Story of a window

This leaded glass window was restored in 2003 by local craftsman Paddy Maloney, a member of Kilcullen Heritage Group. It is on view in the Kilcullen Heritage Centre.

The glass is believed to date from the 18th century and came in a package donated to Kilcullen Community Centre by the departing Cross and Passion Order nuns when they left the Kilcullen Convent in 1999, after being there for 121 years. 

The timber frame used here came from oak school desks used in the former Kilcullen Girls National School (1858-1980), now the Parish Centre.

According to the manager of Kilcullen Community Centre P J Lydon, the glass came to Kilcullen from the Cross and Passion mother house in Maryfield, Dublin. When the Convent and adjoining Chapel there were sold in 1975, all the stained glass was removed by one Canon Cahill of Knutsforge, Cheshire, England, with most of it taken there. A portion was sent to the Convent in Kilcullen in a brown paper package. Whether this was because of any original Kilcullen connection for the glass is not known.

Paddy Maloney believes that the particular glass may have come from a house used as a Chapel in the early days of the Cross and Passion Convent in Kilcullen. He says the porch of this house had two side windows that correspond to the measurements of the two lights which the package of fragments comprise.

Kilcullen Heritage Centre is grateful to Paddy for undertaking this project in his 82nd year, especially as he had never done anything of this nature before.

Brian Byrne.