A Lunchtime Talk -Colles’ Polychrome Marbles: From Ireland’s Quarries to St Canice’s Cathedral

Using the native polychrome marble chancel floor of St Canice’s Cathedral as its focal point, this talk explores a lesser-known aspect of the Colles family’s Victorian enterprise and Ireland’s rich marble-working heritage. Renowned for extracting and working Kilkenny’s famous black marble, the Colles also quarried polychrome marbles across Ireland from the 1860s, processing them at their Kilkenny Mills. These colourful stones became a defining feature of St Canice’s Cathedral’s Victorian restoration, as well as other buildings. Following a brief examination of the cathedral’s medieval stone fabric and memorials, the talk traces the journey of Colles’ marbles from quarry to mill to cathedral, exploring their geological origins, the tools and techniques used in their fabrication, and the family’s contribution to Victorian ecclesiastical architecture and the wider marble industry.

The STONEBUILT Ireland project researches and verifies the sources, fabrication and architectural uses of Ireland’s building and decorative stones. This talk coincides with the launch of an exhibition developed as part of the project, showcasing the diversity of marbles worked at the Colles Marble Mills in Maddockstown, Kilkenny.

Thursday 19th November at 1pm, light refreshments will be served.

Image caption: St Canice’s Cathedral. Courtesy of Andy Sheridan Photography. © Andy Sheridan Photography

.Louise Caulfield Bio

Dr Louise Caulfield is Research Fellow of the STONEBUILT Ireland project at Trinity College Dublin. She is a geologist with a special interest in the interplay between geology and architecture. Her publications include chapters in The Museum Building of Trinity College Dublin: A model of Victorian craftsmanship (Four Courts Press, 2019) and Enriching Architecture: Craft and its conservation in Anglo-Irish building production, 1660-1760 (UCL Press, 2023). Her forthcoming monograph, Marble in the Making: From quarry to building in Victorian Ireland (UCL Press, in press), is scheduled for publication in January 2027.

Patrick Wyse Jackson Bio

Patrick Wyse Jackson is Emeritus Professor in Geology and Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. Currently he engages in studies on the sources and utilisation of building and decorative stone in Ireland as part of the STONEBUILT Ireland project. His books include The Chronologers’ Quest: episodes in the search for the age of the Earth (2006) and The Making of Irish Geology 1740–1940 (2025), and co-authored The Decorative and Building Stones of Dublin: a walking guide (2025) with Louise Caulfield.

Donal McDonald Bio

Donal McDonald is a stonemason and stone carver with a longstanding interest in the history, operation and legacy of the Colles Marble Mills at Maddockstown, Co. Kilkenny. His practical knowledge of traditional stone working provides a valuable perspective on the skills, tools and processes involved in fabricating marble, as well as the role of the mill in Ireland’s stone working heritage.

Description supplied by the event organiser.