Northern Ireland

'Irreplaceable' antique vestment cabinet in Belfast church restored to former glory

The recently restored143-year-old vestment cabinet in St Patrick's Church in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell
The recently restored143-year-old vestment cabinet in St Patrick's Church in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell The recently restored143-year-old vestment cabinet in St Patrick's Church in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell

AN antique vestment cabinet in a Belfast church that was almost given away because it took up too much room has been restored to its original glory by one of the few remaining French polishers in Ireland.

Fashioned from mahogany and pitch pine, the substantial piece of furniture in St Patrick’s Church on Donegall Street is thought to have been hand-made, in-situ in 1877, the year the church opened.

It has been restored by Belfast-based French polisher and antique restorer Tony Smyth (67), one of the last remaining tradesmen of his kind in the country, practising what he reluctantly conceded is a “dead trade”.

In the past, Mr Smyth has worked across the world and in some of his home city’s most distinguished buildings, including Parliament Buildings at Stormont and the council chamber at Belfast City Hall, where he “worked on every stick of wood in that room”, including the panelling, doors and benches.

French polisher and antiques restorer Tony Smyth works on the 143-year-old vestment cabinet in St Patrick's Church in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell
French polisher and antiques restorer Tony Smyth works on the 143-year-old vestment cabinet in St Patrick's Church in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell French polisher and antiques restorer Tony Smyth works on the 143-year-old vestment cabinet in St Patrick's Church in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell

St Patrick’s administrator Fr Eugene O’Neill told The Irish News how he’d briefly thought of donating the substantial vestment cabinet, used to store clerics’ vestments, to another church because it took up so much room in the cramped sacristy.

“But as I looked at it, I realised what a great piece of craftsmanship it was, with a history of which I knew nothing,” he said.

“It was potentially the only existing Victorian vestment cabinet in the city – or in the country.”

Fr O’Neill recalls Mr Smyth’s first encounter with the cabinet.

“Tony was focused and attentive – like a surgeon surveying a patient,” he said.

A week-long restoration followed, aided by a Heritage Fund grant, in which only traditional materials and techniques were employed, including the use of natural earth pigments to give the finished wood a characteristic deep lustre.

“It’s a piece of heritage that’s basically irreplaceable,” says Mr Smyth of the 143-year-old piece.

“I think it’s fair to say you don’t get craftsmanship like that any more, where only hand tools would have been used in the cabinet’s construction.”

Fr O’Neill is equally pleased with the results and delighted that he chose not to dispose of the prized antique, of which the value can only be guessed at.

“During the restoration I’ve learned so much about the materials and skills that went into making such a fine, enduring piece of furniture,” he said.

“It’s not just some ordinary piece of furniture but something quite beautiful.”