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Christ Church Cathedral
In 1562, the nave roof vaulting collapsed and Strongbow.s tomb was smashed, the current tomb being a contemporary replacement from Drogheda. The cathedral was in ruins and emergency rebuilding took place immediately. This temporary solution lasted until the 1870s! Since the collapse of the roof, the north nave wall has leaned out by 46cm / 18 inches the leaning wall of Dublin).
Political changes over the years were reflected in the changes of administration of the cathedral and following the virtual collapse of the cathedral system during the Cromwellian period, Christ Church was given a new constitution in 1660 which, as modified by the Church of Ireland.s general synod since 1870, is still the basis of the rule governing the cathedral.
In 1689 King James attended Mass here and for a brief period, the rites of the pre-Reformation faith were restored. One year later, returning from the Battle of the Boyne on 6 July 1690, King William III gave thanks for his victory over King James II and presented a set of gold communion plate to the cathedral.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, Christ Church.s crypt was used as a market, a meeting place for business, and at one stage even a pub as a letter of 1633 shows:
the vaults from one end of the minster to the other are made into tippling houses for beer, wine and tobacco.
In 1742 the cathedral choir together with the choir of St Patrick.s cathedral sang at the world premiere of Handel's Messiah in nearby Fishamble Street.
The Church Temporalities Act of 1833 brought partial disendowment and impoverished what had been one of the wealthiest ecclesiastical corporations in Ireland.
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