Christ Church, Cork

The site has been home to several churches, dating to at least the mid-11th century,[5] and Christ Church was listed among the possessions of the diocese of Cork in a 12th-century decretal letter by Pope Innocent III.[6] The pretender to the English throne Perkin Warbeck was reputedly crowned in this church in 1497 and the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser married there in 1594.[7] Christ Church, also known as Holy Trinity,[8] was the "main church" in Cork city by the 17th century.[5]

Substantially destroyed during the 1690 Siege of Cork, the remaining structures of the early medieval church were demolished in 1716 and the current neo-classical building was completed in the 1720s.[6] Originally designed by John Coltsman,[8][9] the church was remodelled in the 1820s by George Richard Pain.[8][9][2] Later works were undertaken by architect William Henry Hill.[9] The church's 19th-century organ is attributed to T. C. Lewis.[7]

Operating as a Church of Ireland church until the 1970s,[8] the church was deconsecrated in 1979 and subsequently purchased by Cork City Council.[5] The building hosted the Cork City and County Archives until 2005 when these were relocated to Blackpool.[5] Between 2009 and 2011, the city council and the Triskel Arts Centre renovated and developed the building into an arts and cultural venue.[10] The nave of the church is used as the centre's main auditorium.

Notable people associated with the church include:

• Neptune Blood, 17th-century church minister[11]
• Edward Synge, vicar of Christ Church in the late 17th century[12]
• Henry Browne Hayes, buried at the church in 1832[13]

• Triskel Arts Centre website