Calls have been made for a number of imposing stained glass windows – which form an intriguing backdrop to the sittings of Tuam District Court – to be retained and put to good use elsewhere.
The windows are located in the old chapel at the Bon Secours Hospital in Tuam, which closed down in 2000, and is the current location of the court sittings in the town.
For the past number of years the Courts Service have been leasing the old chapel which is attached to the hospital for the twice-monthly sittings. The stunning stained glass windows in the building have been a source of comment from visiting judges and members of the legal profession.
However, the Health Service Executive, who own the property, have issued the Court Service with a notice to quit the premises and it is expected that this will happen in July.
The building will then be transformed into a facility for the disabled as part of an overall plan to provide a primary health care unit on the site.
The HSE have been asked to carefully remove the windows during the development works and ensure that they are put to good use elsewhere. The chapel was built around the mid-1950s.
Cllr Shaun Cunniffe has written a letter to the HSE looking for assurances that the windows will not be destroyed if the chapel is demolished as part of the works. The Grove Hospital in Tuam is not a protected structure.
Even Judge James Faughnan, who regularly sits in Tuam, has remarked about the beauty of the stained glass windows which are situated on both sides of the building and create a rather unusual backdrop to the court sittings.
Cllr Cunniffe has asked the HSE not to bulldoze through the building without removing the stained glass first. He said that while they may not have any historical significance, they are still worth retaining.
“The old chapel and mortuary that is attached to the old Grove Hospital holds a lot of memories for the people of Tuam and it is vital that the stain glass windows are removed and put to good use somewhere else.
“I will be calling on Galway County Council to provide a centre in Tuam that will have an ecclesiastical history theme to it and these stained glass windows could be part and parcel of this,” Cllr Cunniffe added.
Ann Tierney of the Old Tuam Society said that she was of the opinion that the windows would be removed and donated to the church in Tuam. She said that while the windows were not historically significant, they still represented a part of Tuam’s past. “There is no doubt that they hold a lot of significance for the town,” she added.
The HSE did not respond when contacted by The Connacht Tribune.
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