Cork Heritage Open Day Brochure

Quaker Meeting

Nano Nagle Place

House Summer Hill South, Ballintemple, Cork Open 12pm to 4pm Full wheelchair access

Douglas Street Open 10am to 5pm Full wheelchair access

The unexpected urban oasis at Nano Nagle Place dates from the 18th century. Here Nano Nagle founded her first schools and built convents for both the Ursuline and her own Presentation Sisters. During this period the gardens were laid out, along with the sisters’ graveyard where Nano is buried. All have been carefully conserved and imaginatively augmented in recent years to create Nano Nagle Place. The oldest remaining building is the convent that Nano Nagle built for the Ursuline Sisters in 1771. The Ursuline sisters thrived here, adding various extensions to the original building. When the Ursulines moved to Blackrock in 1825 their buildings passed to the Presentation Sisters, who added school buildings and a lovely Gothic chapel to the site. Nano Nagle Place is not only a heritage attraction and a beautiful sacred space, it also houses charities that continue Nano’s work. Indeed, education continues across the site - we are delighted to have Cork Centre for Architectural Education in our heritage lecture theatre The Archives Drop in: The South Presentation Congregational Archives will showcase objects at Nano Nagle Place from 12pm to 4pm. This event provides a unique opportunity to explore historical artifacts and to learn more about the legacy of the Presentation Sisters. Booking essential on www.nanonagleplace.ie.

The Quaker religion was first brought to Cork in 1655 by two young Quaker women, Elizabeth Fletcher and Elizabeth Smith. The new Quaker community purchased land to use as a burial ground at Summerhill South. The first interment was in 1668, and this burial ground is still in use today. All the grave stones have the same shape, size and lettering, as a testimony to the Quaker belief that all have “that of God” within and so are intrinsically equal. The Quaker Meeting is currently leaving parts of the burial ground unmown to promote biodiversity. The original Quaker Meeting House was built on Grattan Street in 1678, and was expanded and rebuilt over the years until it attained its current form in 1834, when there were several hundred Quakers in Cork. Due to a declining Quaker population over the next hundred years, the Grattan Street Meeting House was sold and a new, smaller Meeting House was built in 1938 near the 17th century Summerhill South Burial Ground. The number of Quakers in Cork began growing again in the 1980s, and there are now about 160 people in the Cork Quaker community. The 1938 Meeting House has recently been renovated and extended, particularly aiming to ensure the space is accessible to all and is as sustainable and energy efficient as possible. The original 1938 Meeting House was left intact, with a new extension and linking space wrapped around it. Local Quakers will point out salient features of the Quaker Meeting House and the adjacent 17th century burial ground.