery, system of bells connecting with ‘upstairs’, wine cellar, and bedroom accommodation,” he said.

As the basement is completely separate from the living quarters of the Deanery, the Dean said imaginative terracing outside could lead to a dedicated entrance.

“The National Trust is also interested in this project in the sense that, in addition to providing a fine example of Georgian architecture, the basement could also accommodate an interesting social history project, where, through researching local newspapers and trawling oral tradition sources from generations of families who had relatives perhaps working there in the basement, insights could be provided at a very human interest level about the social life of the city all those years ago,” he said.

Turning his attention to the Cecil Frances Alexander Music Room, he said the two-storey building linking the Deanery gardens and the Cathedral grounds, if properly restored, could quite easily house an exhibition on Cecil Frances Alexander and her hymns, which were now part of hymnody the world over.

“Her life and writings should most definitely be part of the cultural experience for visitors in 2013,” he said.

Following the presentation the Dean said Minister Atwood was “very interested in what is planned and in the whole conservation of the properties”. However, he added that he was not in a position to make any promises at the moment.