24 Guide to Belfast. 



spans, than in a typical Gothic church. . . . The plan 

 and proportion of the church are singularly simple and 

 arithmetical. A nave of 40 feet, aisles of 20 feet width, 

 six bays of the nave, each of 20 feet ; the crossing, 

 transepts, and chancel, each within their piers, square 

 of 40 feet ; the internal height of the aisle walls 36 feet, 

 and of the walls of the nave and its clerestory, 72 feet. 

 . . . The whole length internally when complete will 

 be 214 feet. 



"For what is known as architectural 'style,' the architect 

 has had to adapt his desi^jn to what seemed to him 

 harmonious with a Basilican plan. . . . He has adopted 

 a round-arched treatment, the main suggestion of which 

 comes from that Byzantine source which impressed itself 

 on the early church architecture that came through Italy by 

 way of the South of France to England and Ireland, and 

 gave us in these countries such noble round arched archi- 

 tecture as may be seen at Cashel or Durham or Tuam. 

 The striking 'Romanesque' architecture of southern France 

 presents, perhaps, the purest type of a noble architecture 

 which is suggestive to an architect and consonant with the 

 Basilican plan." 



When complete, the Cathedral will be a very large and 

 impressive building. The nave and its turrets will rise 

 105 feet above the pavement of Donegall Street. The 

 summit of the central tower will be 175 feet above the same 

 level. The great central portal of double doors will form 

 a very striking and beautiful feature. It is on the same 

 scale as the west portal of the Cathedral of Genoa. The 

 entire building will hold a congregation of 4,000. 



The beginning of this great work was due to the energy 

 and enthusiasm of the first Dean of Belfast (the present 

 Bishop of Cashel) and the generosity of the late Countess 

 of Shaftesbury. The foundation-stone was laid by the 

 present Countess of Shaftesbury on 6 September, 1899. 



The first section, which is now in process of building, 

 will cost ^30,000. Of this amount, ;^25,ooo has been 

 already subscribed. The remaining ;^5,ooo is urgently 

 required. The rest of the design will be realized, in sections, 

 when funds are available for the purpose. 



