Retention of Harry Clarke window removal granted

Retention permission for “the removal” of what's described as the “Harry Clarke Studios stained glass from the old house building in the former school St Aloysius College, Athlone” has been granted to the Diocese of Elphin.

The application before Westmeath Council related solely to the removal of the eye-catching Harry Clarke Studios stained glass depicting St Patrick which is thought to have hung in the listed house building for over 50 years.

It is proposed to install the glass made by the famed Dublin glass studio into the new Coláiste Chiaráin school which is under construction in Summerhill and due to be complete in September.

The new co-educational second-level school is an amalgamation of the former St Aloysius College, Athlone, and the old St Joseph's College, Summerhill.

Retention permission is generally only applied for when construction of, or an alteration to a building has already taken place without planning approval. The applicant or developer then submits an application to have the work approved retrospectively by the local authority.

Back in May, a diocesan statement explained that when St Aloysius College closed in 2017, the window was removed for restoration and safekeeping. The retention application is for these purposes, the statement added at that time.

Celebrated as Ireland's greatest stain glass artist, Harry Clarke (1889-1931) was also internationally renowned for his craft making over 130 spectacular windows adorning churches and public buildings countrywide.

A fine Georgian house, the original St Aloysius College was Lyster's House until 1960 when the family sold it to the diocese who wanted to open a secondary school.

The stained glass which hung on the first-floor landing of the stairway was the first thing many staff and students saw when they came in the door of the school for over five decades.