Little remains of the medieval Cathedral which was demolished in 1785 (except for the west tower) to make way for a classical building.
The Dean's gate on the southern boundary of the Cathedral grounds pictured on the left is an archway from the west portico of the medieval tower.
Nine stone carved heads (or ‘voussoirs’), dating to the twelfth century, were found embedded in the walls of the medieval tower which was demolished in 1865 to make way for the present Cathedral. It is thought that these were either from an earlier cathedral on the site of Saint Fin Barre’s or part of the Augustinian house of St John the Evangelist which subsequently became known as "Gill Abbey". Its site was some 400m west of the Cathedral and was possibly within the old monastic precinct of St Fin Barre's.
These artifacts are of huge national and international significance, not least because they may have been carved by the same stonemasons who worked on Cormac’s Chapel in Cashel.